Utopia Avenue

by David Mitchell

576 pages

English language

Published Jan. 4, 2020 by Hodder & Stoughton.

(23 reviews)

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 change the world in turbulent times, or does the world change us?

4 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.

Patrick Armstrong reviewed Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell

Review of 'Utopia Avenue' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I definitely enjoyed it, but really toes the line with cheese. A fun read.

Sharyl 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.

Andy Pressman reviewed Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell

Nice production values but little to offer

2 stars

Utopia Avenue is disappointing. Not just because it's another lackluster outcome from an incredibly talented author, but because I want to agree with Mitchell's central thesis: that styles and genres (naturalism! fantasy! character sketch! superheroes!) can coexist harmoniously, or even benefit from jostling up against one another.

As I write this, something occurs to me: it's not that Mitchell has a hard time welding the natural and real onto the pulp fantasy, but that his fantastical world-building isn't up to the task. He's writes remarkable and sensitive inner lives, but his dueling groups of magical immortals in whose hands lie the fate of the world are a snooze.

loppear reviewed Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell

Review of 'Utopia Avenue' on Goodreads

4 stars

Intricate dance step narratives weaving our band of characters to songwriting and life's traumas and performances. Hesitations for how Almost-Famous-Forrest-Gump name-dropping the whole thing goes, and tbd for a re-read of some earlier Mitchell.