{"product_id":"utopia-avenue-9781444799477","title":"Utopia Avenue","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003e\u003cb\u003e''ONE OF THE MOST BRILLIANTLY INVENTIVE WRITERS OF THIS, OR ANY, COUNTRY'' \u003ci\u003eINDEPENDENT\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch3\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Number One \u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e Bestseller\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''Wildly entertaining''\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSPECTATOR\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''A stand-out triumph''\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSUNDAY TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''Superb''\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLITERARY REVIEW\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''Impressive''\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNEW YORKER\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''Highly entertaining''\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eTIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch3\u003e\u003cb\u003eA story of music and dreams, drugs and madness, love and grief, from the acclaimed author of \u003ci\u003eCloud Atlas\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe year is 1967 and word is spreading about a new band on London''s psychedelic scene - an unlikely combination of a female folksinger, a blues bassist, a jazz drummer and an electric guitarist. Strangers to each other and from widely different backgrounds, together they create magic. Meet Utopia Avenue.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is the story of a unique band''s brief, blazing journey from Soho dives to \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat makes it \u003cb\u003ea stand-out triumph\u003c\/b\u003e is the vibrant flair with which it recreates an era, the acuteness with which it explores composition and performance, and its often witty verbal finesse * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA lively, colourful, emotional roller-coaster\u003c\/b\u003e of a read that lingers long after you turn the final page * Sunday Express *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA 1960s music epic\u003c\/b\u003e -- Books of the Year * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eIt's \u003ci\u003eDaisy Jones \u0026amp; the Six\u003c\/i\u003e on acid\u003c\/b\u003e * Entertainment Weekly *\u003cbr\u003eCharting the rise to stardom of a \"psychedelic-folk-rock band\" in the late 1960s,\u003cb\u003e this gaudy, swirling concept album of a novel resurrects a flamboyant era with vibrant flair and high-fidelity detail.\u003c\/b\u003e Amid a whirligig of funny, elating and affecting scenes, the origins, challenges and rewards of creativity are keenly surveyed. \u003cb\u003eDavid Mitchell's stylish prose makes every page gleam. \u003c\/b\u003e -- Books of the Year * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003eSuperb . . . \u003cb\u003eenormous fun\u003c\/b\u003e . . . a celebratory page-turner * Literary Review *\u003cbr\u003eA \u003cb\u003egreat \u003c\/b\u003ebook! I was completely engrossed for two days. -- Brian Eno\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn ambitious, rambunctious, hugely enjoyable tale\u003c\/b\u003e . . . [it] is filled with sparkling dialogue and has stimulating things to say about creativity, mental health, the effects of domestic violence, the Vietnam War, grief, parental responsibility and what it was perhaps like to be an independent-minded female musician back in the day * Independent *\u003cbr\u003eMitchell is expert at excavating the seams of loss, ambition and mere chance that lie under the edifice of fame . . . The reader is impelled from the first by a kind of rushing, gleeful energy . . . he superbly conveys the energy and spirit of the age . . . a \u003cb\u003esupremely readable \u003c\/b\u003enovel, if the quality of readability is taken to be one which is difficult to achieve and a relief to encounter -- Sarah Perry * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003eFast-moving and \u003cb\u003ecompelling\u003c\/b\u003e * Tablet *\u003cbr\u003eOne of his most satisfying works. \u003cb\u003eThe dialogue really sings\u003c\/b\u003e * Mail on Sunday *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eHighly entertaining\u003c\/b\u003e * Times Literary Supplement *\u003cbr\u003eOne of the many delights of \u003ci\u003eUtopia Avenue \u003c\/i\u003eis seeing \u003cb\u003ethe cosmic dust of genius\u003c\/b\u003e swirling in chaos before the stars are formed . . . If you can't hear the music reverberating off these pages, you're not listening * Washington Post *\u003cbr\u003eMitchell rescues this brief slice of the past, made so poignant because its brilliance was so ephemeral, and brings it into the shimmering present. The result is that \u003ci\u003eUtopia Avenue \u003c\/i\u003edoes what music does: it joins up time * Daily Telegraph *\u003cbr\u003eMitchell is \u003cb\u003epitch-perfect\u003c\/b\u003e on the past . . . He manages to write about goodness without any mawkishness. This is not an easy task, and to link it to redemption is even more challenging, but it works * Scotland on Sunday *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA book bristling with pleasures\u003c\/b\u003e . . . An \u003cb\u003eoverwhelmingly vivid\u003c\/b\u003e - and equally exhilarating - portrait of an era when the future seemed likely to be shaped by a combination of young people and music. At the same time, there's a melancholy sense of the transience of this idealism . . . \u003ci\u003eUtopia Avenue\u003c\/i\u003e confirms that his real talent - perhaps even genius - lies in finding \u003cb\u003ewildly entertaining \u003c\/b\u003enew ways to tell old truths. * Spectator *\u003cbr\u003eWith his huge electric brain, Mitchell has written his own solo scenius, one that draws connections between Edo-era Japan and a distant, post-human-collapse future. It's \u003cb\u003ea grand project\u003c\/b\u003e, brilliantly executed and \u003cb\u003edeeply humanist\u003c\/b\u003e. \u003ci\u003eUtopia Avenue\u003c\/i\u003e is the most fun stop along the way and aptly named * Los Angeles Times *\u003cbr\u003eA consistently \u003cb\u003eabsorbing\u003c\/b\u003e book, which skilfully conveys the excitement and mayhem of the era, and the hopes and dreams of those swept up in it * Economist *\u003cbr\u003eMitchell, whose novels range through different modes and genres with extraordinary facility, has a lucid, kinetic style at all times, but he is never more \u003cb\u003eimpressive \u003c\/b\u003ethan when writing in close third person about characters in altered mental states - captivity, physical pain, madness . . . A conventional story of a band's rise turns into a book on another plane entirely * New Yorker *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe great rock and roll novel \u003c\/b\u003e- an epic love letter to the greatest music ever made and the book the music has always deserved * Tony Parsons *\u003cbr\u003eHis narrative has the \u003cb\u003eaddictive \u003c\/b\u003equality of the best music journalism, mixed with superb period detail and fine storytelling. An escape in time and space. A trip. \u003cb\u003eA blast\u003c\/b\u003e * Songlines *\u003cbr\u003eThe band members leap off the page, the musical references will appeal to anyone who grew up in that decade (or those who just love its music) and the writing is, as ever, \u003cb\u003estunning\u003c\/b\u003e * Good Housekeeping *","brand":"Hodder \u0026 Stoughton","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48867079618903,"sku":"9781444799477","price":10.44,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781444799477.jpg?v=1722281575","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/utopia-avenue-9781444799477","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}