The publicist for Chicago Humanities Festival is sending my article to the publisher. I did not review the book. I used it as a resource for an article about a livestreamed conversation with the author. Here's a link to my article.

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https://thirdcoastreview.com/2020/07/18/conversations-two-screenwriters-talk-about-their-new-novels-utopia-avenue-and-antkind/

I DIDN'T REVIEW THE BOOK SO THE STAR RATING IS NOT VALID.

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?”

Booklist got it right: "Mitchell's readers can be excused if they greet a new novel by this unalloyed genius with both goose-pimply anticipation and tredpidation over meeting the challenge." That was exactly my feeling when I saw that he had a new book, and that I would get to read an ARC. While reading, the trepidation over whether I would measure up to the book lasted to the very last page, but was joined by engagement, pure pleasure, and that broken-hearted feeling that only the very best writers can give you.

Meet Utopia Avenue, the band that mixes psychedelic with folk with much more and amazing results: Dean Moss on bass, trying to make his Gravesend roots proud; Elf Holloway on piano, who hates questions about being a woman in a band with three guys; Jasper de Zoet (yes, the same de Zoet family), guitar virtuoso with inner demons; and Peter Griffin on drums, who's happy with his role sitting at the back of the band. With Dean, Elf, and Jasper each writing songs and doing vocals, the band's albums have an eclecticism that propels the group up the charts and into company that includes the biggest names of the era.

For me, not knowing much about the music scene beyond being able to recognize the names in question, this book was much more about the people in the band than the band as a whole. Chapters tell the story from the perspective of each band member, plus their manager, Levon, and each character comes vividly to life, bringing with them the music industry, London's SoHo, their families, and their own dreams and doubts.

Mitchell's fans will understand the slightly mystical references, and while other readers might be put off by a certain chapter where horology takes the stage, I encourage them to push through it. The pay-off is well worth it.

For fan's of Mitchell's previous books, or anyone who likes a good rock 'n' roll story.

David Mitchell is a perennial favorite. He manages to cover such disparate genres masterfully, and Utopia Avenue is just another example. Characters and Easter eggs fans will love. An addition anyone who appreciates the scope of his world will love.

Utopia Avenue is a fictional late 1960's British band. Manager Levon Frankland seemingly creates the perfect band out of thin air. Down and out Gravesender Dean Moss provides the bluesy base. Yorkshire workhorse drummer Griff is a jazz drummer. Folk Queen Elf is a gifted pianist and songwriter. Guitar virtuoso Jasper de Zoet (yes of the Dutch Shipping de Zoets) plays psychedelic riffs and hides a dangerous secret.

With a few notable exceptions, the book is fairly straight forward, following the highs and lows of the band's success. As always Mitchell's characters and time period jump off the page. Elf mentions Brian Eno's concept of The Scenius. The Scenius is "the genius of the scene..." Mitchell really brings this to life by including cameos of actual 1960's musicians and artists such as Brian Jones, David Bowie, Janis Joplin, Leonard Cohen and Jerry Garcia. These cameos are fun and I know I didn't catch all of them! They bring a level of authenticity to the time and place.

The four main characters feel very real. They each have a distinct voice that comes from different life experiences. Dean was born into a poor and abusive household, for him the trappings of fame may hinder his development. Jasper is a by blow of a wealthy family, but spent most of his youth in a boarding school. Elf is distinctively middle class and has held her own in a male dominated industry. I felt very attached to all of them.

I would be remiss not to discuss this book's role in the "Mitchell-verse." Easter eggs abound, there are callbacks to almost all of his previous works. I think Mitchell definitely wrote this book primarily for his fans. I do not think this book would be enjoyable without reading The Bone Clocks and The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. I would also recommend reading Cloud Atlas and Ghostwritten. I loved seeing certain characters again, I feel like I got a better sense of them from seeing their earlier selves. At times the Easter Eggs took me out of the book. I would stop reading when I saw something that had to be referential and look it up.

All and all this is an excellent read, but it feels very final in terms of the Mitchell-verse. I can't wait to see what he does next!

David Mitchell's latest novel, Utopia Avenue, follows a band of the same name, as they make their way towards stardom in the latter half of the 1960s, taking place mostly in and around London, with various gigs and travels elsewhere, including Scotland, The Netherlands, Italy, and eventually the United States of America. The universe is the same as in other Mitchell works, and as with several of those works, some characters, settings, and plot points recur and intertwine, so a reader familiar with Mitchell's other work will catch references to Cloud Atlas, The Bone Clocks, and in particular The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. It is not necessary to read these other Mitchell novels before Utopia Avenue to understand the plot, but it does help in catching these references to Mitchell's other work. This world-building is a product of careful planning and expert writing on the part of Mitchell, and in more careless hands might fall apart or come across as over-the-top. In this manner, Utopia Avenue is a romp that follows a budding rock band's adventures, mishaps, loves and losses, overflowing with pop culture references, celebrity encounters, a tinge of the occult, and no shortage of sex, drugs, and rock and roll; at the same time, the under-girding theme seems to be an exploration of the value of art and the celebration of the artist as a creator and participant in a complex world of the personal and the political, the mundane and the supernatural.

