The Final Revival of Opal and Nev (2021) by Dawnie Walton

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

The Final Revival of Opal and Nev (2021)

by Dawnie Walton

Hell's Kitchen, New York

Manhattan: 23/33

New York: 72/105

    Unclear how I missed this oral history style book about a fictional rock duo back in 2021.  I guess the answer is, "the pandemic," but the New York Times published a rave review and the Amazon listing has over 2000 reviews, which is pretty decent for any work of fiction that isn't an absolute idiot fest AND it's about the music industry which is an area of special interest to me.   But miss it I did.  I was happy to read it as part of the 1,001 Novels: A Library of American project since it is neither a work of YA lit nor a bildungsroman about a sad girl in her bedroom- that is basically all it takes to get me excited about a title on the 1,001 Novels list roughly 20 percent of the way through.

   Despite most of the action taking place in New York City, it isn't much of a New York book since the text is mostly transcribed interviews of people recounting historical events.  One of the weaknesses of the oral history format, similar to what you see in epistolary novels, is that the speakers just go on forever about everything, so you don't get the type of editing that might condense an otherwise unwieldly narrative into something more compact.

   Walton did a great job of making the fake story of Opal & Nev sound believable.  Certainly a reader with no professional knowledge of the music industry would find no reason to poke holes in this book but I found myself wondering if Opal was getting publishing royalties or not, if she was properly credited as a songwriter and how her independent label managed to get promotion and distribution equivalent to that of a major label in the time before punk rock, when indies were a rare commodity.