The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton is the fictional account of a 70s rock duo from their “bubbling under” success to their reunion decades later at a festival 20,000 strong.

If ever there would be a physically-mismatched duo, this would be the definition. Opal is a Black woman from Detroit from a religious family who starts losing some of her hair when she is young. This prompts her to shave her head and embrace her fierce side, resurrecting an activist vibe. Her musical partner Nev is a white redhead from England who makes his way to New York to try and jumpstart his musical desires.

Nev starts off as a solo artist but comes across Opal singing in a small club. Thrown together by a record label, they start to garner some traction and are booked to play a showcase event. The headliner for the event are some redneck boys who enjoy the accompaniment of a confederate flag which is something that provokes Opal & Nev no end and the showcase becomes the tipping point for events that change their lives.

Walton has written this novel in the form of a book being written about the bands trials and tribulations. The book is to be an accompaniment to a reunion tour and features interviews and notes that make up the book. So while it doesn’t read as a “normal” novel, it doesn’t leave you quizzically wondering where the plot is.

That said, I did find it a bit of a slough. It’s a powerful message, one that resonates in our times, but I felt the middle of the story drags on a bit much. It didn’t pull me back in once I put it down, something that I was surprised by. Being a big music fan, I so looked forward to this, but, pardon the pun, it fell a bit flat.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for providing a copy for review.

Author Dawnie Walton tells the story of the rise, fall and then revival of Afro-punk duo, Nev Charles and Opal Jewel.
Opal, a young unknown black singer from Detroit is chosen by Nev, a young white carrot-topped singer from the UK to be his implausible partner in this musical journey in 1970's New York City.
We follow the duo through the usual music industry issues, including racism and feminism, until ultimately tragedy and controversy have them go their separate ways.
The book is written in interview-style with the interviewer being Sunny Shelton, editor in chief of Aural Magazine.
Bravo to author Dawnie Walton as this fictional oral history is her debut novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for an arc of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

It's hard to believe that this is fiction and isn't really a biography. Every character felt so true to life, and I would love to be able to actually hear the music! Opal's story was frustrating, heartbreaking, and always interesting, and I loved that the narrator had a personal stake in the story.

Was I a huge fan of Daisy Jones and the Six? Yes. Is this book similar? Yes and no.

The Final Revival of Opal and Nev is also in oral history format, It also explores the relationships and dynamics of band members. Forbidden Love story too. But this novel goes deeper. It questions inequality and racism. It has a religious and liberating tone. The music the band makes reflects their turmoils, conflict, and emotions.

Opal and Nev is a story for these time. Bravo.

It’s not realistic to compare this novel with Daisy Jones and Six even though both of them related with the relationship dynamics of band members and forbidden love story. This book’s main focus in questioning inequality, racism with rebellious, liberating tone! The music they make is the product of their inner resentment, anger, revolutionary thoughts, fears and the songs they create were honest reflection of their turmoils, conflict emotions.

The Final Revival of Opal and Nev - Dawnie Walton

We follow Opal (a Black woman) and Nev (a British white man) try to make it big in the music industry in the 70s in NYC. This book is written in interview format, and the audiobook has a full cast. The format is similar to Daisy Jones, with the main difference being this one has a lot more editor’s notes. I loved the audiobook for Daisy Jones so I picked up this audiobook as well and it was so great. I felt really immersed into the setting, it was written so well and I love all the details and twists we got in this story. This oral history is written by Sunny who is the daughter of the drummer Jimmy Curtis, who played drums for Opal and Nev and was beaten to death in a riot. We learn what led up to that moment and what happened afterwards. I loved the inserts from the editor, which were a big part of the book. We learn about her struggles while writing the book and what happened in her life in the “present” as well as what happened in the past in Opal and Nev’s lives. These characters all felt so real.

If you loved Daisy Jones, pick this up. Even if you didn’t or you haven’t read it, pick this up. And definitely check out the audiobook because it’s so well done!!

Objectively, The Final Revival of Opal & Nev is a great book. I really wanted to love it, but personally, I had a very difficult time getting past the writing style. I truly did not like the "interview" style narration of the story. I don't mind multiple narrators, I often like that style of writing, but something about the transcript format of Opal & Nev kept taking me out of the story - I found it distracting and hard to engage in the story.