Unlike the case with The Bone Clocks or Slade House, the various pieces of the supernatural in the Mitchellian world of psychosoterica and Horology are not especially prominent in Utopia Avenue, and stay confined largely to one of the main characters' subplot, in a somewhat similar manner to The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet. The episodes of the supernatural involving De Zoet punctuate the band's journey in the (mundane) world of rock and roll, and Utopia Avenue is better for it -- without the wonder regarding the nature of the mystery about De Zoet, the novel might just come across as pop-culture porn given the sheer number of celebrity encounters the bandmates have in Utopia Avenue. Indeed, there is a plethora of bumping into celebrities at parties and clubs and such, somewhat Forrest Gump-like at times. David Bowie, Brian Jones, Alan Ginsburg, Syd Barrett, Jimmy Savile, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Janis Joplin, Leonard Cohen, Jerry Garcia, Francis Bacon, Frank Zappa and more appear throughout the novel, and it can be dizzying to keep track of all the celebrities encountered and, depending on the reader's familiarity with the subject material, it can also be difficult to keep track of which characters are drawn from the real world and which are drawn purely from fiction.

Some aspects of the plot adhere very closely to stereotypes and have an overuse of cliches in the storytelling, in particular the brief section of the story that takes place in Italy. Some of the musical performances of the band just blend together, and the imagery related to the music becomes somewhat repetitive, but this is partially mitigated by the personal dramas of each bandmate and by how a given band member is viewing the performance in relation to the band's progression to stardom. The writing is at its best when the band is discussing the nature of their art, how songs come differently to them, how their art relates to the personal and the political, and rejecting classification or labeling of their work; Mitchell does a good job of making the reader dislike certain characters, and the twists and turns are not entirely predictable, which helps to add suspense to Utopia Avenue.

For fans of Mitchell, Utopia Avenue will provide some of that Mitchellian world that has not seen a major novel since 2014. It is at times humorous, tragic, uplifting, and mysterious, although in some places the density of pop culture is overwhelming. The characters are well-written and their individual growth and journeys are engaging and charming in their own right, sometimes more than the growth of the band as a whole. The novel is ultimately a celebration of the artist, and how art derives meaning, and will leave the reader curious as to where and how elements from Utopia Avenue may appear in future works by Mitchell.

3.5 (rounded up)

This was my first book by David Mitchell and it was a lot to take in. It’s 1967 in London and Utopia Avenue is a newly formed band with a mishmash of members that include drummer Griff Griffin, blues bassist Dean Moss, guitar genius Jasper De Zoet and folk singer-pianist, Elf Holloway. While they come from different backgrounds (personally and musically), the foursome find harmony and chemistry with one another that transcends genres and expectations.

Mitchell is excellent at composing the intricate details of these characters and their stories through the braiding of time and consciousness. I lingered over the pages that took me deeper into the lives of each band member. Mitchell has me hooked into them and invested, right from the beginning.

However, the novel felt too long and too much for me. Mitchell included many encounters the band had with the famous stars of this time and I could see how much fun he was having writing about the music, drugs, sex and parties. The prose is colorful and addicting, inviting me to stay longer. But, like all parties, I felt I stayed too long. I was tired and started skimming over these experiences. I wished for less parties and more time with each of the characters that I felt were so uniquely complex yet relatable. From mental illness to sexuality, Mitchell explores various issues through each of the characters but never too deeply, which I longed for.

I’d recommend if you love historical fiction about music, especially from this era. If you have a short attention span, I’d skip.

In "Utopia Avenue," published today, Mitchell takes us through the twists and turns of a fictional psychedelic British sixties band on its rocky rise to popularity, particularly through exploring its members' crises, joys, fears, and triumphs.

It could have felt a little too abstract to read about the inspiration for made-up lyrics and melody, instrument technique, and imagined musical highlights on stage. (The fictional band focus reminded me, in a good way, of "Daisy Jones and the Six.") But Mitchell handles all of this deftly and made me care about a singer connecting with an audience, the cathartic heartbreak-writing of songs, and the magic spark of a performance.

With cameos galore (including fictional adventures and gems of wisdom) from real-life musicians like David Bowie, Joni Mitchell, Jerry Garcia, and the Rolling Stones, as well as authors and artists--not to mention wild parties, betrayals, leaps of faith, breakups, and tragedy. But Mitchell expertly builds the four band members--Jasper, Elf, Griff, and Dean, plus their beloved manager Levon--into rich characters you're rooting for through their individual ups and downs as well as through the triumphs and setbacks of the band Utopia Avenue.

