Utopia Avenue

Ultimately conventional story — psychedelic band\’s rise to moderate fame in London in the 1960s; drugs, sex, decadence, camaraderie, tragedy; walk-ons from famous rock stars like Janis Joplin, Brian Jones, David Bowie, Syd Barrett — spiced up with Easter Egg references to the author\’s previous works. If you\’re a fan of Mitchell (I\’ve read everything from Cloud Atlas on, and rather wish I\’d gotten to The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet before diving into this one), Utopia Avenue is fun and engaging, extra familiar because it\’s based both in reality and in David Mitchell\’s universe of horology and orisons. It\’s a bit like the literary equivalent of last year\’s Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood; a conventional, recognizable story made unique by the creator\’s distinct style. I devoured the book in a few days and enjoyed the ride, though it didn\’t leave an impression anywhere near that of the last few (including Slade House). Ralph Lister\’s gravelly voice made me think of Bill Nighy as the aging, burned out rock star in Love Actually. It mostly works. Audio quality is excellent. And if you need a break from the narration, or find yourself suddenly in the mood for music, you can switch to Spotify and open the Utopia Avenue playlist, compiled by Mitchell himself, featuring nearly four hours of songs, from Sandy Denny to Pink Floyd to Cass Elliot, all of whom appear in the novel. 16 people found this helpful

I would have loved to listen to this book, but I could not tolerate the narrator. 12 people found this helpful

I absolutely loved every chapter! The characters are lovingly well developed and the story is captivating. I hope this isn’t a spoiler, but I highly recommend reading Mitchell’s previous novel – The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet – before this one so you can fully appreciate some of the intricacies. I’ve loved every other novel by Mitchell, and this one certainly didn’t disappoint. 9 people found this helpful

What an awful, awful voice. No nuance for any of the characters, and it felt as if every line was shouted at me. 8 people found this helpful

I have to make this a quick review so I will just sayi I loved this book and the audiobook aspects which were added such as brief musical introductions to each section to frame the musical styles used by the band. I think you will especially enjoy this if you are a fan of sixties music, remember the era itself, or are a Mitchell fan and have read his past novels. But even if none of those are true I’d recommend giving this a try since for me just the development of the characters in that stage of young adulthood where you come to grips with life and “ adulting” in many ways was enjoyable. The narrator did a great job voicing each of them. For Mitchell fans there are various brief appearances of characters and themes from other books. I was nonplussed at the reappearance if the Bone Clocks supernatural story but it was tangential enough time not ruin the rest of it. My favorite Mitchell reappearing theme is a small one; a grey cat. The cat appears here too and a character remarks “ that cat is no mans cat. She comes. She goes”. Anyway, I really enjoyed this audiobook. 7 people found this helpful

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