The Final Revival of Opal & Nev
What happens when an unknown young black singer from Detroit is hand-picked by a young white red-haired singer from the UK to be his unlikely partner in a musical rock duo? Grab some popcorn and sit back, because this is the compelling story of Opal & Nev.
This engaging fictional story of 70’s Afro-Punk rock duo Opal & Nev explores how these two misfits from different worlds found each other against all odds, and what happened not only to launch their short-lived musical journey together, but the racially-charged events that ultimately tore them apart and sent their lives in different directions.
What I liked:
Style: Author Dawnie Walton has created an interview style oral history - a la Daisy Jones & the Six - that seamlessly blends real, recognizable names from the 70’s up through current music and culture with her fictional duo of Opal & Nev, et al. It’s so effective, in fact, that I initially double-checked to make sure Opal & Nev and the remaining cast of characters weren’t actually real! This gave it the feeling of a legitimate memoir, which in turn gave it more depth, and I enjoyed seeing names I recognized scattered throughout. In that vein, the book spans several decades, so it offers a nice historical overview of what was going on in America, including the changing of presidents and ideologies of those times.
Characters: Opal is one fierce, intelligent, strong-willed woman who doesn’t back down in her desire to see her fellow African Americans treated with dignity and fairness, even when some of those actions cost her or those around her. The story really belongs to her, even if she shares title credit with Nev. Speaking of Nev, this ginger-haired, caucasian Brit is the more elusive and mysterious member of the duo. Less focus is devoted to him, but his laid-back, seemingly good-natured personality was the perfect counterpoint to Opal’s vocal, creative, free-spirited ways. A couple other standouts were Opal’s entertaining bestie and stylist, the flamboyant Francophile Virgil La Fleur, and S. Sunny Shelton (aka SarahLena Curtis), the interviewer/author of the story within this story and the daughter of Jimmy Curtis, a drummer who Opal had an affair with and whose death plays a central role in this story.
Relevance: The book explores or touches on timely and relevant social issues including the seedlings of the Black Lives Matter and Me Too movements regarding racism, racial justice, and sexism, and the advent of legalized gay marriage. It also looks at some of the greedy and questionable practices of the music industry and the temptation of the media to represent certain popular narratives at the exclusion of truth. This gives the book some meaning and heft, rather than just being a standard sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll story.
Where I struggled:
Pace: As much as I enjoyed the story, sometimes it felt like the narrative was starting to drag a little or feel redundant. Some (OK - most) of that is a “me” thing: I get bored with listening to people talk. Ask my poor husband - he knows what I’m like when my eyes start to glaze over. Whether they actually were long, these chapters felt long, like my progress to the finish line was turtle-level slooooooow.
Conclusion: All things said, those who are patient readers who enjoy a historical fiction/interview-style rock ‘n’ roll memoir should enjoy this very good, extremely well-written story. Kudos to Ms. Walton for her stunning debut!
★★★★
Thanks to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster, and author Dawnie Walton for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinions. This will be published on March 30, 2021.
This engaging fictional story of 70’s Afro-Punk rock duo Opal & Nev explores how these two misfits from different worlds found each other against all odds, and what happened not only to launch their short-lived musical journey together, but the racially-charged events that ultimately tore them apart and sent their lives in different directions.
What I liked:
Style: Author Dawnie Walton has created an interview style oral history - a la Daisy Jones & the Six - that seamlessly blends real, recognizable names from the 70’s up through current music and culture with her fictional duo of Opal & Nev, et al. It’s so effective, in fact, that I initially double-checked to make sure Opal & Nev and the remaining cast of characters weren’t actually real! This gave it the feeling of a legitimate memoir, which in turn gave it more depth, and I enjoyed seeing names I recognized scattered throughout. In that vein, the book spans several decades, so it offers a nice historical overview of what was going on in America, including the changing of presidents and ideologies of those times.
Characters: Opal is one fierce, intelligent, strong-willed woman who doesn’t back down in her desire to see her fellow African Americans treated with dignity and fairness, even when some of those actions cost her or those around her. The story really belongs to her, even if she shares title credit with Nev. Speaking of Nev, this ginger-haired, caucasian Brit is the more elusive and mysterious member of the duo. Less focus is devoted to him, but his laid-back, seemingly good-natured personality was the perfect counterpoint to Opal’s vocal, creative, free-spirited ways. A couple other standouts were Opal’s entertaining bestie and stylist, the flamboyant Francophile Virgil La Fleur, and S. Sunny Shelton (aka SarahLena Curtis), the interviewer/author of the story within this story and the daughter of Jimmy Curtis, a drummer who Opal had an affair with and whose death plays a central role in this story.
Relevance: The book explores or touches on timely and relevant social issues including the seedlings of the Black Lives Matter and Me Too movements regarding racism, racial justice, and sexism, and the advent of legalized gay marriage. It also looks at some of the greedy and questionable practices of the music industry and the temptation of the media to represent certain popular narratives at the exclusion of truth. This gives the book some meaning and heft, rather than just being a standard sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll story.
Where I struggled:
Pace: As much as I enjoyed the story, sometimes it felt like the narrative was starting to drag a little or feel redundant. Some (OK - most) of that is a “me” thing: I get bored with listening to people talk. Ask my poor husband - he knows what I’m like when my eyes start to glaze over. Whether they actually were long, these chapters felt long, like my progress to the finish line was turtle-level slooooooow.
Conclusion: All things said, those who are patient readers who enjoy a historical fiction/interview-style rock ‘n’ roll memoir should enjoy this very good, extremely well-written story. Kudos to Ms. Walton for her stunning debut!
★★★★
Thanks to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster, and author Dawnie Walton for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinions. This will be published on March 30, 2021.
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