NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The long-awaited new novel from the bestselling, prize-winning author of Cloud Atlas and The Bone Clocks.New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice • “Mitchell’s rich imaginative stews bubble with history and drama, and this time the flavor is a blend of Carnaby Street and Chateau Marmont.”—The Washington Post “A sheer pleasure to read . . . Mitchell’s prose is … Post
“A sheer pleasure to read . . . Mitchell’s prose is suppler and richer than ever . . . Making your way through this novel feels like riding a high-end convertible down Hollywood Boulevard.”—Slate
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • NPR • USA Today • The Guardian • The Independent • Kirkus Reviews • Men’s Health • PopMatters
Utopia Avenue is the strangest British band you’ve never heard of. Emerging from London’s psychedelic scene in 1967, and fronted by folk singer Elf Holloway, blues bassist Dean Moss and guitar virtuoso Jasper de Zoet, Utopia Avenue embarked on a meteoric journey from the seedy clubs of Soho, a TV debut on Top of the Pops, the cusp of chart success, glory in Amsterdam, prison in Rome, and a fateful American sojourn in the Chelsea Hotel, Laurel Canyon, and San Francisco during the autumn of ’68.
David Mitchell’s kaleidoscopic novel tells the unexpurgated story of Utopia Avenue’s turbulent life and times; of fame’s Faustian pact and stardom’s wobbly ladder; of the families we choose and the ones we don’t; of voices in the head, and the truths and lies they whisper; of music, madness, and idealism. Can we really change the world, or does the world change us?
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David Mitchell is one of my favorite authors, so the moment I found out Utopia Avenue was out I had to get it. And now I’ve finished it.
In some ways this book is like Mitchell’s others: brilliant writing, lots of backstory interrupting the forward progress of the story but well integrated into it nonetheless, use of the “Mitchellverse” – meaning he brings in characters or character references from his past stories.
In other ways, though, this was a departure from the usual: the magical realism element was lessened, the plot isn’t as off-kilter or complex as some Mitchell novels can be (such as Bone Clocks or Cloud Atlas, as prominent examples), and the ending, which I won’t divulge, isn’t as dramatic.
But the book is very enjoyable, especially if you’re of a certain age, as I am, and lived during the “British Invasion” of the 1960’s, the L.A. rock scene of the same era centered in Laurel Canyon, and the San Francisco “Happening” that brought us the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and many more extraordinary musicians and groups. Utopia Avenue itself is a budding rock group, so many of the stars of the late 60’s make appearances in the story – David Bowie, John Lennon, Mick Jones, Mama Cass, Leonard Cohen, etc. If you’re not that old but into music generally, this book will inform and amuse, especially if you’re able to compare the music industry then with what it is now.
So, overall, this is not Mitchell’s new best work but it is worth reading. If you’re new to him, though, start with The Bone Clocks and then go here, rather than the reverse.
What can I say – I loved this book from beginning to end. Complex, interesting, with similes and metaphors that tickle the imagination, and characters you want to succeed.
I won’t lie, at one point while reading this I had to check Spotify to see if Utopia Avenue isn’t really a band (there is no band, but there are plenty of playlists in honor of the book).
There were a few points during the novel that I wondered what was the point of this book, but then I realized the point is this – there are four characters who we cheer for – and ultimately cry for.
One thing to note, David Mitchell likes to tie all his books together, and this one has a loose thread to The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. That’s the only book of his I couldn’t get into, but don’t let that feeling that you missed something turn you off. Mitchell does a good job filling in the gaps.
David Mitchell is a master. Utopia Avenue explores the rise of a fictional British band in the 60s. Even if you’re not a fan of the music or time period, I recommend this book for the characters, tribulations and successes they go through.
My first taste of a much talked about author and this book didn’t disappoint. One of the things I most liked was the way Mitchell introduces actual figures from the past into his story. On the music scene in London and the USA of 1967-8 his characters get to hobnob with the likes of David Bowie (generally hanging around on stairways and at parties lamenting his lack of initial success) and Brian Jones (unsurprisingly usually out of it and trying to have meaningful conversations).
At 560 pages it’s long but only drags its feet on one or two occasions, and then we’re back into fast-paced action and dialogue. Very worthwhile.
I love David Mitchell’s work and this was no exception.
