I adore David Mitchell and will read anything he writes. I was thrilled to see he had published a new book. I was also very pleased to see that 'Utopia Avenue' was nominated for the Goodreads Choice Awards. This is certainly one of my favorite reads of this year.

'Utopia Avenue' follows the birth and short life of a band, 'Utopia Avenue', through the perspectives of different members of the band. I loved the structure of the book, and seeing how the band developed from their different perspectives. Jasper was probably my favorite character; he has a very unique perspective and is so tortured for much of the book.

The beginning of the book was a little slow for me, but once I really got into the story and the characters I couldn't put it down. The ending is sad but pretty perfect.

A wonderfully written, unique and engaging book that I will be purchasing and recommending.

Man, I wanted to like this book. It's about rock music in the 60s, maaaan! I love rock history, and devour non-fiction books on the subject frequently. But it's so hard to make fictional bands seem authentic and the constant scenes of actual stars like Bowie, Jerry Garcia and Leonard Cohen had me cringing.

I know David Mitchell is a good writer, but I don't think he pulled off something that is nearly impossible. Not for me.

David Mitchell is my favorite author so I was absolutely head over heels when I heard he was releasing a book this year. Utopia Avenue is exactly the story I needed during the Covid shelter in place. I love when Mitchell writes about music and appreciate the nods and easter eggs for the other books in his "series". The characters were likable and the story compelling. More please!

Music will still do to people what it does to us now
<blockquote>"Songs do not change the world," declares Jasper. "People do. People pass laws, riot, hear God and act accordingly. People invent, kill, make babies, start wars."</blockquote>

Here's a novel that's mostly fun, if a little long (what is it with men shamelessly throwing hundreds upon hundreds of pages of their excess verbosity upon you?). Utopia Avenue, by David Mitchell, is the name of a fictitious British band in the late 1960s, fusion folk psychedelic rock 'n' roll, their struggles and adventures.

<blockquote>"Songs like dandelion seeds, billowing across space and time. Who knows where they'll land? Or what they'll bring?" [...] "Where will these song-seeds land? It's the Parable of the Sower. Often, usually, they'd land on barren soil and not take root. But sometimes, they land in a mind that is ready. Is fertile. What happens then? Feelings and ideas happen. Joy, solace, sympathy. Assurance. Cathartic sorrow. The idea that life could be, should be, better than this. An invitation to slip you into somebody else's skin for a little while. If a song plants an idea or a feeling in a mind, it has already changed the world."</blockquote>

We get to know three of the band members quite intimately, while the drummer remains aloof. Each of them standouts in their fields, the manager brought them together with the goal of forming a genre-spanning supergroup. So it was a little less than organic, but on the whole, they're hardworking, decent people who make respectably good music; they pay some dues but find some level of success. And they at times succumb to the lifestyle excesses that come with the job.

The guitarist's story thread veers off into the paranormal. This makes me roll my eyes a little, even if I can't turn the pages fast enough; it's also classic Mitchell territory and fodder for late-night weed-fueled conversations about life, the universe, and everything.

The characters do not get equal airtime, and this felt unbalanced to me. The manager also stars in a story a two, but it's impossible to ignore the cameos. David Bowie, Brian Jones, Leonard Cohen, Syd Barrett, Janis Joplin, and others. Gimmicky to the point of tiresome. It irked me that Cohen mentions Toronto but not Montreal.

<blockquote>"Once, I took the elevator up there." Leonard nods at the Empire State Building. "I looked over Manhattan and was seized by an absurd desire to take it. To own it. Do we write songs as a substitute for possession?"

"I write songs to discover what I want to say," says Elf.

"I write 'em 'cause I just bloody love it," says Dean.

"Maybe you're the purest artist here," remarks Lenny.</blockquote>
Cue music. It just feels a little cheap.

Although, I thoroughly enjoyed the extended scenes with Francis Bacon, one of a few non-musicians on the London scene at the time to make their way into this novel, but likely I responded to that only because he's been a topic of conversation around here lately, his art grim and eerie and visceral. His art is not on stage here, only his lifestyle.