As a reader I was already at a disadvantage as I know next to nothing about three of the main themes of the book - the music industry, the 1970s, and life in the United States; there was no personal connection that would have made it easier for me to relate to the story at hand, so when that was compounded by a narration style that I really did not care for, the entire reading experience was rather lacklustre. There also seemed to be a lot of references to the American music scene and politics in the 70s which were totally lost on me.

I did really like Opal and Sunny, both strong women in their own right, forced to confront racism, sexism and character assassination. It was fascinating to compare the two characters, the similarities and differences in the way they approached their lives, careers and society at large.

I think many people will really love this book, the actual story is very good and themes are incredibly relevant to current events. The style simply wasn't a fit for me, something that's bound to happen from time to time when reading.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for providing an e-copy of this book for review.

I liked Daisy Jones, but I didn’t love it. I loved the way it was written and I loved how real it felt, but I really disliked the characters.
This book definitely gave me Daisy Jones vibes, but I connected to the characters and the story so much more!

This is a book that is told as a written history of the fictional singing duo, Nev & Opal. It’s “written” by the daughter of Opal’s married lover who was killed during one of Nev and Opal’s performances.
It’s a history of how the group came to be, what happened to them and speaks to their upcoming reunion show and possible tour.

The book is told through interviews with Nev and Opal, as well as others who played important roles in their lives. There are also editor’s notes throughout from the “author”, Sunny.
During the interview possible new information comes out about the fatefully night of Jimmy’s death and suddenly the story everyone’s been taught to believe, might not be the truth after all.

This is a story about black rights, being yourself and fighting for what’s right.
Opal was ahead of her time and was so unapologetically herself, she was a complete inspiration.

I thought it was an absolutely fantastic story and it felt SO REAL!! The way the story is told, mixed with real life historic events made me feel like I could search Nev & Opal’s music and find it! I highly recommend for everyone (especially for fans of Daisy Jones) - 4.5/5 stars

This book tells the tale of Opal Robinson, an African American woman living in Detroit and her discovery by a struggling young musician with an active record contract, Nev Charles, looking for a voice to accompany and complete his music. The story that follows is dense, layered and follows the duos ins and outs for forty-five years as they encounter love and loss; fame and obscurity; scandal and tragedy; as well as political, personal and public upheaval. The story winds back and forth through timeframes and is peppered with unusual snippet-style prose, which mimics magazine clippings, editors notes, and short interviews with many core and peripheral characters strung together in an only somewhat cohesive manner.

The three main characters we meet in this novel include:

Opal Robinson (stage name: Opal Jewel). Opal is a remarkable character - strong willed, creative, convinced of her own worth and willing to stand up for what she believes in, regardless of the time and culture she lives in and what that means to how she is treated as a result of her gender and race. Seeing her trademark courage to face the world head-on and how she applies this to grow into her own unmistakeable style is definitely the best and most interesting aspect of this book.

S. Sunny Shelton - the daughter of a former lover of Opal, Jimmy Curtis, who is in the process of writing a book about an upcoming Opal and Nev reunion tour which will take place late in the timeline of this novel.

Nev Charles - a musician with unclear motives who is young Opals ticket to stardom and her lifelong-sometimes partner and friend.

I am likely in the minority as I know this book was very favorably reviewed, however, I did find this story difficult to read, the pacing tedious, and the writing style very off-putting.

On the positive side, Opal is a wonderful character, - an “outcast black girl”, ugly and odd in her youth, who nonetheless “was gonna find a way, honey” to express her unique self.

The plot also tackles many interesting themes including racism, fame, greed, power as well as shedding what felt to be a very authentic light on the seedy underbelly of the musical industry, particularly in the 70’s.

A big thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for an advance review copy of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.

What first drew me to this book, was seeing it compared to Daisy Jones, which is easily my favourite book. While it is also written in oral history format, about a musical duo, and many times you’ll question throughout if this is a true story....there were also many major differences between the two which I also loved.

Opal & Nev is it’s own unique story. This book takes on important and timely topics. Racism is a major focus in the storyline, and while the book is set in the 70’s....it is disgusting to see that similar situations are happening to this day. It doesn’t shy away from showing you the harsh, the ugly, and the brutal, that Opal and the other Black characters go through daily.

