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Julie Ehlers's Reviews > Utopia Avenue
Utopia Avenue
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When the hefty ARC of Utopia Avenue turned up in my mailbox, it immediately felt promising to me. Sure, I’d never read any David Mitchell (sorry), but of course I’d heard many great things, and the plot of this novel—concerning a rock band in sixties London—sounded amazing. (It didn’t hurt that both the title and the cover reminded me of my beloved Telegraph Avenue—although I have no idea if that will delight or annoy most Mitchell fans.)
At the beginning, Utopia Avenue seemed poised to live up to its promise: an immediate immersion in the streets of London and the life of Dean, a hangdog coffee-shop employee and unemployed bassist whose life is about to change for the better. It was funny and lively and vivid, with a great sense of character and place. Then the band got together and the whole thing fell apart. There’s Dean’s typical tale of a groupie-chasing musician with daddy issues. There’s guitarist Jasper, whose story of mental illness was also fairly typical until it suddenly wasn’t, devolving in a way that didn’t work for me at all. (Yes, I'm aware (view spoiler)) And there’s pianist Elf, the only female in the band and the only member whose story revolves around her relationships with others rather than her own goals, issues, and dreams. There’s also a drummer, Griff, who intrigued me but who never got his own storyline at all. Poor drummers.
As for the writing, some sections (all Elf’s, of course) were sentimental and maudlin in a way I wasn’t expecting and found excruciating. And even when these rock ‘n’ rollers were engaging in sex and drugs, the whole thing felt weirdly stodgy, even dull. The numerous encounters with famous musicians of the time all felt fake, forced, and corny, and Janis Joplin unforgivably sounded English (really hope an editor fixed that before the final publication). If I’m being honest, I found this so tedious I had to take a break midway through. I had to force myself to finish. And then I hated the ending so much I wondered if it was even worth it. Maybe my expectations were too high, but really, why shouldn’t they have been? It’s David Mitchell we’re talking about here.
I know some people are going to love this, either because they love it, or because they’re loyal Mitchell fans, or both. I really don’t want to argue with anyone. If people love it, I’m glad for them. I didn’t love it.
I won this ARC in a Shelf Awareness giveaway. Thank you to the publisher.
At the beginning, Utopia Avenue seemed poised to live up to its promise: an immediate immersion in the streets of London and the life of Dean, a hangdog coffee-shop employee and unemployed bassist whose life is about to change for the better. It was funny and lively and vivid, with a great sense of character and place. Then the band got together and the whole thing fell apart. There’s Dean’s typical tale of a groupie-chasing musician with daddy issues. There’s guitarist Jasper, whose story of mental illness was also fairly typical until it suddenly wasn’t, devolving in a way that didn’t work for me at all. (Yes, I'm aware (view spoiler)) And there’s pianist Elf, the only female in the band and the only member whose story revolves around her relationships with others rather than her own goals, issues, and dreams. There’s also a drummer, Griff, who intrigued me but who never got his own storyline at all. Poor drummers.
As for the writing, some sections (all Elf’s, of course) were sentimental and maudlin in a way I wasn’t expecting and found excruciating. And even when these rock ‘n’ rollers were engaging in sex and drugs, the whole thing felt weirdly stodgy, even dull. The numerous encounters with famous musicians of the time all felt fake, forced, and corny, and Janis Joplin unforgivably sounded English (really hope an editor fixed that before the final publication). If I’m being honest, I found this so tedious I had to take a break midway through. I had to force myself to finish. And then I hated the ending so much I wondered if it was even worth it. Maybe my expectations were too high, but really, why shouldn’t they have been? It’s David Mitchell we’re talking about here.
I know some people are going to love this, either because they love it, or because they’re loyal Mitchell fans, or both. I really don’t want to argue with anyone. If people love it, I’m glad for them. I didn’t love it.
I won this ARC in a Shelf Awareness giveaway. Thank you to the publisher.
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Reading Progress
September 26, 2019
– Shelved
September 26, 2019
– Shelved as:
to-read
May 2, 2020
–
Started Reading
May 4, 2020
–
1.74%
"This seems so good, but I made the mistake of taking on a freelance job in addition to my full-time work, so it's going to be a week until I can really get into it. :("
page
10
May 10, 2020
–
4.36%
"Made it to page 25 and it's still excellent! Finishing my freelance job today so I will soon be able to commit to this book."
page
25
May 18, 2020
–
16.55%
"Now that I'm a little further in... I'm not too sure about this? But obviously I'm going to keep going."
page
95
May 23, 2020
–
28.22%
"I'm still not sure how I feel about this. I think I need a few hours of uninterrupted reading time... which I intend to take today!"
page
162
June 22, 2020
– Shelved as:
galleys
June 22, 2020
– Shelved as:
literary-fiction
June 22, 2020
– Shelved as:
shelf-awareness
June 22, 2020
–
Finished Reading
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May 23, 2020 08:32AM
Enjoy!
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Dita wrote: "Enjoy!"Thanks! :)
I'm sorry this was a disappointment, Julie. I've only read one Mitchell book, Slade House. It's great and I recommend it. I don't know whether it's your style (just because I haven't seen you read books like it), but it's not my usual style either and I loved it. Try it. (Note that it's a companion to The Bone Clocks; however, I didn't read TBC first and still understood SH just fine--though missed references, obviously.)
Brilliant review, Julie! Thanks for confirming that this isn’t worth bothering with.
