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A review by issianne
The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton
4.0
The best way I can describe this one is if Daisy Jones actually stood for something. (I love Daisy but Opal knows the world's bigger than herself.)
This book was very different than what I expected. It has a similar plot to "Daisy Jones and the Six" with a similar narrative style to "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo." Dawnie Walton and Taylor Jenkins Reid should have collab sometime. Enough about TJR's books... In the grand scheme of the book, it's about Opal and Nev's short-lived jump to fame together. Truly, the book is about Opal and the hills she's ready to die on. Our narrator is Sunny Curtis, daughter of Opal and Nev's drummer who was killed at the show that launched their careers.
While most books about musicians in the seventies is focused on drugs, sex, and rock and roll--this one reflects on race, afro-punk, and self-discovery. It's discussion of performative allyship is an essential one that white people need listen in on.
There were moments in the book that felt rushed and could've been fleshed out more. For a book that was supposedly about Opal and Nev in the first half, the author didn't completely expand on the relationship between the two main characters. Sunny has this revelation that the book's not about Nev, but I had already felt that lack of subsistence around him before then.
This book was very different than what I expected. It has a similar plot to "Daisy Jones and the Six" with a similar narrative style to "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo." Dawnie Walton and Taylor Jenkins Reid should have collab sometime. Enough about TJR's books... In the grand scheme of the book, it's about Opal and Nev's short-lived jump to fame together. Truly, the book is about Opal and the hills she's ready to die on. Our narrator is Sunny Curtis, daughter of Opal and Nev's drummer who was killed at the show that launched their careers.
While most books about musicians in the seventies is focused on drugs, sex, and rock and roll--this one reflects on race, afro-punk, and self-discovery. It's discussion of performative allyship is an essential one that white people need listen in on.
There were moments in the book that felt rushed and could've been fleshed out more. For a book that was supposedly about Opal and Nev in the first half, the author didn't completely expand on the relationship between the two main characters. Sunny has this revelation that the book's not about Nev, but I had already felt that lack of subsistence around him before then.