The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton follows a popular trope in recent literature: fake oral histories. 

As a note… I love this trend. 

This book follows Sunny as she conducts and interviews multiple people connected with the band OPAL AND NEV. Sunny, like most protagonists in this genre, has a personal connection to the band. Years before, Sunny’s father died during a riot at an Opal and Nev showcase. As the drummer for the band, someone killed him after a confederate flag started a riot. This book follows Sunny’s journey to learn what happened to her father, why he had a sexual relationship with the co-head of the band, Opal, and how everyone involved with the band helped Opal shine or dim. 

As mentioned, Dawnie Walton wrote this story of a fake band back in the 60’s and 70’s like an oral history.

If you’re not familiar with the genre, Oral histories are almost long scripts where a narrator asks questions to multiple people connected with an event or person, and the answers are printed as quotes. Sometimes, as with this book, the narrator writes narrative sections to explain or expand on ideas. 

Sunny starts the book as an editor of a magazine, and she writes commentary on her interviews in the form of editor notes throughout the book. The format and the editor’s notes give a good indication of Sunny as a character, and keep her, arguably, as the protagonist of the book EVEN while you follow so closely the history of Opal. I could see an argument made for either one.

What’s it like?

Many told me (including marketing campaigns) that this book was Daisy Jones and the Six but with Black People. 

While I understand the connection – both are fake oral histories and both follow bands in the 70’s – I would have to say it is not a great connection. While Daisy Jones and the Six is a book about a love story that focuses on the band, Opal and Nev is almost an anti-love story – a political book – that at its heart is a story of parentage, heritage, and trauma. 

Opal, a dark-skinned black woman, becomes a political figure through her time in the band, and you hear a fairly honest portrayal of how one can become political just by being in the “right” space at the “wrong” time. Nev thinks of himself as an Ally to black people. However, he’s a bit like the people who write “Black Lives Matter” on their Instagram posts to their 15 followers, but never attend a march, donate money, or tried to do a letter-writing campaign. He’s a performative ally who gets defensive when those he wants to “help” don’t like his help. Sunny, on the other hand, is a black woman who works in modern-day journalism and has to straddle the lines between her cultural heritage and working for a covertly racist company. 

Both books are well-written and dynamic, but I would reframe from recommending one book to someone who liked the other unless I also knew more about the reader.

so… Who SHOULD read The Final Revival of Opal & Nev?

I would recommend Opal and Nev to anyone who is interested in the Black Lives Matter movement, anyone curious about punk bands, anyone who loves a whodunit, anyone who follows music journalism, or anyone interested in a well-told story with multiple unreliable narrators. 

The book, at its core, is about trauma and the way race plays a hand in the lives of everyone in the world. You hear from multiple characters as they try to distance themselves or mire themselves in racial discussions. 

This book is fascinating, well-written, and engaging. It took me a bit to get through it, and I wish, honestly, I had done the audiobook. Everyone I know who listened to it said it heightened the book and made it a quicker read. This was my “read before bed” book, and I think it more needed to be a book I devoured in one sitting. 

Should you read this book? Yes. 

Will you like this book? Honestly, not sure. It has some tough scenes to swallow, and if you’re a white person, your privilege will be attacked. THIS is a good thing, it should be attacked, but if you’re sensitive to that, you may not enjoy it. I still say, give it a read. 

Well Written Score? 5 Stars

Enjoyment Score? 4 Stars

For those following the 2022 reading challenge, this is a great option for it.

Have you read this book? If you’ve read it, let me know your thoughts below. Please, though, no spoilers.