DNF.I attempted and started reading this book soo many times on off since receiving a copy of this book and I can not get into this book at all. This sadly is going into my DNF pile. I kept comparing this one to Daisy Jones and the Six and the fact it was also told in an interview style I couldn’t stop my comparison. I also believe the author was trying to do so much and ended up not doing anything. I felt no character connection and was bored. This is not the fault of the book, I just don’t think this book is for me.

***Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my review ****

The story captured an interesting time in our nation’s history. The subtle and underlying tensions were shared in a way that was easy to understand. Overall, the story was very readable but felt choppy at points due to the format. I had a hard time connecting to the characters and wish the development of Opal and Nev was a little deeper. I recommend the book to those who like the 1960s and music. Others can pass.

This book is the story of a interracial musical duo that was formed during the 70s. It is told with editorial notes and also in the style of a written oral history. I’ve read several books of this type (Daisy Jones and the Six, Songs in Ursa Major) but this one was definitely unique. I ultimately did not like the oral history format, but that’s just a personal preference. I’d recommend this book to devoted musical fans of any era.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley.

I really love the premise of this book and overall loved the timely message, but I was disappointed with the execution. It took me a long time to get through this book, as it just didn't grab me.

What I loved about Daisy Jones and the Six is that it was fiction that really read like non-fiction. While Opal and Nev is the same, it didn't read like fiction and was a bit dry at times. Perhaps this is because the narrator is focused on a professional telling of the story, but it prevented me from connecting with a lot of the characters. I would have liked to learn more about the narrator, and I would have liked to have been able to see things from Nev's perspective.

The message here and its comparison of the 1970's and today is powerful without knocking you over the head, and the end climax of the book was very interesting to read. It's a shame that the message was packaged in a somewhat bland container.

I first stumbled across this one on one of those "Most Anticipated 2021 Releases" articles and saw its comparisons to Daisy Jones & The Six. Plus, it's also a March Book of the Month Club choice - so I was really looking forward to reading this one. But, I must admit that this just dragged on and on for me. It doesn't usually take me a week to read any book and while I am sure that a big part of this can be blamed on the fact that we moved during this period, I just never found myself all that eager to pick this one back up.

I appreciated the multimedia aspect - that format is, I think the main reason behind all those Daisy Jones comparisons (well, and the musical angle), but subject matter-wise, this one is far more serious and certainly more politically, racially and socially charged. I do think that this will serve as a great discussion starter amongst readers and book clubs. But in the end, I felt that a lot of things were left hanging - more than I liked to see and feel satisfied... plus, I never felt connected with the characters and while maybe that's because this felt a little too on the nose of a lot going on today for it to be an escape, I just never felt excited about this one. But I may have also hyped it up a bit too much for myself - it just wasn't the book for me.

I really enjoyed The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton. The making of the artists and their music, the lives they shared, as well as their drive and sense of justice was interesting and well put together. Thank you NetGalley, publisher and author for the review copy, all opinions are my own.

The Final Revival of Opal & Nev is a powerful and riveting fictional oral history. I loved the unique structure and writing style. Although much of the storyline takes place in the 1970s, the themes are extremely relevant for today. I highly recommend this one for fans of Daisy Jones and the Six.

This fictional oral history spins the tale of a 1970s rock duo, Afro-punk singer Opal and British folk singer/songwriter Nev. As Opal and Nev consider a reunion, a music journalist interviews them about the band’s rise and fall, and the deadly concert riot that lives on in infamy.

I love, love, love this approach to storytelling! The Final Revival of Opal & Nev had me from page one with dynamic characters, a quick pace, and the perfect blend of real and fictional rock & roll history. I can't wait to read whatever Dawnie Walton writes next.

I was so excited to read this book. I was excited to broaden my diverse reads. I loved the style of writing. It was set up interview style which was very fun and very different. I read along while listening the the audiobook and I think that helped me out a lot. There was ALOT of different characters and I think I would’ve gotten lost without the audiobook.
Even though I loved the writing set up, I was not a huge fan of the storyline. I wasn’t bad, I just don’t think I meshed well with it. I think I was expecting it to be little more dramatic.
But if your a lover of different writing set ups and/or music lover, I think you’d really love this book.

I was hesitant to read this one because it’s always compared to Daisy Jones and the Six which I was not a fan of (I know I’m in the minority with that opinion). I totally understand the comparison - they are both fictional oral histories of music bands. However, while Daisy Jones was all about sex, drugs, and rock and roll, Opal and Nev was much more of a social commentary of the 70’s through present day.

