Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell

A book about creating art and the families we choose. Book Review # 25

Feb 07, 2024

I picked this book up even though the premise sounds a little bleak. I loved Mitchell's writing in Cloud Atlas so I thought this one was worth trying. The back blurb of this book doesn't justify how good this book is. According to the blurb, it's a classic story of how a British band rose to popularity. But it's really a heart-warming story of four people with different backgrounds coming together to create music and perform. It's also about the challenges and the aches of creating art.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 stars

The book's main storyline is full of cliches. Sex, drugs, paternity suits, adultery scandals, and blackmails. At the start of the book we meet Levon, the band's manager, and how he handpicked all the four members to form the band, Utopia Avenue.

Each chapter title is a name of a song and within that chapter we discover how the song was made all the while propelling the novel's story forward. The book is then divided into three parts which also serves as Album 1, 2 and, 3. I thought that this structure was a really cool idea.

Each chapter is also a POV by the band's three songwriters. We get to see the inspirations behind the song and know the personal story of the songwriter. This clever structure is the heart of the book. It tells how their experiences and circumstances fuel their songs. Through this structure, all of the characters come alive, even the minor ones. I usually stir away from books with over 350 pages but I was fully invested in the characters that I didn't mind reading a thick book!

Elf, keyboardist. She comes from a loving, upper class family. A brilliant songwriter with a hit single already under her belt. Her chapters are mostly about a woman making it in a man's world, of love and longing, and of her own insecurities.

Dean Moss, bassist. Writes about the tragedies of his life like having an abusive father or being wrongly imprisoned. At the start of the book we see him get mugged, kicked out of his apartment, fired from his job, and with little money left. Out of the four band members, he's the one affected by success the most which lead to a lot of personal problems.

Jasper, virtuoso lead guitarist. A brilliant musician that seems to be on another level than everybody else. His songs are strange but poetic. On top of it all, he suffers a mental illness that reflects on his songwriting. His chapters are the one I look forward to the most.

Griff, drummer. Blunt and really funny. His one-liners pack a punch. Even though he has only one chapter POV, I really liked his character.

Levon, manager. Just a few pages into the book, I have this fully realized Levon person in my head. It's the way Mitchell writes how Levon dresses, talks to other people, or appear in a scene. Although he has only one chapter POV, his principles are central to the success of the band.

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Some books with this type of plot tell both the "rise and fall" of the band. This one doesn't tell the "fall' of the band which is mostly caused by disagreements or differences within band members. Instead, this book tells the harmonious relationship between the band members and how supportive they are of each other (no band member rivalry at all!). It's not explicitly written but you can tell. It's a refreshing take on a story.

There is a lot of pop culture, historical events, music, and film references in this book. Some music icons even pop up on a scene. The cameos were really fun to read. If you've read Mitchell's other books, some of the characters appear here as well. He has some sort of meta Mitchellverse going on with his books.

Utopia Avenue may seem like a plot-driven book but I think it's more character-driven. Slices of life, in a sense. I love the experience of reading it and I gotta say, don't judge a book by its blurb.