by David Mitchell
Utopia Avenue is a fictional late 1960s ensemble rock group. The band has no leader, and similarly, the book seems designed to have no main character – sort of. Bassist Dean really is kinda the leader of the band, and similarly, he really is kinda the main character, getting a bit more page space and depth of character than keyboardist Elf, guitarist Jasper, and drummer Griff. Still, we do get separate story arcs for each band member.
Jasper was the most compelling to me. He’s fighting schizophrenia and you really want to see him turn out OK. Much more seems on the line here than with Elf’s subplot of sexual discovery, and Dean’s woebegone travails of being a schlemiel. Griff’s plot twist was telegraphed way too far in advance.
But who doesn’t want to spend time in the psychedelic heyday of rock’s adolescence? I couldn’t possibly give this a bad review.
Tytania 