Dawnie Walton: The Final Revival of Opal and Nev (2021, Simon & Schuster)
360 pages
English language
Published Sept. 6, 2021 by Simon & Schuster.
Thoughtful and thorough. This novel is expansive.
I'd challenge anyone who preferred DJ&6 to consider why they found that book more palatable and also why they are attempting to compare them in the first place when they are clearly very different stories.
3.5 rounding up to 4 stars. Full disclosure: I really enjoyed Daisy Jones & the Six and headed into this hoping for a similar experience since the format (a compilation of interview snippets with the people behind the music) was the same. Which goes to show: comparison is the thief of joy. Had I listened to this without the comparison, I think I would've enjoyed it more. This story has more to sink your teeth into since it's not just about a band and romance (as Daisy Jones was) but also about the ongoing struggle for racial justice. As much as I enjoyed the format for Daisy Jones, I found myself wishing this story were told in a more conventional structure. I wanted to spend time with the characters and follow them for more unbroken time, without having other perspectives interjected like popcorn. I felt like the format distracted from …
3.5 rounding up to 4 stars. Full disclosure: I really enjoyed Daisy Jones & the Six and headed into this hoping for a similar experience since the format (a compilation of interview snippets with the people behind the music) was the same. Which goes to show: comparison is the thief of joy. Had I listened to this without the comparison, I think I would've enjoyed it more. This story has more to sink your teeth into since it's not just about a band and romance (as Daisy Jones was) but also about the ongoing struggle for racial justice. As much as I enjoyed the format for Daisy Jones, I found myself wishing this story were told in a more conventional structure. I wanted to spend time with the characters and follow them for more unbroken time, without having other perspectives interjected like popcorn. I felt like the format distracted from the story instead of enhancing it.
All that aside, there was a lot to like: the exploration of the 70s music scene and the backdrop of racial tension, captured (today) by the first black editor of a major music publication... and as a Michigander with a mother from Alabama, I'll never be bored by a protagonist who hails from MoTown and is sent to visit family near Birmingham, AL as a kid.
