Reviews with content warning for Death - Utopia Avenue

I loved almost every part of this book, and the fresh take on a classic rock band where the members don't all hate each other's guts really compelled me to finish this book more than other similar recent releases. <The ending was Stand By Me levels of shocking and heartbreaking.> That being said, the descriptions and roles of POC characters in this book didn't meet the standards I would expect from a book written in 2020. Also, the dialogue from American characters but especially <Janis Joplin> (who was from Texas) felt to me like David Mitchell has maybe never had a conversation with an American person.

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kingaisnotcool's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

i usually love magical realism but the magical realism in this was completely unnecessary and ruined what i hoped would be good representation of mental illness (specifically schizophrenia).

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schausjk's review

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emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5

This book took a really long time to actually grab me. While I did ultimately enjoy parts of it, it's not something I ever would have picked up on my own, and one of the main characters (Dean) annoyed me so deeply I would've just stopped reading at so many points in the book if I had any choice. In addition to his general attitude and treatment of women, the way Mitchell insisted on writing all Dean's "you"s as "yer" was just infuriating. Elf had promise but felt too two dimensional and wasn't given enough narrative time in the last half of the book, Jasper's story was interesting until it got too pseudo-scientific about what was going on, and we got almost nothing of Griff to the point where I clearly felt the author just wasn't interested in him. Even Levon, who has so much potential for an interesting character, was barely touched on except "is gay, will be mentioned once that he's Jewish, and is generally A Good Person". As it was, I felt the book spent too much time name-dropping artists from the 1960s that I absolutely do not care about and the book itself really dragged on. It genuinely felt like outside of Jasper, there wasn't really a plot.

From what I've read about the book itself, it's probably more satisfying for folks who've read previous David Mitchell books and can enjoy the ways it intersects with those previous books, but for a first-time reader like me, it was just tolerable

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blenchbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Sadly I didn't enjoy this book as much as I had hoped or as much as Mitchell's other books I've read. As someone who isn't super familiar with the music scene of the late 60s, a lot of the nods to people and places didn't add anything for me. I went through most of the novel waiting for a speculative or interesting element to come in and when it did it felt like almost a completely different book had been shoved in. This section also heavily references The Bone Clocks and I think would possibly be quite confusing for those who hadn't read it.
I really wanted to love this book and there were some parts that I really enjoyed but sadly it just wasn't a win for me.
I would recommend this book for fans of the 60s or those who lived through them and want some nostalgia but I would also recommend reading his last three books first as I think understanding the references does add something to this one.
I will still 100% pick up Mitchell's next book and I hope I enjoy it more than this one.

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jomarchkinnie's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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