These walk-on parts add nothing to the story. But in a sense, they are the story. This is Mitchell's love letter to a bygone era of music that I can only assume played a significant role in shaping him.

<blockquote>"In fifty years," said Jasper, "or five hundred, or five thousand, music will still do to people what it does to us now. That's my prediction."</blockquote>

So, what does it do to us now? Music is our balm, our panacea. It can encircle you with your people, it can shut out the entire world. I think it is used more often as a distraction than as a connection. It blares everywhere, but who really listens?

<blockquote>Hundreds of people pass by. Reality erases itself as it rerecords itself, Elf thinks. Time is the Great Forgetter. She gets her notebook from her handbag and writes, Memories are unreliable . . . Art is memory made public. Time wins in the long run. Books turn to dust, negatives decay, records get worn out, civilisations burn. But as long as the art endures, a song or a view or a thought or a feeling someone once thought worth keeping is saved and stays shareable. Others can say, "I feel that too."</blockquote>

It transcends language and creates an illusion of oneness; one person responds to a beat, another to a melody, another to the story the lyrics tell, but it taps a harmony of being. It's much more complex than a shared feeling.

Utopia Avenue is not about music, it's about its creators. It explores the inspiration for the music — love, loss, drugs, schizophrenia, otherworldly experience. Sometime the art comes about because it's a better option than not trying to make art. Sometimes it pays the rent. Art can come equally from hard work or divine luck or happenstance.

Super entertaining and full of flavor (though some not always to my taste), but a little short on substance. It took me to some unexpected places, dramatically speaking, and it was not a terrible way to spend midsummer evenings on my balcony. Even if I can reel off better band names in my sleep.

While I'm a David Mitchell fan, reading this one was a slog for me most of the way through. Though it was fun to revisit the 60s of my childhood, and to see the numerous cameos of rock musicians and other celebrities of the time, I find reading about music that you cannot hear because it doesn't really exist to be somewhat annoying. Also, this seems to be two novels shoved together--one that exists in the realm of Mitchell's other horology books, with some characters reappearing here along with another deZoet, this time Jasper--and another novel that focuses on the rather pedestrian trials and tribulations of a psychedelic folk rock group called Utopia Avenue (which claims Jasper as a member). The two aspects were often jarring. Nevertheless, I'm happy I stuck with it to the satisfying end. I just wish I could listen to the music.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This bildungsroman of for young musicians making their way in the rock and roll revolution in England in 1968 is one of Mitchell's most accessible and engaging novels . Each has a distinct and singular talent, but somehow their eclectic sound works, thrusting them up the ladder of success and into a world in which famous performers and familiar performances blend into the lives and experiences of four singular characters from disparate backgrounds who become the band of the title. The novel references some of the author's previous books and characters, but a familiarity with Mitchell's oeuvre isn't necessary to immerse yourself thoroughly and enjoyable in his fully realized world.

Utopia Avenue is the story of a "created" band in the mid to late 1960s. You have Dean, the bassist, Jasper, the guitarist, Griff, the drummer, and Elf, the keyboardist. Manager Levon finds these four and brings them together to create a band. Dean, Jasper, & Elf are the song creators of the group which has found a very democratic way of being a band. Over the next two years the band creates two albums and travels Europe and the US starting their careers.
Like with all of Mitchell's books there is a supernatural element and the one in this book connect directly with Mitchell's earlier book The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. But this is not the only connection to another Mitchell book. There are several places where we meet characters from other books, go to places in other novels, or experience music from another Mitchell musician.
I liked this novel but I had issues with it. The big thing is the almost constant cameos by musicians of the time. Multiple meetings with Brian Jones and David Bowie, an acid trip with Jerry Garcia, an elevator ride with Leonard Cohen, etc. Now I am not a musician nor did I live in the 60s but it felt more like name dropping than helping the story progress. Also Dean's story felt like it came to a predictable outcome which did not help me feel better about the book.
I have not read all of Mitchell's novels but I do want to go and read Jacob de Zoet. I think the biggest issue that Mitchell has is Cloud Atlas. So many readers really liked that one so it makes the others less enjoyable. That being said give this one a try, it might be a little longer than it needed to be but it is still good.