The thing I loved the most about this book is the characters. Opal is one strong, fierce and inspirational rockstar! Her resilience is admirable and unforgettable. I absolutely adored Virgil so many other side characters. Lots of people thinks that interview style writing doesn’t develop characters enough - but the author fully succeeded at showing you exactly who these characters were through this format.

This book is powerful, and entertaining. I switched to the audio for the last 30% and I strongly recommend checking out the audio - the full cast really brings it to life!

This book has been touted as perfect for fans of Daisy Jones and the Six, and I completely get that. It has the oral history feel with interview transcripts, follows the rise of a band and all of the characters are so nuanced. However, that is where the comparison ends. The Final Revival of Opal and Nev centers around a pivotal moment in the band’s history when the band’s drummer is killed in a racially charged incident years before. The musical duo Opal and Nev were once involved, and years later, there are whispers that they may reunite and make music once again. I especially loved the intricate relationship that Opal and Nev shared, as they seemed close yet distant throughout. It was such a great read, and I found myself wanting to know what happened next, every time I was away from it.

This is a debut novel from an American author. The book is told in an oral history format and consists of the writings of a music magazine author, Sunny and transcripts of interviews. Sunny is the daughter of a drummer that was killed in a racially charged incident at a concert years ago. The musical duo Opal and Nev were involved and after years of not working together, there is talk of a reunion. Sunny has decided it would be a perfect time for a book on the subject, thus the interviews. We follow the ups and downs of the careers of Opal, a tall, black, bold singer and Nev, a white British singer/songwriter from the seventies to present day. While this book is certainly reminiscent of "Daisy Jones & The Six", both in writing style and setting (the music industry), the characters and overall theme are very different. That being said, it is a great recommendation for fans of that novel, anyone interested in the music industry or reading fiction from BIPOC authors. I really enjoyed it.

I am having a tough time defining this book. On the one hand anyone who loves books about music and especially the music scene in NYC in the East Village will love this (think Daisy Jones and the Six). But, it's deeper than that, as Opal because increasingly radicalised it deals with racism and her response to a seminal event at an early concert. It's a great read and I think Dawnie Walton is definitely a writer to watch.

Thank you to the publisher for this incredible and fascinating story! All opinions are my own.

This book is being touted as great for fans of Daisy Jones..... and I agree, it has the band history, the interview transcript quality and the colorful and incredibly nuanced characters.

But it also has this INCREDIBLY fierce, politically charged, take no nonsense quality that makes it an even more powerful, more intense read. I love Opal, and I LOVE Sunny, and I loved watching the similarities and differences in their personalities play out on the page.

I also loved that the dynamic between Nev and Opal was at once incredibly close and intimate, while on the other hand was so clearly a case of two people who truly never knew or understood one another. I loved watching the flux of their relationship as they moved through this world separate from one another, all while believing in their connection.

I don't have the words to adequately describe how wonderfully crafted and beautifully told this story is. I will say, it is a MUST for your reading list this year.

This was fantastic! The oral history format was the perfect way to tell this story. I found myself flying through the pages to know the entire story.

Delighted to include it in the April installment of Novel Encounters, my regular column highlighting the month's top fiction for Zed, Zoomer magazine’s reading and book club vertical (full review and feature at link).

Thank you so much to the publisher for sending me an ARC of this book for an honest review! I am honest to god so delighted to have had the opportunity to read this one, so much in fact, that barely 100 pages in, I actually pre-ordered myself a copy to add to my music literature self for future reference!

I needed to take a couple days to cool own before writing a full review because this book had me hot and bothered in ways that I knew wouldn't be productive to the conversation Walton's opened up in the story she's told. I really do feel like Daisy Jones and the Six opened up the doors for The Final Revival to be published, because what with the pervasive racism within the publishing industry, I don't know if this would've been published otherwise (which is a shame, because this is a truly beautifully and carefully thought out story).

