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Utopia Avenue

The ‘wildly entertaining’ (Spectator) rock ‘n’ roll novel, by the bestselling author of CLOUD ATLAS

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Utopia Avenue

By: David Mitchell
Narrated by: Andrew Wincott
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The spectacular new novel from the bestselling author of CLOUD ATLAS and THE BONE CLOCKS, 'one of the most brilliantly inventive writers of this, or any country' (Independent).

Utopia Avenue might be the most curious British band you've never heard of. Emerging from London's psychedelic scene in 1967, folksinger Elf Holloway, blues bassist Dean Moss, guitar virtuoso Jasper de Zoet and jazz drummer Griff Griffin together created a unique sound, with lyrics that captured their turbulent times. The band produced only two albums in two years, yet their musical legacy lives on.
This is the story of Utopia Avenue's brief, blazing journey from Soho clubs and draughty ballrooms to the promised land of America, just when the Summer of Love was receding into something much darker - a multi-faceted tale of dreams, drugs, love, madness and grief; of stardom's wobbly ladder and fame's Faustian pact; and of the collision between idealism and reality as the Sixties drew to a close. Above all, this breathtaking novel celebrates the power of music to connect across divides, define an era and thrill the soul.

(P) 2020 Hodder & Stoughton Ltd©2020 David Mitchell Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Thought-Provoking
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Critic reviews

What makes it a stand-out triumph is the vibrant flair with which it recreates an era, the acuteness with which it explores composition and performance, and its often witty verbal finesse
A lively, colourful, emotional roller-coaster of a read that lingers long after you turn the final page
A 1960s music epic (Books of the Year)
It's Daisy Jones & the Six on acid
Charting the rise to stardom of a "psychedelic-folk-rock band" in the late 1960s, this gaudy, swirling concept album of a novel resurrects a flamboyant era with vibrant flair and high-fidelity detail. Amid a whirligig of funny, elating and affecting scenes, the origins, challenges and rewards of creativity are keenly surveyed. David Mitchell's stylish prose makes every page gleam. (Books of the Year)
Superb . . . enormous fun . . . a celebratory page-turner
A great book! I was completely engrossed for two days. (Brian Eno)
An ambitious, rambunctious, hugely enjoyable tale . . . [it] is filled with sparkling dialogue and has stimulating things to say about creativity, mental health, the effects of domestic violence, the Vietnam War, grief, parental responsibility and what it was perhaps like to be an independent-minded female musician back in the day
Utterly groovy . . . wonderful . . . A beautifully rendered four-part harmony (Jake Arnott, author of The Long Firm)
Mitchell is expert at excavating the seams of loss, ambition and mere chance that lie under the edifice of fame . . . The reader is impelled from the first by a kind of rushing, gleeful energy . . . he superbly conveys the energy and spirit of the age . . . a supremely readable novel, if the quality of readability is taken to be one which is difficult to achieve and a relief to encounter (Sarah Perry)
Fast-moving and compelling
One of his most satisfying works. The dialogue really sings
Highly entertaining
One of the many delights of Utopia Avenue is seeing the cosmic dust of genius swirling in chaos before the stars are formed . . . If you can't hear the music reverberating off these pages, you're not listening
Mitchell rescues this brief slice of the past, made so poignant because its brilliance was so ephemeral, and brings it into the shimmering present. The result is that Utopia Avenue does what music does: it joins up time
Mitchell is pitch-perfect on the past . . . He manages to write about goodness without any mawkishness. This is not an easy task, and to link it to redemption is even more challenging, but it works
All stars
Most relevant
I came into this book in a very excited state expecting a repeat from David’s usual psych bending storyline. So I was disappointed when it was a story of a band in the late 60s as advertised with all the extras of mind altering substances accompanied by stars of the day with no sign of ghosts past. At times I felt like abandoning the book and maybe get my credit back from Audible for the fluctuating level of my appraisal. But I stuck with it hoping it would go all Mitch, which happily it did. I’m glad I carried on with it because apart from the fact that he is my favourite author after Murakami and Eco, the book brought back so many memories on a personal level of appreciation of the music of the day and it had me reaching for Amazon Music to find solace in my search. For the die-hard DM fans, some might be disappointed as I was at first, but for the story value itself it deserves 5 stars and the narration deserves 5+ as it was a good all round listen.

Not your usual D Mitch

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I’m a big DM fan, I reread 1000 Autumns of Jacob de Zout before I dived into this new tome, knowing there would be references I’d want to have fresh in my mind. 1000 years is a beautiful book btw. Which only cemented my conclusion that this isn’t his best work.
My main struggle was with the audiobook narration which felt a bit over dramatic (if you’ve watched Toast of London you’ll maybe see what I mean, this could have been Matt Berry doing the whole thing). No mean feat to nail so many characters and impressions of well known rock stars but it felt a wee bit cringe worthy in places.
But still it’s another part of the Horology universe so if you’re in it for the long run it’s probably a must read. I’d probably go for the hard copy version over the audio book though.

Narration is a bit Toasty

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was expecting something closer to cloud Atlas. not nearly as captivating or thought provoking. A bit of a let down really

Just interesting enough to keep listening

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Quality, unbolloxed

My first Mitchell since Cloud Atlas. If they make a film about this I hope they don’t screw it up too.

Back of the fkin net, Davo

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Loved this book! Loved the writing, the reading & the characters development. In a few occasions the descriptions seemed indulgent by the author.

The most enjoyable audio book ever

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