Reviews tagging 'Death'

Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell

10 reviews

aisclaradm's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

A great book about music, drugs, love, grief, but mainly about youth, and about how difficult it can be to find yourself and your identity as a young person. It was so immersive and engaging, and even though at times it felt fan-fictionesque because of interactions with real artists of the time, this added a lot to a nostalgic feel for a decade I haven’t even experienced. Some plot lines were brilliant and completely unexpected,

such as the discovery that Jasper’s schizophrenia was actually due to a very real supernatural entity lodged in his mind,

and I really really loved these arcs, though I wish they had had more of a central role in the story. The ending was a bit of a gut-punch, 

and Dean’s death, right after having had his numerous epiphanies about life, disappointed me hugely,

but I suppose it had the intended effect.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Gun violence, Homophobia, Sexual content, Violence, Police brutality, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Minor: Confinement, Genocide, and War

inkamaar's review

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

An interesting, entertaining, and - at times - confusing story of a band and its members. You never fully knew what was going to happen next. Very detailed work on musical processes and life as a musician in the '60s, the author sure did his research. I enjoyed reading it, although there were times when I felt like the book would never end. In the end I kind of wished it never did.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Child death, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

ninadickens's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

jujubees22's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

b_austridge's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Death

Minor: Suicide attempt

jordangddrd's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I loved almost every part of this book, and the fresh take on a classic rock band where the members don't all hate each other's guts really compelled me to finish this book more than other similar recent releases. <The ending was Stand By Me levels of shocking and heartbreaking.> That being said, the descriptions and roles of POC characters in this book didn't meet the standards I would expect from a book written in 2020. Also, the dialogue from American characters but especially <Janis Joplin> (who was from Texas) felt to me like David Mitchell has maybe never had a conversation with an American person.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexism, Car accident, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Minor: Body shaming, Cancer, Fatphobia, and Antisemitism

kingaisnotcool's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

i usually love magical realism but the magical realism in this was completely unnecessary and ruined what i hoped would be good representation of mental illness (specifically schizophrenia).

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Content Warnings

Minor: Biphobia, Child death, Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and War

schausjk's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5

This book took a really long time to actually grab me. While I did ultimately enjoy parts of it, it's not something I ever would have picked up on my own, and one of the main characters (Dean) annoyed me so deeply I would've just stopped reading at so many points in the book if I had any choice. In addition to his general attitude and treatment of women, the way Mitchell insisted on writing all Dean's "you"s as "yer" was just infuriating. Elf had promise but felt too two dimensional and wasn't given enough narrative time in the last half of the book, Jasper's story was interesting until it got too pseudo-scientific about what was going on, and we got almost nothing of Griff to the point where I clearly felt the author just wasn't interested in him. Even Levon, who has so much potential for an interesting character, was barely touched on except "is gay, will be mentioned once that he's Jewish, and is generally A Good Person". As it was, I felt the book spent too much time name-dropping artists from the 1960s that I absolutely do not care about and the book itself really dragged on. It genuinely felt like outside of Jasper, there wasn't really a plot.

From what I've read about the book itself, it's probably more satisfying for folks who've read previous David Mitchell books and can enjoy the ways it intersects with those previous books, but for a first-time reader like me, it was just tolerable

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexism, Sexual assault, and Antisemitism

blenchbooks's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Sadly I didn't enjoy this book as much as I had hoped or as much as Mitchell's other books I've read. As someone who isn't super familiar with the music scene of the late 60s, a lot of the nods to people and places didn't add anything for me. I went through most of the novel waiting for a speculative or interesting element to come in and when it did it felt like almost a completely different book had been shoved in. This section also heavily references The Bone Clocks and I think would possibly be quite confusing for those who hadn't read it. 
I really wanted to love this book and there were some parts that I really enjoyed but sadly it just wasn't a win for me. 
I would recommend this book for fans of the 60s or those who lived through them and want some nostalgia but I would also recommend reading his last three books first as I think understanding the references does add something to this one. 
I will still 100% pick up Mitchell's next book and I hope I enjoy it more than this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Drug use

Moderate: Child death and Suicide attempt

jomarchkinnie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Infertility, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, and Grief