I'm glad Dawnie Walton has been given the platform to delve deep into the racism that's so deeply ingrained in the music industry, as it is such an important topic to address, especially in the context of Black Lives Matter right now. I myself try to keep my ear to the ground when it comes to the way Black history shapes rock music in particular, as someone also writing a rock n roll novel. So for that reason, I know the most important thing here is to listen with an open mind to what Walton has to say. There were often times in this novel where I had to put it down and go, "no, there's no way well-intentioned white musicians would do that!", and then I had to remind myself to completely rewire my thinking, because, yes, this does happen all the time to Black artists, whether white professionals in the industry treat them with disrespect intentionally or not. Walton does a really interesting job of setting up the first third of the novel by introducing both Opal and Nev as likeable characters with a natural chemistry with one another, which takes a nosedive as we delve deeper and deeper into how it all fell apart. Of course, bands self-destructing is your basic rock n roll narrative as common as the sex, drugs, and rock n roll mainstay, so the deterioration of their relationship comes as no surprise.

What I find hard to swallow as a white reader, is how Nev's internalized racism is so deeply ingrained in him, he can't even acknowledge or accept what he's doing. I can't imagine how someone who calls themselves an ally can deliberately turn a blind eye to a Black person being unjustly attacked or forcibly removed from a scene due to perceived aggression. When you're the one standing on that stage, with the power over a fan base who hangs on your every word, especially when your partner has explicitly told you how she and her community have been targeted, it's up to you to stomp it out at the root. And that's the point Walton's trying to make. She wants you to feel angry at Nev's actions, because the readers trusted him like Opal trusted him, and we all thought he was better than that together. I just wonder if she was maybe too effective in setting him up as a likeable character, because at a certain point, it breaks my suspension of disbelief.

In the big climactic moment that sets up the second half of the novel, the narrator finds out that Nev might have goaded a white supremacist into murdering a Black man at a concert. There's no confirmation that he did or didn't do it for sure. All we have to go on is the word of a Trump-supporting neo-Nazi, which I think is a really dangerous source to trust. It's something that comes up again and again in the novel as the narrator questions whether or not to expose this information after 30 years since the incident. What's more, this information is a ticking time bomb that the reader knows if the narrator reveals it to anyone involved, she's destroying several people's lives on the word of a bigoted non-credible source. I understand from a journalistic narrative framing device, it's necessary for the narrator to get an unbiased picture from all sides of the story, but I just feel like giving any neo-Nazi (even a fictitious one!) the time of day and platform at all is counter-productive in general.

This brings me to the narrative structure, which I found a touch convoluted and ultimately didn't fully succeed in telling the story that needed to be shared. As a book within a book, this was always going to be inherently confusing, given what information needs to be withheld to reveal the ultimate purpose of it at the end. It's set up as a book written to announce the 30 year reunion tour of Opal and Nev, who haven't worked together since, and gradually disintegrates an builds itself back up as Something Else. As things take a turn and Sunny, the narrator, finds out Nev isn't as good a guy as we were all led to believe, she decides to redirect her focus toward first exposing the racism in the music industry, and then pivots to celebrating Opal as a Black artist whose career fell by the wayside to prop up her white male partner. But in the end, it does neither of those things. Sunny, as the eventually disgraced first Black woman Editorial Director of a music magazine, is a self-serving narrator who takes this assignment from her magazine to get the scoop on what happened 30 years ago with Opal and Nev as a band, and turns it into an autobiography that never culminates into showcasing who she is besides a selfish character, hellbent on destroying so many long-term relationships. It just rubs me the wrong way that we get such a vibrant, intense background for Opal, who should be central to the plot, bogged down by an almost unrelated narrator who pulls focus from her as a main character. I think if Dalton were to have Sunny step back from her personal stakes in the story, it would've given the narrative room to really show us who Opal and Nev were. There's so much time spent on breaking down who the neo-Nazi character was, and not nearly enough on Nev, so in the end, we don't know what his intentions were nor is there a breakdown of exactly why he chose to do what he did in never speaking up for the Black community he's entrenched in. I would've found this aspect fascinating if it were delved into further, but Dalton kind of treats it like we should be accept it for face value. Bottom line is, he's racist, and the how or why doesn't matter. But I would've liked a conversation somewhere in there where someone tells him straight up that his internalized racism is not it and that's something to be confronted instead of burying it even deeper down, and that never happens.

I found the stuff about Joe, the drummer who is killed really quite emotionally impactful. He's sort of the backbone that ties all the musical aspects of the novel together, and so the tribute to him at the end is quite effecting. I almost would have liked more background on him and how his death impacted the community. That's another area that could've seen more nurturing instead of Sunny's nose-dive into a practical villain.

