Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell

Nothing in this world is original anymore, and I’m not naive enough to think that the “Books with a Soundtrack” theme of this website is unique to me. There have been tons of books written about bands and music. This one just happens to hit me as unexpected in the best ways possible.

Published in 2020 by Random House, Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell starts out in familiar territory. Sort of.

It’s 1967 and bassist Dean Moss finds himself unemployed in London. To make matters worse, he is scammed out of his rent money on his way home from being sacked (fired to us Yanks) and evicted from his apartment. He is invited to join a band being assembled by manager Levon Frankland with three other hand-picked musicians: guitarist Jasper de Zoet, keyboardist Elf Holloway and drummer Peter “Griff” Griffin. They have a natural chemistry and start earning a reputation as a decent local band.

What grabbed me immediately was the layout of the book itself. Rather than “Part One” and “Part Two”, each section of the book is shown as a record label with a track listing with writer’s credits. You quickly find out that those “songs” are the chapter titles in that section, and the writer credits reflect who that chapter is focusing on.

At this point in the story, I was expecting some of the usual tropes for this book. Elf, as the only woman in the band, starts a relationship with one of the guys that drives a wedge between them. Or one of them develops a substance problem that threatens the band. Or the manager or the record company screws them over in some way. Or one of them becomes famous and leaves the band to begin a solo career (and then maybe watches his replacement take the band to new heights while his career flounders). You get the picture.

What kept me reading at this point was the pure British-ness of the prose. From the actual town names in which the band play to the products of the day, the dialogue and the banter of both major and minor characters was distinct. Dean, gruff and streetwise; Elf, polite and proper; Jasper, aloof and socially awkward; Griff, outspoken and savvy.

As the story unfolds, my expectations dissolve. Where is this thing going? Some familiar themes are still in the background (the band’s unlikely success, tensions between the band members), but I’m actually starting to care more about the characters themselves. Each of them has their own storyline outside of the band.

Then there are the cameos of famous musicians along the journey: David Bowie, Marc Bolan, Brian Jones, John Lennon, Janis Joplin. The imagining of this fictional band interacting with their real life peers further grounds this story.

‍ David Mitchell is able to take a tangible and real life time and place (the British music scene of 1967 and 1968), plop an imaginary band into it, breathe life into each of the characters, and steer the story away from overused tropes. And while I will not spoil the ending, I found it entirely satisfying and well worth the read. The epilogue left me with wet eyes. (I wasn’t crying. I think there was something in the air that day.)

If you are a fan of well written characters, music or both, Utopia Avenue is a cracking good read. That means it’s good.