Questions About Utopia Avenue

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Answered Questions (16)

If I'm new to Mitchell, should I start with this book or something else?

-j. You should *not* start with this one.

One storyline in particular in this book builds on "Thousand Summers of Jacob de Zoet", "Bone Clocks" and "Slade …moreYou should *not* start with this one.

One storyline in particular in this book builds on "Thousand Summers of Jacob de Zoet", "Bone Clocks" and "Slade House". Without those as a foundation you are very likely to wonder what is going on!

"Cloud Atlas" is his best and "Black Swan Green" his most accessible. Depending on how daring you are, you may want to start with one of those.(less)

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Will this novel be set in Mitchell's multiverse? I'm hoping so.

Tim With a character surnamed "de Zoet", I'm pretty sure the answer is yes. :-)…moreWith a character surnamed "de Zoet", I'm pretty sure the answer is yes. :-)(less)

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The professional reviews of this book so far have been middling at best. If you liked this book, and have read some of these reviews, can you try to explain where you think the reviewers went wrong?

Sardinicus This is an interesting question. I think partly it comes from thwarted expectations; the most well-regarded of Mitchell's books feature astounding, ev…moreThis is an interesting question. I think partly it comes from thwarted expectations; the most well-regarded of Mitchell's books feature astounding, even show-offy tricks of structure and style. This book uses POV and time-shifts much more subtly -- if I may use an oddly-specific musical analogy (and why not?) it's something like going to a Mark Knopfler show expecting pyrotechnic Dire Straits guitar solos only to get a series of mid-tempo acoustic ballads with just the occasional flash of the Stratocaster. Still great music, but the hardest-core fans are the most confused and disappointed. Roger Ebert often pointed out that it's not fair to review the movie the director didn't make, but it's a lesson many critics miss.

Then, and more fairly I think, you have annoyance at the one place where the book DOES go non-linear (the resolution of Jasper's arc), which as I noted in my own review makes the book hard to recommend in many cases; given that making such recommendations is one of the main roles of a critic it's a reasonable reaction.

Finally, you just have the odd things that bother one critic or another -- one complains that the band's story is too cliche'd while another thinks it's too atypical; one thinks the fictional song lyrics are unbelievable while another declares them pitch-perfect; one loves the celebrity cameos and another finds them gratuitous -- these are all usually a form of justifying a negative feeling or piling-on to a perceived critical consensus.

It's by no means a perfect book and many criticisms are valid to one extent or another (personally a week after finishing the book I remain unreasonably annoyed at one American character's use of the phrase "chalk and cheese" which some editor should have flagged); a lot of it comes down to whether the trip is worth the odd bump in the road -- for me it absolutely was.

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Jason

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Does anyone recognize the kid who wanders into Dean's trailer at the San Francisco festival from previous books?

Julian The parents mention that the child was “different” after a near-death bout with meningitis. Which effectively announces that he’s one of the benign “a…moreThe parents mention that the child was “different” after a near-death bout with meningitis. Which effectively announces that he’s one of the benign “atemporals” who reincarnate by inhabiting the bodies of children who have died, as happened to Holly Sykes’ brother Jacko in Bone Clocks. Giving his age as “only” 809 means he’s too young to be the millennia-old Xi Lo (or Esther Little, who in any event is seen with Marinus earlier in the book), but too old to be most of the other identified Horologists. Oshima, identified as one of the older Horologists, is about a century too young, and still alive in Bone Clocks inhabiting a body born in Kenya in the 1940s. So possibly one of the others, or an atemporal as yet unidentified, and possibly unaffiliated with Horology. (less)

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