If you like Mitchell's beautiful, offbeat, sometimes meandering and tough to pin down stories, you'll love this almost 600-page book. You zigzag with characters through bizarre alternate realities at times (whether due to a schizophrenic mind, being possessed by an evil being, or hallucinogenic drug effects). As always, there are references to other parts of the David Mitchell universe, such as: Horology! (It's not included to the extent it is in "the Bone Clocks," but it's essential to one character's continued existence.) Marinus and Jacob de Zoet make appearances, and the links to other books felt cozy, like I was coming home to more very welcome Mitchell madness and delving into another layer of his imagination.

Mitchell doesn't provide too easy or neat of an ending, but it feels fitting and left me satisfied. A really captivating book that kept me intrigued throughout.

I received an advance copy of this book through NetGalley and Random House in exchange for an unbiased review.

<I>Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in return for an honest review</I>.

This a beautifully written novel with excellent characters and a strong personal stories that ultimately felt a bit flat for me. This is mainly because I have zero knowledge about the London music scene in the 60's, so pretty much every reference given to help the reader imagine the setting and the band's music was entirely lost on me. That is, unfortunately, always the tricky part of writing about music.

It's still a great story, I just didn't find it to be as powerful as some of his other work.

Happy Pub Day to David Mitchell’s latest creation, Utopia Avenue!! And thank you @randomhouse and @netgalley for gifting me this advanced edition to review!

Ok y’all, if you’re already a fan of David Mitchell, I’ll start by telling you this book is different than his other works (Cloud Atlas, The Bone Clocks, Slade House, etc). It’s not dark and creepy, so I could actually sleep with the lights off. However, you still get snippets of strange inner dialogue which adds the perfect amount of unease. It was a super cool experience to embark on this (fictional) adventure of a lifetime as the cast rises in the music industry. I will warn y’all, this book is a BRICK at just shy of 600 pages. You really go on the full journey with Utopia Avenue.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell is a novel set in the '60s and follows Dean, Elf, Jasper and Griff, the members of the band called Utopia Avenue. This is a really ambitious novel that covers a good length of time and aims to tie into Mitchell's previous novels (I only caught Cloud Atlas references because that's the only other Mitchell novel I've read), reference real-life famous people and hit on some supernatural elements. I liked the characters on the whole, Jasper being my favorite. The supernatural elements worked quite well for me, and I almost would've liked to see more toward the end.

I would say that it's mostly successful, but the end feels more like a quick wrap-up than a fleshed out end of a novel. The ending also focused a good chunk on my least favorite of the three POV characters, so I didn't like it as much.

Just finished Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell and it’s another winner. Story is about a 60’s Rock band named Utopia Avenue. We witness the journey from the creation of the band to it’s demise. We meet bandmates Dean, Elf, Jasper and Peter. He also brings in a cast of real life characters into the book which make it a fun read for this reader since it’s from my generation. He also throw in references from his previous books. Now this may seem like you need to be part of the David Mitchell club to enjoy this book. Not true. If this is your first David Mitchell novel you’ll be fine. It’s more straightforward than his previous novels so it’s a good place to start. It’s also a great read if you want to escape our crazy COVID world and just have a good time reading a novel.When I heard he was writing a novel about music I was wondering how he was going to spin his usual magic with words on a novel about a band. He does not disappoint.

Let me say upfront that I had never before read a Mitchell novel. This was my first, and with that, I have perhaps a different reaction, one that is not attached to expectation or comparison of his previous work. So, with that said, I generally enjoyed this novel. However (and I suspect this will be a big dividing point) I did not enjoy the last, say, third. There a sort of switch that occurs in the novel that takes it, for me, a bit off the rails. Perhaps part of that has to do with how much I was, until then, enjoying the novel. I can appreciate what Mitchell is doing with this later section-and from the little I know, it seems to in some way connect to his previous work-but, for me, I preferred the first 2/3 or the novel when the narrative was a bit more straight ahead. I found the story of Elf, Jasper, Dean Griff compelling, although as is the case with any book that follows multiple character lines, some of those lines were a bit more compelling to me. I loved the novel most when it was deep in charting the trajectory of Utopia Avenue as a band, from 1967 London onward and I loved the cameos of famous musicians, even if some of them felt a little thin.
While I can only wonder if this latest installment in the Mitchell cannon will delight or disappoint his ardent fans, for me it was a trip worth taking, even if at times the novel felt a bit wandering and of unclear impact. With so many novels coming out recently address more pressing social issues, Utopia Avenue presents a ticket to another time, and does explore some relevent topics. While certainly not the best book I have read this year, Utopia Avenue kept me reading and engaged and piqued my interest in Mitchell's other work.

