Books: The Final Revival of Opal & Nev

To borrow a quote from Ta-Nehisi Coats on the cover of the copy of The Final Revival of Opal & Nev from my local library, it’s “one of the most immersive novels I’ve ever read.”

And that’s definitely true. Dawnie Walton’s debut novel doesn’t feel like a novel — it feels like an actual recounting of the history, career highs and lows, and revival performance of a real musical duo. I had a few moments of, “Wait, is this real?” and I’m not alone in that. And surely, I’m not alone in also wishing we could hear Opal & Nev’s music or see the photos and video referenced throughout.

Opal & Nev tracks the titular fictional musical duo from their childhoods through their career together in the 1970s, structured as a series of interviews and editor’s notes by music journalist S. Sunny Shelton, who works as an editor for the fictional music magazine Aural. Through her interviews, Sunny learns that a pivotal moment in the duo’s career may not have played out exactly as people have claimed all these years.

The novel’s interview structure takes a little getting used to. Instead of the typical structure, it’s formatted as an interview, but rather than a question-and-answer format, each character’s answers are taken and presented as a narrative. As a result, each of them, from Opal & Nev themselves to their management and other friends and…