Great review Julie- sounds like this might not be for me either
Caroline wrote: "I'm sorry this was a disappointment, Julie. I've only read one Mitchell book, Slade House. It's great and I recommend it. I don't know whether it's your style (just because I haven'..."Thanks for the rec, Caroline. I definitely plan to try some of his others, so I'll add Slade House to my shelf. It looks shorter than this one, so that's a plus. :)
Thanks, Sarah and Claire! It's entirely possible you'd like it more than I did! But if you decide not to try it I won't try to persuade you otherwise. :)
Oh man. What a disappointment. Thanks for your honest and thoughtful review, Julie!
David wrote: "Oh man. What a disappointment. Thanks for your honest and thoughtful review, Julie!"Thanks, David! I hope I don't scare everyone off of this because I would like to hear some other opinions. :)
Hi Julie — As we discussed, a real disappointment. I hope you’ll give Mitchell another chance!
Amanda wrote: "Hi Julie — As we discussed, a real disappointment. I hope you’ll give Mitchell another chance!"Yes, we definitely agree on this one on all points! Too bad we couldn't have both had a great experience instead. :) No worries, this won't be my last of his!
I just finished it and I totally agree. What a disappointment.
I just finished it and I totally agree. What a disappointment.
Endrinilla wrote: "I just finished it and I totally agree. What a disappointment."I'm sorry you had a bad experience too but I'm impressed by how quickly you read it! :) It took me forever.
I've read nearly all of David Mitchell's novels and I agree totally with your review. The encounters with rock stars did indeed feel forced and really, really corny. It took me away from the rest of the story and I wish they weren't there.Cloud Atlas is truly a masterpiece IMO, so if you do want to try another, I'd highly recommend it. Or, you could try The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, just to come full circle with that last name. :)
Sue wrote: "I've read nearly all of David Mitchell's novels and I agree totally with your review. The encounters with rock stars did indeed feel forced and really, really corny. It took me away from the rest o..."Thanks for your comment, Sue! I'm sorry it was disappointing to you too, but I'm glad to know it isn't just my lack of experience with Mitchell that made it a slog for me. I have a copy of The Thousand Autumns, so that will be next for me.
Feeling the Elf comment. I'm not sure this book passes the Bechdel test?
Cat wrote: "Feeling the Elf comment. I'm not sure this book passes the Bechdel test?"I was thinking the exact same thing while reading, although I guess (view spoiler) made that technically not the case? It was still all about her relationship, though. I couldn't shake the feeling that Mitchell created Elf specifically for feminist-minded female readers, yet she was such a big zero it would have been better if he hadn't bothered. Thanks for your comment!
I waited until I finished my review to read yours Julie and wow, I agree so much! I have read other books by Mitchell and really enjoyed them, so that fed my disappointment even more. And yes, the ending sucked.
Marchpane wrote: "I waited until I finished my review to read yours Julie and wow, I agree so much! I have read other books by Mitchell and really enjoyed them, so that fed my disappointment even more. And yes, the ..."Thanks, Maggie! I can only imagine how disappointing this book would be if I were already a fan of Mitchell. I'm sorry both you and Violet had a bad time with this too, but I'm glad to have such good readers in my corner on this one. :)
With you all the way, Julie. It's strange that a book which does have some great passages could be so dull and half-baked. I could have carried on for another half a dozen paragraphs with stuff that misfired for me.
Violet wrote: "I could have carried on for another half a dozen paragraphs with stuff that misfired for me."Yes--in a way you have to admire David Mitchell for trying to do so much with this, but in this case it just means there was so much more to go wrong!
Well written review. The ending also left me wondering if there was anything left to like. Too much "name dropping of musicians with little fact.
60's Bookstore Kid wrote: "Well written review. The ending also left me wondering if there was anything left to like. Too much "name dropping of musicians with little fact."Thank you! :)
Good review. I'm a long-time fan but also found this one disappointing. Glad you aren't giving up on him though - I still think some of his earlier novels like Cloud Atlas and Ghostwritten are tremendous, and it's only lately that he's gone a bit Marvel Extended Cinematic Universe (I do actually find Marinus' whole story interesting, but *not* as a deus ex machina cameo like it is at the conclusion of Jasper's arc in Utopia Avenue - The Thousand Autumns, The Bone Clocks and Slade House are all much better explorations of it.)
Mitchell wrote: "Good review. I'm a long-time fan but also found this one disappointing. Glad you aren't giving up on him though - I still think some of his earlier novels like Cloud Atlas and Ghostwritten are trem..."Thank you! Maybe I'll try to read another of his before the year is out.
I agree. I found myself skim reading it to get through it. I predicted the exact ending about 6 pages before I read it. Not a great book.
Tara wrote: "I agree. I found myself skim reading it to get through it. I predicted the exact ending about 6 pages before I read it. Not a great book."I'm impressed you predicted the ending! It was a complete surprise to me. Sorry you also had a lackluster experience--I wish this book had lived up to its potential.
Great review, I would recommend Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. It’s excellent, as are some of his earlier novels. For me, it all started to go downhill with Bone Clocks. I forced myself to get to the end of Utopia Avenue but not sure I will bother with his next one.
Matt wrote: "Great review, I would recommend Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. It’s excellent, as are some of his earlier novels. For me, it all started to go downhill with Bone Clocks. I forced myself to get ..."Thanks--I definitely need to get to Thousand Autumns. Looking forward to it, actually!