Let me preface this review with the fact that I dreamed about this book. Last night, in fact, mere pages before finishing it. Something BIG happened and I needed to process it. When you dream in the world your book is taking place… I mean, dreaming is a subconscious state, which means Utopia Avenue was playing itself out at that level…wow.
You know me, I don’t tend to add a lot of book reviews to my own blog but when I read something I truly loved, I want you to know about it. If you liked any of what you’ve read of mine, I know you’ll like Utopia Avenue. It’s a work of historical fiction and just hums with that 60’s music vibe. And what a tremendous playlist you could pull from the pages. I’ve read a few of Mitchell’s books and can tell you this one really affected me.
I loved it. What a ‘trip’ through some of the most notable musical years in history with so many amazing cameos. Really an excellent novel with so much going on and incredible character workups.
I was happy to read the sidebar story (knock, knock) with Jasper in keeping with Mitchell’s supernatural storytelling i.e. The Bone Clocks and Cloud Atlas.
So glad he wrote this book. More so that I read it. Want to understand how Mitchell’s books form a universe all their own? Check out the connections Utopia Avenue has with his other books https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia_Avenue
Okay, this book had some flaws, but I was so caught up Mitchell’s world, his fictional pop group in the richly-detailed London of 1967, that I forgave them. As a Boomer, that era excited me in childhood, so I happily enjoyed the ups and downs and sometimes bizarreness of this tale. A few times I thought, ‘oh please, enough already,’ but it didn’t curtail my pleasure. I’d never read David Mitchell before. I’m now discovering his many other books. What an incredible writer.
Okay I don’t exactly know what I was expecting – Slade House is the only David Mitchell I’ve read to date (although like every third reader in America I own The Bone Clocks and just haven’t started it) and I was absolutely transfixed by it… The writing, the originality, the weirdness – everything about it worked perfectly to my taste as a reader. So I was eager to dive into this one, both because I had such a great experience with Slade and because it was a 60s British music scene story.
Yet from almost the very beginning, I felt like I was reading something in another language – I could follow along okay but still somehow felt like I was missing a context or a set of idiomatic understandings that would make the whole thing resonate. It was frustrating and disconcerting and made the read very difficult and not at all enjoyable as a result. I’ve looked at a bunch of other reviews, and I’m starting to think what I’m missing is a sense of David Mitchell. Slade House hinted at it, but I think to fully engage with this (or any of his longer works, from what I’m gathering) it helps immensely to have multiple exposures to his writing and Multiverse. So I’m going to set this one aside for now – I really want to like it and give it the read out deserves, but don’t feel like I can adequately do that without a little more Mitchell under my belt first…
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my obligation-free review copy.
This book tells the story of the formation of a late 1960’s UK music band who are contemporaries of the Beatles etc – fabulous! David Mitchell recreates the era, the dynamics of an eclectic but individually gifted group of musicians, whose collective genius sees them burst onto the global stage. The characters are diverse and complex, and relationships between the group members are occasionally tense, but mostly supportive as each one battles with family issues and the temptations of life as a budding star. An intricately woven, complex, riveting read.
Big book, read it in two days.
This might be my book of the year. If you love rock ‘n’ roll stories like DAISY JONES AND THE SIX, this is an absolute must-read. I fell in love with all of the characters and really truly felt like I couldn’t put this one down. PROVE IT should be a real song – I can hear it in my head right now!
David Mitchell takes us on a journey with a British band in the 1960’s .The agony and ecstasy and emotional roller coasters one must endure to succeed in the music business are grueling .Jasper of of the band members tells us songs we like are dandelion seeds billowing across space and time .Who knows where they land .If a song plants a idea or a feeling in a mind it has already changed the world .One only needs to remember their favorite song and the emotions and memories are as vivid today as they were yesterday.
I know when I have read a good book, I feel sad the minute I have finished, and today I am sad.
Utopia Avenue, the story of Dean, Elf, Jasper, Griff. Mitchel took me by the hand and led me to the sixties and captured my imagination. My only regret is that my imagination couldn’t summon up enough creativity to let me hear them play – I bet they were awesome.
As a writer and a music nut, I loved it, whatever I read next has a disadvantage as this is a tough act to follow.
Just read this book
Utopia Avenue is David Mitchell’s eighth novel. It is five years since he published his last novel Slade House. What kind of novel is this one? Well, it’s long – almost 600 pages. It centers on a British rock band from its inception in early 1987 to its sudden dissolution in 1988. The group brings out two albums in those two years and a third album comes out posthumously in 2019. The book is divided into six sections corresponding to the six sides of the three albums, and each song title constitutes a chapter heading.
