Utopia Avenue
Ratings39
Average rating4
“The sort of book yer never want to end!” - Dean Moss. I'd give this 4.5 if I could.
David Mitchell is one of my favorite living authors, and I suspect the only one who could write a 600 page novel about baby boomer music engaging enough to keep me reading until the end. That said, it's still a 600 page novel about baby boomer music, with an exhausting amount of name-dropping. Things pick up a bit two-thirds of the way through the book when we veer towards the supernatural, but for the most part this book is a love letter to the rock and roll of the late 1960s.
This book seems to have a little of every genre. It follows the rise of a band in the 60's and their highs (ha!) and lows. I particularly enjoyed getting to know the band members - I cared about their personal lives and their particular demons.
What didn't work as well for me were the party, name dropping scenes. It felt like fan fiction and author wish fulfillment rather than the authentic experiences.
Overall though - an engaging (if rather long) read. (Note: I think it contains spoilers for the author's previous novel The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet - although I haven't read that one yet).
I really just cannot vibe with the way this is written. I gave it a little bit and it's just not for me.
Veel, maar dan ook veels te lang.
Heel leuk thema, maar het mist de vaart en drive van Daisy Jones & The Six. Als je een boek wil lezen over een mythische fictieve rockband, lees dan dat.
There was so much I hated about this book, but the last third was good. A lot of it just felt like David Mitchell's wet dream of what it would be like to be in the music scene in the late 1960s, but maybe some ppl have the same dream and it was fun for them instead of sounding incredibly pretentious and name-droppy. I finished it only because of Jasper de Zoet's storyline and was not disappointed. I might even go back and read The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet again.