Utopia Avenue is a very richly devised and detailed ride with a band as it forms and begins a rise to stardom, with rotating viewpoints among the 4 very eclectic Brits that make the group -- with special attention to the 3 songwriters that give the band a unique sound like real-life 3-singer/writer bands (Beatles/Chicago/Gomez).

For much of the book, it's almost too normal for a Mitchell, but some clever references to other his other titles tie together in guitar prodigy and weirdo extraordinaire Jasper de Zoet's haunted brain. Rags to riches Dean Moss rocks the bass and has some of the most typical rock extravagances, though with greater depth and empathy that the tabloids allow. Elizabeth (Elf) Holloway rounds out the writers and sets feminism ahead several decades, holding her own at the keys and in both familial and romantic relationships. Rounding out the band is Griff, the wisecracking drummer.

The last half of the books leans heavier on Dean and Jasper's perspectives in telling the band's story, but overall the depth of the band and their manager and other characters and the connections between their experiences inspires their writing is a great peek at the creative process from one of the most imaginative writers of all. Plus cameos from a who's who of the late 60's rock/folk pantheon to boot.

I'd love to hear the songs or at least get the full lyrics, as the snippets quoted are as compelling as the rest of the book.

I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is an extremely ambitious novel, by the great author David Mitchell. Taking place in the late 60’s in London, this is a story of band that is brought together by a manager who has the vision to see each of their individual talents and how they will compliment each other.

Meet Elf, Dean, Jasper and Griff. They each have unique starts to each of their careers you will learn. Mitchell provides you with the backdrop of London and of the British Invasion. You are provided the auspicious story of this band that only made two albums, but even more, this story is intertwined with so much Music History.

The Beatles, Joan Baez, the Grateful Dead, and Jimi Hendrix are just few of the musicians/bands you get to meet in this story. You are given quite an education of this historic time in history.

Mitchell took great care to really capture the time period and the creation of this fictional band. There is so much detail, but the story was just so good. There are many ups and down, but you will come to love each of these characters.

This is a thick book, but don’t let that scare you, it moves super fast. If you are a fan of music from that era, I think you will love this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

David Mitchell's newest novel is delightful and very true to his own cultivated form. It's about the year 1968 when four young musicians are brought together by a manager to form a psychedelic rock band in London. The novel is about their development and career trajectory along with the back stories of each band member. The characters are richly drawn, flawed, funny, and talented.

I was pulled right into this specific universe, which is set in real, historic period, so figures like Janis Joplin, Crosby, Still & Nash, Jimi Hendrix, and Leonard Cohen (among many) make appearances in the story. The rollicking energy of Mitchell's prose and the distinctions between the characters, both as band members and with very detailed backstories, will keep you entertained all the way through.

There is also the expected Mitchell practice of introducing characters from past novels, specifically <i>The Thousand Autumns of Jacob DeZoet</i> and <i>The Bone Clocks</i>. While it's not 100% necessary to have read those novels to enjoy this one, it would enhance understanding some of what's happening to one of the characters. This novel is exists in both the fictional Mitchell universe and the actual history of the time. It's satisfying and fun.

Sadly, this t'was not the book for me. It was a DNF as I only made it about 30% of the way through. I did like the band aspect of the story, but it wasn't enough to keep me reading, unfortunately.

In the past I have enjoyed David Mitchell's writing but this was not for me. Most of the characters were just meh. Jasper had too much Jacob deZoet in him to be his own man, his story felt like a retelling of Jacob's in parts.
Elf was a terrible choice for a character. From the name and then on she just bugged me to no end.

Overall I think this could have been 60% shorter and told the same story. Personally I cannot stand the fictionalizations of well known popular culture characters in books such as this. From Jerry Garcia to Leonard Cohen to Bowie to Hendrix. The parts with these famous faces felt forced and like a bad caricature of the well known figures. A big turn off.

I guess I expected better than that ending as well, but was just let down over and over again by this book.

Elf, Jaspar, and Dean are members of the band Utopia Avenue but they are more than that- they are emblems of their time. Set in the 1960s, this is the story of a band which flew to the top but which had its issues. The band and its members navigate all the problems (and good things) of the late 1960s as well as sexism and mental illness. The last is addressed sensitively and with grace. Although this is the most accessible of Mitchell's novels, I think, it's also a challenge in spots. The writing, while gorgeous sometimes, is over the top in others. And, more importantly, it's clear, even to the casual reader that there are characters and themes that are woven in from earlier novels. I know I missed some valuable references. That said, it's an interesting ride that even when it lost me occasionally, still kept me coming back for more. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read for Mitchell's fans and those who would like to try him.

The book is brilliant. It’s a sublime look at music in a certain time and place, and the swinging 60s are alive in Mitchell’s deft hands. The book is a true modern epic, and I devoured it with such joy and exuberance. All I can say is Bravo Maestro!