What I found really cool toward the end of the novel was how Dalton plays with social media and how fans interact with each other and the music they love in a modern way. The viral aspect of being able to record anything a musician does at a live performance really speaks to the difference in how things like racism is being discussed between now and the 1970s. By posting live videos on the internet, we can call out problematic behaviour instantaneously, and people with power can't get away with it as easily anymore. We're holding people accountable in a way that we couldn't 30-50 years ago. So the speed at which Nev is ultimately denounced as an ignorant white man and Opal uplifted and validated as a Black artist is so quick –the duration of a single hour or two of a concert. The whole revival tour is over before its even begun because the fandom has spoken on mass over social media.

There's a certain moral strength in the Black community that I don't think I, or anyone else outside of that experience will ever fully comprehend. So often, Opal could have grit her teeth and gotten on with it, in terms of furthering her musical career, but she didn't. Her moral compass really leads her, and it makes her unable to stand by and just accept the way professionals in the music industry make corrupt choices just to make the most money. So many times, I had to stop myself from saying, "no, girl, you gotta play the game!!!" because for Black artists, the rules of the game are completely different, and the bar to reach is much higher with much more difficult hurdles to get there. The fact that she walks away from a well-paying tour just when her fame is at its peak, speaks to just how tired the Black community is with just waiting for something to change, when they have been fighting this whole time. At some point, something's gotta give, and so Opal walks away from it all, because that's not where her integrity lies. It was just such a joy to read about such a strong character with moral principles who stood her ground with every choice she made, and I would have liked to see her character development unfold even more.

Overall, despite the convoluted narrative structure, this was an important book that I think will get people re-evaluating their own behaviour and thought-processes around minorities. It gives a brutally honest perspective about something that rarely gets mainstream airtime, and I hope it furthers the conversation.

I LOVED this story about a young entertainment editor's efforts to research and write a book about a 1970s rock and roll band in which her father featured briefly. The story is told in a series of interviews and excerpts from newspaper, magazine and TV interviews and it begs for a future high production audio version with a cast of voices reading the various players ... or even a big-screen or made for TV presentation.
As I read, it certainly called to mind recent box office semi-biographies like Rocket Man and Bohemian Rhapsody. The fictional Opal and Nev certainly have all the charm and the tragedy of the real pop icons. This is a hard hitting story about a Motown girl and a British Invasion boy with all the sex, drugs, petty intrigues and wasted dreams that are so common in the entertainment world.
Although the pivotal event of the story took place one tragic night back in the early '70s, this is also very much a 2020 story, racial conflict, feminism and the willingness of the media and the world to look the other way when it's convenient.
As a fan of the 1970s rock scene who grew up just across the river from Opal's hometown of Detroit, I couldn't help but fall in love with the brazen, outspoken but always enigmatic Opal. Although Nev, Jimmy, Sunny and all the other, larger than life characters in this story are compelling and an essential part of the story, this is Opal's story and it's one that's well worth reading, more than once.

Started slow, but could be the oral-history style. I found the story became propulsive about a third of the way through. Characters are well developed. The story is powerful and though-provoking while covering current issues.

Wow! It is hard to believe that this is Dawnie Walton's debut novel. This well written and compelling novel is told through interviews and it depicts a rich oral history of Opal Jewel and Nev Charles' rise to fame through the very personal lens of their deceased drummer's daughter, Sunny. This book was hard to put down! I received an e-ARC of the book from Simon & Schuster and Netgalley but didn't finish it before it was released so I also listened to the latter half of it on full-cast audio which was excellent. I was so intrigued to find out exactly how one the events of one single night unfolded in the 1970s in which Sunny's father, Jimmy, fell victim to racial violence and died at a Showcase in which Opal & Nev performed. When Sunny finds out a bit more about this, she is discouraged from sharing her allegations and the story continues to be very intriguing as a reunion tour kicks off. This book includes quite a bit of history of race in the 1970s (which unfortunately does not seem to have improved dramatically in the past 40 years). 

I highly recommend reading this one - Opal Jewel is a character who will stay with readers for years to come, I'm sure. I enjoyed all of the side characters too & couldn't help but root for Sunny in her ability to tell this story for the father she never knew. 

(I realize I'm talking about these characters as if they are real people - that's how this book felt to me!!)

I absolutely loved this book!!! I couldn’t get enough!! I even read it twice and will probably read it again.