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So in my mission to read the majority of the 2022 Women’s Prize for Fiction nominees before the winner is announced this summer, I thought I’d start with a book I’ve been wanting to read for some time now.
SYNOPSIS: Opal is a fiercely independent young woman pushing against the grain in her style and attitude, Afro-punk before that term existed. Coming of age in Detroit, she can’t imagine settling for a 9-to-5 job—despite her unusual looks, Opal believes she can be a star. So when the aspiring British singer/songwriter Neville Charles discovers her at a bar’s amateur night, she takes him up on his offer to make rock music together for the fledgling Rivington Records.
In early seventies New York City, just as she’s finding her niche as part of a flamboyant and funky creative scene, a rival band signed to her label brandishes a Confederate flag at a promotional concert. Opal’s bold protest and the violence that ensues set off a chain of events that will not only change the lives of those she loves, but also be a deadly reminder that repercussions are always harsher for women, especially black women, who dare to speak their truth.
Decades later, as Opal considers a 2016 reunion with Nev, music journalist S. Sunny Shelton seizes the chance to curate an oral history about her idols. Sunny thought she knew most of the stories leading up to the cult duo’s most politicised chapter. But as her interviews dig deeper, a nasty new allegation from an unexpected source threatens to blow up everything.
REVIEW: I was really excited to read this one but my stupid brain/memory saw the likeness between this and Daisy Jones and The Six so it took me a while to settle into the story. I found myself waiting to love it as much as Diay Jones, waiting for that moment where the lightbulb went off in my head and I was like ‘ahh OK, I’m enjoying this now’ but sadly I don’t think that moment came.
I found that I couldn’t gel with the characters. Perhaps intentionally, I found all the characters quite one dimensional and frankly, self-indulgent and annoying. I found myself reading the story after about 125 pages, thinking do I like these characters? Do I care for them? And I’m still undecided now.
Yet, I really enjoyed the ‘behind-the-scenes of success’ story as well as the lead up to the BIG event that frames Opal and Nev’s music career. I liked reading all the different characters explaining the defining moments that lead up to that event, reflecting on how if it was different, it might not have happened. I really enjoy books like that, that build up to something and I felt Dawnie Walton executed this incredibly well. Yet after the event happened, I thought the story fell quite flat and yet again, I found I was asking myself whether I cared for these characters enough to keep reading their story.
So I’d say give this book a go if you enjoy books that are written in biography/autobiography style and if you have a clever enough brain to differentiate this between Daisy Jones and The Six. Perhaps if you didn’t like Daisy Jones, you might find yourself liking this. The characters for me lacked real emotion and defining characteristics but I thought the exploration into the racism in the music industry in the 1970s to be absolutely brilliant and very well executed by Walton!
READ THIS IF:
🎸 You enjoy books that are written in biography/autobiography style
🎸 You like reading books about the music industry/bands rise to fame
🎸 You want to read the Women’s Prize longlisted nominees
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