If you haven’t read any of Mitchell’s previous novels, this will in no way affect your enjoyment of Utopia Avenue. This is something I want to write more about, but I won’t because it could spoil your enjoyment of the story. These characters feature in the supernatural side of the story, a fascinating exploration into the possible cause of a character’s neurological disorder. I don’t want to give too much away, but for anyone who has read Mitchell’s earlier books The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet and The Bone Clocks, you will recognize a couple of characters from those stories. One more thing I want to mention is the way a supernatural plot thread is carefully worked into the narrative.
The scenes featuring some of the band’s live performances were very exciting to read and made me miss the days of seeing live bands play in my hometown in the past. In his depiction of the rise of the band, Mitchell writes convincingly about how a song is formed, how it comes together, how it might sound, without getting lost in descriptive details. I appreciate a lot of the music from this time period, so that probably added to my enjoyment of the story. It even features fictional cameos by some of the BIG names in music from the 1960s. Utopia Avenue reads like the story of a band for the most part. I really cannot stress how readable this book is! Even if you aren’t especially interested in the music scene of the 1960s, I am pretty sure you will get pulled into this story after reading a few pages. Before I knew it, half an hour had passed and I was deep into the story again. On searching for a good quote from Jasper, I got pulled back into re-reading parts of the book. In extreme cases, you’re labelled a schizophrenic and locked up.’ If the model is different, you’re labelled a genius, a misfit, a visionary or a nutcase. If that model isn’t too different from most people’s model, you’re labelled “Sane”. Jasper drinks his punch and lays out his theory. He also comes out with some moments of spoken wisdom, or is it madness?. Jasper has an uncomfortable habit of saying exactly what he’s thinking, which leads to some memorable moments in the tale. Is he cursed to repeat the same mistakes as his dad or can he shake off the shackles of his upbringing? Lead guitarist Jasper has lived through a complicated childhood which lacked familial affection as well as a mother figure. Mitchell writes him as an intriguing character who struggles to emotionally connect with the people in his life. Bassist Dean has had a challenging past coping with a dismissive and occasionally abusive father.
Griff, the drummer, is treated like a drummer and remains–mostly–in the background.Īs I mentioned before, all the characters are written well, but I enjoyed reading both Dean and Jaspers’ chapters the most. So, the songwriters Dean (bass guitar), Elf (piano/organ) and Jasper (lead guitar) get the majority of the chapters. Chapters focus on different members of the band, depending on who wrote the song used as the chapter title.
#REVIEW UTOPIA AVENUE PLUS#
The rock band Utopia Avenue is made up of four members plus their manager, Levon. In Utopia Avenue, there are fewer main characters than in earlier novels such as Cloud Atlas, Ghostwritten, and The Bone Clocks. As with that book, Mitchell had me invested in his main characters right from the start. He seems able to write effortlessly in multiple characters’ voices a skill he demonstrated in his first published novel Ghostwritten back in 1999. I have always enjoyed reading Mitchell’s prose. That might sound slow to you, but it’s a very good reading pace for me😉. It’s the first time in a while that I’ve completed a 500+ page book in under a week. Can we change the world in turbulent times, or does the world change us? Utopia means ‘nowhere’ but could a shinier world be within grasp, if only we had a map? Emerging from London’s psychedelic scene in 1967 and fronted by folksinger Elf Holloway, guitar demigod Jasper de Zoet and blues bassist Dean Moss, Utopia Avenue released only two LPs during its brief and blazing journey from the clubs of Soho and draughty ballrooms to Top of the Pops and the cusp of chart success, to glory in Amsterdam, prison in Rome and a fateful American fortnight in the autumn of 1968.ĭavid Mitchell’s new novel tells the unexpurgated story of Utopia Avenue of riots in the streets and revolutions in the head of drugs, thugs, madness, love, sex, death, art of the families we choose and the ones we don’t of fame’s Faustian pact and stardom’s wobbly ladder. Utopia Avenue are the strangest British band you’ve never heard of.
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