I was psyched to see that David Mitchell was releasing a new novel. Several of his previous books are amongst my all time favorites. I love the quirk-factor and the smart writing.

In this tale we follow a fictional 60's-era British rock band called Utopia Avenue. The book has plenty of cameos by real rockers from The Beatles to The Rolling Stones, David Bowie and more. The book oozes with the vibe of the era. Some may compare this book to Daisy Jones & The Six (loved it!) which also follows a rock band during roughly the same point in time. While there are similarities the feeling and style of both books are different. Utopia Avenue reads like straight up 1960's historical fiction but there is a sneaky thread of oddity running through in the story. We see all the tumult of the era with riots, anti-Vietnam sentiment, sex, drugs and rock & roll. There are the growing pains of achieving fame and how it impacts the group.

I enjoy music-themed stories and this one was no exception. I also like that the author has created a playlist for the novel, which you can find on Spotify. Mitchell is clearly a talented writer who has a knack for details that make stories come alive. I love the cleverness of the connections that he makes. This will be a great read for Mitchell fans AND music fans alike.

An exceptionally engaging tale of the 4 members (plus their relatives, friends and enemies) of an English musical band of the late 60s. Mitchell consistently surprises and delights with new images of the mundane. For example, when describing the humid London air he writes “Pigeons row, not flap, through the humid air.”
We learn how that band forms, faces the challenges of succeeding in the music world. Along the way they meet the gods of the rock and roll world. The pace ebbs and flows building to a wondrous end.
An academic law library will add this to their collection of material to give students a release from the stress of legal eduction.

What a prose stylist! I am reading happily away in this book, and will look forward to adding it to my David Mitchell collection!

I love David Mitchell, but this subject matter just does not interest me in the same way his other works have. He's still able to spin a compelling yarn, though. I will happily read whatever he puts out next.

Utopia Avenue is a fun book. The rock scene of the 60s in both the UK and US is fascinating, and the cameos by stars were great. I like how the book was structured around the songs on albums. But the book would have been more fun if it was 200 pages shorter and had a stronger plot and a clearer understanding of who the main character is.

All of the conflict comes from outside of the band. Real rock bands are infamous for being petri dishes of conflict, yet the members of UA all get along. I wanted to see some Fleetwood Mac in Griff's attraction to Elf (which went no where), or some of the Beatles' songwriting rivalry between Jasper, Dean, and Elf (other than rolling dice). Just like the band doesn't realize that Elf is the frontwoman, the book doesn't seem to realize that Jasper is the main character. I'm guessing that readers of Mitchell's Jacob de Zoet book will appreciate Jasper even more than I did.

I had very high hopes for this book and it fell short of me. Reviews were good. It was highly publicized. And seemed to follow the same vein as Daisy Jones & The Six. But where Utopia Avenue failed, in my opinion, was capturing my interest from the beginning. It was a slow go of things and I struggled to connect with the main characters. There were a lot of fun cultural references for the 1960s but beyond that, I found there to be a lack of sustenance. I wanted more. I wanted Utopia Avenue to be my new favorite band. And it just didn't happen.

DNF. I think I picked this up at the wrong time and am not in the right mood for such a sprawling read. Thank you to Random House for the free advance copy.

This book is gorgeously written. It is a story about people and their various problems, triumphs, and failures. I really loved it. David Mitchell's writing is just so evocative and you just have to savor it!

Excellent book about music scene in London, with all the characteristic David Mitchell details. He is an amazing writer and I would read his grocery list. Really enjoyed this one!

While I always enjoy David Mitchell's writing, this one seem very long winded and took so long to get to the point. Maybe I missed the point all together, but it just wasn't up to par for me.

I wanted to read this book because I have read other David Mitchell books and really enjoyed them. This one also fits the bill. I loved the historical fiction aspects to this novel. Anything that takes place in the sixties really fascinated me and this one does not disappoint.

