Play Book Tag discussion

The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton
5 Stars
Kindle

Wow! The Final Revival of Opal & Nev is one of those novels where it is difficult to write a review because it is impossible to capture the majesty of the novel in a few paragraphs.

Quoting from the NPR Review:

The premise of The Final Revival of Opal & Nev is this: In 2015, a journalist named "Sunny" Curtis becomes the first African American editor-in-chief of a Rolling Stone type magazine. Sunny decides that her first big "get" will be a book-length interview with Opal Jewel and Nev Charles. They're an interracial rock duo who struck it big in the early '70s and were immortalized by a photograph taken of them after a racially fueled riot broke out at one of their performances. Afterwards, Opal, who's African American, naturally bald, and hailed, in her prime, as an "intergalactic showstopper" along the lines of Tina Turner and Merry Clayton, briefly became a punk icon and then faded from view; Nev, who's white and British has gone on to enjoy a long career.

This book made President Obama's list of top books in 2021 and so when I picked it up I knew it was a fictional story. I knew it was somewhat in the vein of Daisy Jones. However, multiple times in the course of reading this I had to check whether or not I was wrong about it being fiction. Every detail, even down to the artificial footnotes, was so believable and so captivating.

At points the novel is just really fun. Opal is a spit-fire of a character, Nev is weak and broken yet a star, and Virgil, oh my did I love that friend. The story captures all the experimentation and energy of New York City in the 1970's and the wild ride of a young rock and roll duo trying to navigate the music scene.

At other points, the book is deeply poignant and insightful. It amazed me that an author could so accurately capture the excitement of a concert in one moment and the gut wrenching grief in the next. The story is ultimately personal for Sunny and goes to the heart and soul of who she is. The grief and confusion she experiences in learning more about her past is palpable for the reader.

I highly recommend this book and hope many will pick it up. It is truly a unique piece of writing.

Great review!

I read this last year and loved it.

Sue wrote: "Great review!

I read this last year and loved it."

I am happy to see someone else that has read it. It is a great book but I have not seen that much energy around it.

Jeremiah wrote: "Sue wrote: "Great review!

I read this last year and loved it."

I am happy to see someone else that has read it. It is a great book but I have not seen that much energy around it."

I want to commend you on your excellent review. I also read this book last year and really enjoyed it.

I need to get to this one! I have heard such great things and it totally sounds like my kind of book.

Bumping it up again.