The Final Revival of Opal & Nev

I picked this up just because of the title, and rather enjoyed it. The documentary/oral history setup was well-handled, and fit well with the themes of racism and power in music industry and in society. The pacing got too slow at times, but that was when the characters didn't want to discuss something or the interviewer didn't have/ask the right questions yet, which was clever. 
Also, Nev was a lot flatter as a character than Opal, and it was constantly frustrating yet plausible that he would have had the longer fictional career, though I'm glad the story was so firmly set on Opal. (Which is amusing to write, considering that it's fictional oral history. Bumped my rating up some because of the clever setup.)

I love a journalist looking at an old event to find out the truth. Then add in fame, racism, and capitalism and you have a powerful book. I listened to the audiobook, which has a full cast that includes Bahni Turpin! It made the story really pop. I want so many people to read this, so we can all see how powerful Opal is, as well as all the people who help her get there. This will be a favorite of the year.

I was drawn to this book because of the similarities to Daisy Jones & The Six. While the setup is the same and it's set in a similar era, the story is much different.

The book is an interview with Opal and Nev (and others) for an upcoming book on their lives and time on stage. The interviews alternate all while telling a continuous story.

I was much more interested in Opal and Pearl's childhood/upbringing story than I was with the rest of the book which surprised me given how much I loved the music scene in Daisy Jones & The Six. Fewer characters certainly made it easier to follow for which I was appreciative. I found this the more powerful story of the two books, and yet, it just hasn't stuck with me outside of a few annotations. I suppose a large part of that could be how much time I spent comparing the book rather than reading it as its own. That one's on me.

blows daisy jones out of the water in so many more ways than the writing alone

while i usually hate comparisons between books that are barely related, i think that in terms of a fake oral history about a fictional music act, this does everything that daisy jones & the six fails to do. opal & nev is contextualized heavily in the music world that they're supposedly supposed to exist in, and how their existence alone moved history. the commentary made about the music industry and profit being prioritized over creativity was something that was hit right on the head. and the complicated relationship between the two leads is one of interest and not just a big hazy question mark. because of all this i think this book is more for music lovers who understand that context and the realities behind the music we enjoy is just as important as every hit single.

also daisy jones has NOTHING on opal jewel

This was such a good read for me. The themes are handled really deftly and the characters and situations feel true to life. The characters and their moment in time are integrated into the real historical context in a way that feels organic. I'd wondered how interesting the book would be to read when it's leading up to an event you already know will happen but it really works. 

It was a blast listening and reading along. I would highly recommend the audiobook.

This is a wonderful idea for a story. I'm also one of those that came to this book as a fan of Daisy and the Six. It was generally a pretty good read, especially the beginning chapters when the author develops the childhoods and backgrounds of Opal and Nev.

I would have appreciated a bit more development of relationships, especially the friendship between Opal and Nev. It was hard to feel the sting of betrayal when I had little sense of the stakes. I can't blame the “interview” format because Daisy had a similar format and I had a much better understanding of the relationships there.

As another reviewer pointed out, this isn't really for music fans. The fact that they're musicians trying to make it as rock and rollers is secondary to all the social, political, and personal stuff that is happening. Opal is a singer/songwriter but mostly what she wants is to be seen and heard; music is secondary. She's an iconoclast, not someone who's driven to express themselves musically.

Daisy and the Six had a lot more freedom to be humorous, music-focused, and entertaining, because while there was a subtext of feminism present, the overall story was not political. With this one, the music is definitely secondary to the political/social commentary.

André De Shields. That is all.

Well-written but somewhat detached. I came away more intellectually satisfied than emotionally moved.

This book, while having a poignant plot, fell victim to flat writing. I know the whole point was for it to read like a piece of journalism, but the informative style bored me. I missed the florid language of fiction writing. There wasn't any meat or emotion behind any of the words the way they were written. And with a subject as resonant as this, I felt there should have been. It may have been that I had really high expectations for this book before reading, but it was just a slog to get through. Took about 2.5 months to read all the way through. That being said, I loved Virgil and moments of Opal. Don't think I would put this on any recommendation lists though.

this was my first time reading one of those journalist-interviews-style books and i have to say i quite enjoyed it! Sunny, her parents, Opal, Nev, Virgil, Bob - they all had personality oozing off the pages, and i really liked it. i wish Nev could've gotten his comeuppance, but c'est la vie - and how very true to life this was. it was artfully done how in the beginning of the book he was written to be this really sweet affable character, but then you see his true colors with the shocking scoop Sunny reluctantly receives.