David Mitchell's Utopia Avenue follows the path of an eclectic rock group — the eponymous Utopia Avenue — as it forms in London in 1967, rises in popularity and eventually hits the big time. Its members are brought together by Levon Frankland, a producer for Moonwhale Music, who decides to construct the perfect musical group. He recruits four remarkable misfits in his quest: Dean Moss, bass; Elizabeth "Elf" Holloway, keyboards; electric guitar genius Jasper de Zoet; and drummer Peter "Griff" Griffin. In addition to being brilliant instrumentalists, each is a fantastic singer and three out of the four are talented composers to boot. The strangers agree to give the arrangement a go, and after a few rocky starts grow into the hit-factory envisioned by their manager. More importantly, though, as they travel together and experience the ups and downs of the London rock scene, the loners become a family.

Utopia Avenue defies easy categorization. Its time period seems a little too recent to label it "historical fiction," but it has all the hallmarks of a truly outstanding historical fiction novel nonetheless. The 1960s, of course, was a period of enormous societal change; Vietnam War protests were occurring, women and Black people were visibly asserting their rights, people were experimenting with mind-altering substances, taboos against sex were falling while skirts were rising – and the popular music of the day reflected these changes. Mitchell could have taken his tale in a number of directions to make a statement about the era, but chooses to avoid commentary; the book is more of a snapshot of a specific time. He does, however, capture the complexity of the age through his pitch-perfect depiction of London's pop-music scene. Everything you'd expect to encounter in a book about the 1960s is present – the drugs, parties, sex, anti-war riots, elevation of rock stars to near godlike status – and yet it's so skillfully portrayed that the setting feels entirely fresh, if not revelatory. The author's passion for his subject is evident on each page, and his knowledge of it is remarkable; I admit I was shocked to learn he was born after the events depicted in the book and hadn't actually lived through the turbulent '60s because everything about his narrative feels so spot-on.

The core of the novel is the characters as they grow and change, each learning about who they are and what they want out of life. They travel together, but the primary journey is one of individual self-discovery. Each chapter is told from the point of view of one of the songwriters (Levon and Griff each get one pivotal chapter, but the lion's share of the narrative bounces between the other three), and through their perspectives readers get to know each of the bandmates intimately, complete with all their quirks and foibles. This works well with the book's structure; each chapter's title is the name of one of the group's songs, and the point of view reflected within it is that of the particular song's composer, with some revelation about how the song came to be. I can honestly say I can't remember another book where I so completely fell in love with the characters, even though each is flawed (some more than others) and at times behaves unwisely. I was truly saddened on reaching the novel's conclusion, knowing that I'd never again encounter these new friends.

Those familiar with Mitchell's oeuvre will know that, like Stephen King and Neal Stephenson, he generally connects his novels back to each other in some way, and Utopia Avenue is no exception. I found that this particular book was more straightforward than some of his earlier works, however, and those encountering Mitchell for the first time won't feel like they're missing important information for the most part. There's one key plot point about two-thirds of the way through that does briefly veer solidly into Mitchell's multiverse. If you're unfamiliar with his works, what exactly is happening here could be confusing, but the end result is clear enough that you won't feel overly lost. That said, there are plenty of "Easter eggs" scattered throughout the narrative that will delight the author's seasoned fans. For example, Jasper shares a surname with the protagonist of Mitchell's earlier novel The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet.

My only quibble is with the "cameos" the author packs into the novel. As the band gets invited to parties and the crew goes on tour, they encounter a musical who's who (David Bowie, Janis Joplin, John Lennon, Jerry Garcia… and many, many others). This mostly works, as it's reasonable to think the up-and-coming musicians could run into these seasoned performers, but there's just so much of it that it gets a little old after a while. This is a pretty trivial complaint, though; the book is otherwise stellar.

Utopia Avenue is Mitchell's first novel in five years, and it was definitely worth the wait. I found it fascinating from start to finish. I thoroughly enjoyed this musical trip back in time and highly recommend it to anyone interested in the era or in pop music culture, as well as those who already number among the author's fans. Readers simply searching for a superb work of fiction should also put this one on their lists.