It is an eclectic band. Dean the bass guitarist plays the blues. Jasper the lead guitarist gives the band its psychedelic character. Elf comes from folk. And Griff the drummer originates in jazz. Each has an interesting back story. Dean has an abusive drunk for a father; his promiscuity has serious consequences for him and the band. Jasper spent two years in a mental clinic suffering from “severe aural schizophrenia,” which threatens to return after joining the band. Elf has a boyfriend who two-times her before she discovers what her true sexual orientation is. Griff is involved in a car accident with his brother.
Utopia Avenue has been called a realist novel. A label only applied to one other of Mitchell’s novels, Black Swan Green (2006), a semi-autobiographical novel. But even Black Swan Green inhabits a liminal space between material and spiritual reality. Similarly Utopia Avenue constantly undermines the physical world with the irruption of the supernatural. Or is it with the psychological?
The key to this is Jasper. As a child he heard a Knock Knock in his head that was repressed for a matter of years by a drug that is starting to wear off as he joins the band. From the start he appears to act a part rather than live it. He is unable to process emotion of any kind. He has to tell himself to say “Thank you.” He “guesses it’s his turn to speak.” He cannot tell whether Dean is being ironic. He “acts a smile.” Appropriately he asks, “‘Do you think reality is just a mirror for something else?’”
Much the most developed character, Jasper only lives fully inside his head. Slowly he learns that Knock Knock is an evil character from an earlier Mitchell novel, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (2010) – or (Mitchel always allows an “or”) – Knock Knock is “an unknown.” It represents the irruption of the unknown into the world of the known.
Mitchell is well known for his habit of “re-hiring” characters and re-using incidents from his earlier work. He has said, “Each of my books is one chapter in a sort of sprawling macronovel. That’s my life’s work.” In this case the evil character turns out to be a monk, Enomoto, who flees his body as he is being poisoned to occupy Jasper’s great, great, great grandfather. Once the book reaches the long explanation of all this pre-history given to Jasper by Marinus, another benign immortal who has featured in several of Mitchell’s previous novels, I find myself having doubts. Mitchell’s use of the supernatural worked well in Cloud Atlas (2004) where it remained implicit. But once it became explicit, which happened from The Bone Clocks (2014) on, I couldn’t help feeling that Mitchell was appropriating material from popular adventure stories in which everyone is either a hero or a villain. Too over-simplified. Too Boys’ Own.
Mitchell does try to treat this supernatural material with skepticism. After Marinus has filled Jasper in with the supernatural back-story, he says, “The chain of events would fill a hefty novel.” He is referring ironically of course to The Thousand Autumns where these events occurred, which ran to almost 500 pages. Also the non-realist material does allow Mitchell to suggest that individual identity is only a facet of life seen whole. He neither believes nor misbelieves in the existence of a soul. As Elf asks herself near the end of the novel, “Is the soul a real thing?” She adds, “I wondered then as I wonder now.”
I also found the sheer proliferation of famous musicians and stars of the late 1980s overdone at times. Within a page Elf runs into both Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett and Allen Ginsberg. At a film producer’s party in London members of the band meet Brian Jones (The Stones), Jimmy Hendrix, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Keith Moon (The Who), not to mention Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon. At least Mitchell resorts to irony to anticipate his readers’ objections by having Dean remark, “There’s too many famous people at this party. It’s bloody ridiculous.” Mitchell also has Jasper run into David Bowie (before he’s famous) on the stairs when Bowie says, “I was on my way up. Now I’m going down. Is that a metaphor?” Clumsy is what that is.
Still, Mitchell employs language to wonderful effect at times. A passing van has “a phlegmy carburetor.” The cellar of Soho coffee bar “is as hot, dank, and dark as armpits.” Jasper meets a friend’s girlfriend “whose eyelashes curl and interlace like Venus flytraps.” Elf wakes up in New York: “An American moon is wedged between two skyscrapers, like a nickel fallen down a crack.” What an appropriate simile. And he can be witty, as in this newspaper headline: “UTOPIA AVENUE IN DIRE STRAITS.”
Mitchell is always worth reading. He can be original and banal in the same book. Above all he consistently erases the border between the material and spiritual/psychic worlds. When Jasper remarks, “The reality isn’t at all like the fantasy,” his girlfriend responds, “When did that ever matter?”