Year 16, Book 98

98. The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton

This book is written as if it’s an oral history of a historical musical act Opal & Nev. They were an interracial musical duo in the 1970s who had a meteoric rise that ended suddenly after a show gone wrong. Now decades later they are getting back together for one final show and the daughter of their former drummer is documenting their story in an oral history book about them. It was an interesting way to write the story, but in some respects I felt like the format kept me at a distance from the characters and I was never able to get fully invested in them. I think oral histories in general are only really interesting if you are already deeply invested in the subject matter and as Opal and Nev are fictional characters that I had no previous connection to the format didn’t work completely for me. I give it a 6 out of 10.