Nilufer Ozmekik's Reviews > Utopia Avenue

Welcome to the swinging sixties: to the world of youth-driven revolution, modernism combines with hedonism showing its creative flourishing at the art, music, fashion. The world of Vietnam War, hippies, drugs, sex, rebellion, rock n roll! But this is not a story about Four Liverpool boys conquer the world with their rhythm and charisma or the other band members made us empathize with devil and taught us the importance of having satisfaction.

Nope this story is about Utopia Avenue, one of the strangest British bands of the history. The most enjoying fact about the introductions is the method of characters’ definitions. They are described by their music and lyrics. We’re introduced to the band members starting with Elf Holloway: folksinger, a brilliant woman trying to survive at the man’s world but her parts of the story were mostly melodramatic about her fights with her insecurities and self-sufficiency.

So let’s go back to meet with the others( I have to admit I enjoyed their stories more. Even though they’re tragic, heart wrenching and consisting a very dark humor and sarcasm.)

Dean Moss: Blues bassist, dealing with his bad luck and surviving in his tragi-comic life choices.

But our guitarist Jasper De Zot’s story was more heartbreaking than the others because of his inner fight with his mental illness. His pain, suffer at the creation process. (Let me tell you something, I haven’t read something so powerful, realistic and emotional that describes the challenging points of creating art!!! It reminded me of Bohemian Rhapsody movies’ tragi-comic scene (mostly silly-comic) as the band members locked themselves into a bar and finally they were illuminated by finding the lyrics world: they magically appeared in their minds!!!??? (Really, is that Oscar winning best movie script?)

Anyways, I don’t want to compare this remarkable masterpiece with shitty script’s painfully absurd song creating process scene or Daisy and the six’s more daytime TV romance kind of story-telling by using docuseries transcripts. But I can imagine how challenging, compelling and aching process to create something concrete like giving a child birth.

And of course I had no idea about the term named “emotional dyslexia” till I read the impeccable depictions and its effects on the people. Jasper is suffering from this unique, complex illness which means it is challenging for him to understand his own feelings and reflect them to the outside world. Sometimes his expressions and articulations don’t reflect what he’s bottled inside which makes him ticking bomb: too many unexpressed and hidden emotions create a whirlwind turmoil so only his music and song lyrics help him to survive!

This is musically unique, vivid, original, head spinning, entertaining, ultra-smart journey with too many surprising cameos from John Lennon, Diana Ross, Leonard Cohen , Jerry Garcia to Keith Moon, Mama Cass. Just grab the book and join David Mitchell’s powerful, magical, extraordinary universe.

Utopia means “nowhere” but maybe we can find my happiness at that place with right directions coming from our own hearts!

4.5 magical, mesmerizing, complex, musical, experimental stars rounded 5!

So much special thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for giving me opportunity to read and review this ARC. I’m always a big fan of David Mitchell’s captivating, outstanding novels and I truly loved this book!

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