I alternated between ebook and audiobook and they both have their benefits. The audiobook is a full cast (including narration by Bahni Turpin), but the print version includes side notes in the form of parentheses that add to the experience that you can’t get from listening. It’s hard to explain, but you’ll just have to trust me. My recommendation would be to listen and read along if at all possible to get the best of both worlds!

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

I wanted to like this book so much more but i had a bit of a struggle getting into it. Maybe I will try again in a year.

Fabulous! It is compulsively readable.
Many thanks to Simon & Schuster and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Take two parts Betty Davis, one part Grace Jones, and a pinch of Eartha Kitt, and you have one of the best rock & roll heroines to grace the fictional stage. On this special episode of The Vulgar Geniuses Podcast, we sit down with journalist & author Dawnie Walton (@dawniewalton) to talk about her much-anticipated debut novel, 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝑹𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝑶𝒑𝒂𝒍 & 𝑵𝒆𝒗.

We place Walton center stage as she speaks about her love of rock & roll, the moment when she began to step into her authentic self at the start of her college years, and how those and many other experiences as a journalist helped formed this beautiful story.::

CATCH OUR INTERVIEW WITH DAWNIE ON VULGAR GENIUSES PODCAST. LINKS DOWN BELOW

#thefinalrevivalofopalandnev
#dawniewalton
#vulgargeniusespodcast
#famu

I did not finish this book as I did not like it and it did not hold my interest. I found it hard to follow the story and did not see what others saw in this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"I'd like to think that folks didn't have to end up destroyed for Opal and Nev to have made a name."

"...a million specks of dust exposed and floating in the light, telling stories on you."

Written as an oral history of fictional Black Afropunk singer Opal Jewel and British singer/songwriter Neville Charles, The Final Revival of Opal & Nev steers away from the "stories already told" feel of Daisy Jones and The Six, and goes in a completely different direction, spotlighting the pervasive racism and sexism of the late 1960s and early 1970s in the music industry, and documenting Opal's rise from a poor Detroit city girl to a fabulous, colorful star in her own right. The novel is basically set up as a series of interviews with various characters, including Opal herself, Nev, Opal's sister, and people in the music and entertainment business.

Interspersed with the interviews are the words of S. Sunny Shelton, a magazine editor and the daughter of a musician, who is writing a book about Opal & Nev but whose connection to their story is a deeply personal one. "Notes from the editor" tell Sunny's story. Honing in on one devastating, violent night that changed many lives, Sunny unearths a long-kept secret and now must decide how (or whether) to go forward with her book.

Richly detailed and filled with compelling characters, The Final Revival of Opal & Nev is a terrific debut novel from writer Dawnie Walton.

This book is such daisy Jones & the six vibes!! I absolutely loved that book so if you did as well you will no doubt love this one! They are very different thought, the writing style is beautiful. I loved the characters as well, It was a little slow pace but overall great!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC to this book!

I usually really love stories involving musicians, and as a huge fan of Daisy Jones & the Six, I was really looking forward to another ‘band history’ novel told in interviews. This one had some really cool aspects and interesting history, however I didn’t LOVE this one as much as I hoped. It felt overly long, and really started dragging for me around halfway through

Confession: I read the hype about this book, and it made me not want to read it as much. I am persnickety like that. But, then I read it, and I was mad at myself for waiting to read it. This book is a phenomenal story that is meant to be savored. I highly recommend listening to this one as an audiobook, as it is a lyrical story of fame, race, love, and legacy. Do yourself a favor and read this book.

The Final Revival of Opal & Nev is an enjoyable novel. It reminded me very much of Daisy Jones & the Six, mainly due to the characters being musicians and the stories being told in similar "interview" style. I'm not sure if both books were written at the same time, or if the push for publication of Opal & Nev was due in some part to the immense success of Daisy Jones.

Both Opal and Nev lived very interesting lives and I enjoyed how Walton was able to bring many voices center stage in order to tell a complete story.

This book was a slow one for me. It spent a long time building to the end and the end was not super captivating. Overall, I liked the dialog because it is written as an interview would be. This book has been compared to Daisy Jones & The Six for that reason but that is the only comparison between the two that I could find.

Racial tensions of the 1970s in America is a big topic in this book. It goes through the Rivington Riots, racism towards Opal, and current racism.

I did enjoy Opal as a character and her spunk. I felt that this was really a deep dive into her and her beliefs. I never ended up liking Nev and my other favorite character was Bob Hize.