Utopia Avenue

A Novel

by David Mitchell

Hardcover, 592 pages

Published July 14, 2020 by Random House.

ISBN:: 978-0-8129-9743-9

(3 reviews)

The long-awaited new novel from the bestselling, prize-winning author of Cloud Atlas and The Bone Clocks.

Utopia Avenue is the strangest British band you’ve never heard of. Emerging from London’s psychedelic scene in 1967 and fronted by folk singer Elf Holloway, guitar demigod Jasper de Zoet, and blues bassist Dean Moss, Utopia Avenue released only two LPs during its brief, blazing journey from the clubs of Soho and drafty ballrooms to Top of the Pops and the cusp of chart success, and on to glory in Amsterdam, prison in Rome, and a fateful American fortnight in the autumn of 1968.

David Mitchell’s captivating new novel tells the unexpurgated story of Utopia Avenue; of riots in the streets and revolutions in the head; of drugs, thugs, madness, love, sex, death, art; of the families we choose and the ones we don’t; of fame’s Faustian pact and stardom’s wobbly ladder. Can we …

The long-awaited new novel from the bestselling, prize-winning author of Cloud Atlas and The Bone Clocks.

8 editions

Tim Evans reviewed Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell

Let's be Avenue

3 stars

Content warning bit spoilerish ...

Great fun. If I have a quibble, it's with Mitchell's divagations into the supernatural. It's a bit Marvel Universe, as is his recycling of characters between books as ancestors, descendants or immortals.

You can see the nature of the ending coming a mile away; he forces it on himself by having his characters mingle with the illustrious dead (or Dead).

Still, he's a lively, stylish writer who seems never to do the same thing twice.

Acton reviewed Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell

Review of 'Utopia Avenue' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I might be a David Mitchell fan. This was superb. It's a sweeping novel about four very different young people who form a band in the late 1960s. It's also about the times, their families, and how hard they work. Without spoiling any of the plot, characters from Cloud Atlas and Bone Clocks might appear, also. I found myself caring very much for these four people, their manager, and their families, as well. It's a fascinating read, and I do recommend it.

Jan

rated it

Sept. 21, 2021