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A review by glitterfluff
Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell
4.0
I wish there was a half-star option, because although aspects of this book really were 4 star, there were other aspects that were just incredibly irritating.
For a start, is the best way to denote accents really endless 'yer', 'pparantely' and 'fookin'? It ties in with another problem I had with the book, which was how much of it is conversation, and how poorly Mitchell writes those conversations. The 'posh' characters speak the same as the Cockney council-house boy, except thar they say 'you' instead of 'yer'.
Then the famous people, in their walk-on parts, speak in a way they didn't in life - I defy anyone to recognise Marc Bolan or David Bowie in the way they speak in this book.
And why do we have to be given map-like directions on how to get everywhere the characters go? Am I missing something deeply profound about journeys and avenues? Or is it just the curse of the historical novelist - 'I've done my research and I'm gonna use it'?
There were parts of the novel that I truly loved - the de Zoet storyline, Elf's story, the story of the band.
Weirdly, Mitchell writes the women in a far more fleshed-out way than his male characters. In spite of being relatively minor characters, Mecca and Luisa, for instance, feel more real than Dean or Griff ever do. I get the feeling Mitchell just doesn't love Dean and Griff the way he loves his female characters and Jasper.
I know I've whinged a lot, but that's because I was expecting so much more from one of my favourite writers. There is lots that's original, the ending (and the whole 'America' bit really) was perfect, and I did enjoy the cameos by stars from the era. But too much bloat and annoyance to quite be a true 4-star.
For a start, is the best way to denote accents really endless 'yer', 'pparantely' and 'fookin'? It ties in with another problem I had with the book, which was how much of it is conversation, and how poorly Mitchell writes those conversations. The 'posh' characters speak the same as the Cockney council-house boy, except thar they say 'you' instead of 'yer'.
Then the famous people, in their walk-on parts, speak in a way they didn't in life - I defy anyone to recognise Marc Bolan or David Bowie in the way they speak in this book.
And why do we have to be given map-like directions on how to get everywhere the characters go? Am I missing something deeply profound about journeys and avenues? Or is it just the curse of the historical novelist - 'I've done my research and I'm gonna use it'?
There were parts of the novel that I truly loved - the de Zoet storyline, Elf's story, the story of the band.
Weirdly, Mitchell writes the women in a far more fleshed-out way than his male characters. In spite of being relatively minor characters, Mecca and Luisa, for instance, feel more real than Dean or Griff ever do. I get the feeling Mitchell just doesn't love Dean and Griff the way he loves his female characters and Jasper.
I know I've whinged a lot, but that's because I was expecting so much more from one of my favourite writers. There is lots that's original, the ending (and the whole 'America' bit really) was perfect, and I did enjoy the cameos by stars from the era. But too much bloat and annoyance to quite be a true 4-star.