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A review by lilifane
Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
David Mitchell is an auto buy/read author for me. So it is rather surprising that it took me so many years to actually read Utopia Avenue. But I feel that you need to be in the mood for this specific topic, and I just wasn't before.
Utopia Avenue is a fictional rock band from the 60s. The plot not only follows the history of the band but also the history and struggles of each band member: Dean (Bass), Jasper (Guitar), Griff (Drums) and Elf (Keyboard). Once again, the story is structured in a special way, it is divided into parts (the band's albums) and chapters (the songs on the respective album). I loved how the chapters were told from the standpoint of the concerned songwriter and explained how/why this specific song came to be. Not all POVs were equally interesting to me, though. I looooved Jaspar's parts the most. His story has the most connections to other Mitchell books (which I adore). I also really enjoyed Elf's POV, but Dean's was too much for me.
The atmosphere Mitchell creates is very vivid. Although I wasn't around in the 60s yet, not even close, I felt like being transformed in the music scene through the writing. But the name-dropping got a bit exhausting with time. Imagine an artist, musician, star from the 1960s, they are probably named in this novel. It was fun at first and created this intimate vibe... but it got so annoying in the second half. Especially since I didn't know 80% of those people and was not particularly interested in the other 20%.
Appreciated the queer and neurodiverse representation, though.
So, would I recommend Utopia Avenue? It depends.
1. If you are interested in the 1960s rock music and in following a fictional band with all its ups and downs? Sure.
2. If you have read all David Mitchell books and need to know all the connections? Definitely.
3. If you haven't read from Mitchell before and are not super interested in the topic, just read The Bone Clocks, Cloud Atlas and Ghostwritten first. I would even say you will enjoy Utopia Avenue the most if you have read those three books (and well, the Thousand Autums of Jacob de Zoet, but that is actually summarized pretty well on 2 pages here).
Utopia Avenue is a fictional rock band from the 60s. The plot not only follows the history of the band but also the history and struggles of each band member: Dean (Bass), Jasper (Guitar), Griff (Drums) and Elf (Keyboard). Once again, the story is structured in a special way, it is divided into parts (the band's albums) and chapters (the songs on the respective album). I loved how the chapters were told from the standpoint of the concerned songwriter and explained how/why this specific song came to be. Not all POVs were equally interesting to me, though. I looooved Jaspar's parts the most. His story has the most connections to other Mitchell books (which I adore). I also really enjoyed Elf's POV, but Dean's was too much for me.
The atmosphere Mitchell creates is very vivid. Although I wasn't around in the 60s yet, not even close, I felt like being transformed in the music scene through the writing. But the name-dropping got a bit exhausting with time. Imagine an artist, musician, star from the 1960s, they are probably named in this novel. It was fun at first and created this intimate vibe... but it got so annoying in the second half. Especially since I didn't know 80% of those people and was not particularly interested in the other 20%.
Appreciated the queer and neurodiverse representation, though.
So, would I recommend Utopia Avenue? It depends.
1. If you are interested in the 1960s rock music and in following a fictional band with all its ups and downs? Sure.
2. If you have read all David Mitchell books and need to know all the connections? Definitely.
3. If you haven't read from Mitchell before and are not super interested in the topic, just read The Bone Clocks, Cloud Atlas and Ghostwritten first. I would even say you will enjoy Utopia Avenue the most if you have read those three books (and well, the Thousand Autums of Jacob de Zoet, but that is actually summarized pretty well on 2 pages here).