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watermelleon's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
If you haven't read this book, read it with as little foresight as possible. Do not read reviews, pass go, sink in unprepared.
If you have read it, read this:
Vague enough spoilers await..
Disclaimer, it's my 4th (. 5?) book by David Mitchell. As a stand alone with no prior knowledge, it is a 5 star read.
If you've read any other David Mitchell novel, it becomes even more special.
This book is a beautifully skilled craftwork jigsaw puzzle, with pieces that snap into place perfectly despite at first being unpredictable. You can start in the centre or form the edges, or from a corner outwards. It does not matter which order you fill them to get the satisfying conclusion that appears.
An odessey through the 60s, this book is your own personal tour through time, it's glitter and it's failures. It's real, but understands naivety, inspiration, hope and other complicated human feelings.
This novel hinges on the story of human potential, who we are and who we will become (or who we could be, given the chance). We follow the band reach stardom and everything in between in the peak of their youth, but we also see revisited characters in their younger selves, and the legacy of others long gone, their periods of potential and hope. This 'glory days' epic reminds you there will be an eventual end to these experiences, but they will never leave who you have become in the way they have changed you.
Bone clocks spoiler - I think back to an older Levon speaking to an older Crispin hersey, both with their own regrets, what they could have done better. At the time, Levon loved his band and forgave them for their youthful incidences. Because of this I expected a fallout, a feud over losing a record deal, a dramatic end, a tour bus that crashed. Instead I was hit with the nature of life - the script doesn't pick and choose favourites, it shoots where it may.
Thoughts and questions that made me existential while reading this book:
A young Crispin Hershey points a finger gun at Dean. And then the writer erases him.
Is the love between luisa and elf really forever? An older elf writes on amongst the stark cliffs of sheep's head.
Speaking of Holly Sykes, it's peculiar that she's a gravesend girl too.
Bolivar is a scary and familiar sight. But what does he want? Is it a call forwards into something new, or someone we have seen before? Who had to die at that point in time to be there?
"I hope somebody made a quality bootleg of this"
How popular were utopia avenue then to be forgotten now? Is it a universe teetering on the edge of ours, or a perfect copy? Is another point being made about what happens to David Mitchell's world when it comes to the end of the timeline?
"it makes you wonder if you've actually been living not in the real world but only a description of it" -
It is only a script after all.
Speaking of the end of the world, only some unknown coincidence in hawaii saved utopia avenue's last record. And a man with impossible technology that almost disappeared from the world in only 50 years.
I wonder if/when the horologists will show us any possibility of moving through time in order to preserve it, and I wonder if any meddling has taken place so far.
Griff Griffin. I guess it wasn't his time to be a Protagonist yet. I wonder about Steve also. An important part of the band, written as "an important piece of the puzzle", or a "heartbeat", you're convinced he's important but you're left wondering how. He never thinks out loud to us. It's curious. Or maybe he's just dyslexic and can't write a chapter.
Why does the cloud atlas sextet sound so familiar to Jasper?
I wonder what sixsmith was doing at this point in time.
"How come the rich own the world when they're so bloody useless?" - dean's transition through social class and what remains. The poetry of ordering a boring sandwich as room service. Class was a point of contention initially for dean/griff and elf, seeing their relationships change was a voyage.
Other things about elf and griff that can be thought and not written. If David Mitchell is Elf, I'm Levon.
If you have read it, read this:
Vague enough spoilers await..
Disclaimer, it's my 4th (. 5?) book by David Mitchell. As a stand alone with no prior knowledge, it is a 5 star read.
If you've read any other David Mitchell novel, it becomes even more special.
This book is a beautifully skilled craftwork jigsaw puzzle, with pieces that snap into place perfectly despite at first being unpredictable. You can start in the centre or form the edges, or from a corner outwards. It does not matter which order you fill them to get the satisfying conclusion that appears.
An odessey through the 60s, this book is your own personal tour through time, it's glitter and it's failures. It's real, but understands naivety, inspiration, hope and other complicated human feelings.
This novel hinges on the story of human potential, who we are and who we will become (or who we could be, given the chance). We follow the band reach stardom and everything in between in the peak of their youth, but we also see revisited characters in their younger selves, and the legacy of others long gone, their periods of potential and hope. This 'glory days' epic reminds you there will be an eventual end to these experiences, but they will never leave who you have become in the way they have changed you.
Bone clocks spoiler -
Thoughts and questions that made me existential while reading this book:
A young Crispin Hershey points a finger gun at Dean. And then the writer erases him.
Is the love between luisa and elf really forever? An older elf writes on amongst the stark cliffs of sheep's head.
Speaking of Holly Sykes, it's peculiar that she's a gravesend girl too.
Bolivar is a scary and familiar sight. But what does he want? Is it a call forwards into something new, or someone we have seen before? Who had to die at that point in time to be there?
"I hope somebody made a quality bootleg of this"
How popular were utopia avenue then to be forgotten now? Is it a universe teetering on the edge of ours, or a perfect copy? Is another point being made about what happens to David Mitchell's world when it comes to the end of the timeline?
"it makes you wonder if you've actually been living not in the real world but only a description of it" -
It is only a script after all.
Speaking of the end of the world, only some unknown coincidence in hawaii saved utopia avenue's last record. And a man with impossible technology that almost disappeared from the world in only 50 years.
I wonder if/when the horologists will show us any possibility of moving through time in order to preserve it, and I wonder if any meddling has taken place so far.
Griff Griffin. I guess it wasn't his time to be a Protagonist yet. I wonder about Steve also. An important part of the band, written as "an important piece of the puzzle", or a "heartbeat", you're convinced he's important but you're left wondering how. He never thinks out loud to us. It's curious. Or maybe he's just dyslexic and can't write a chapter.
Why does the cloud atlas sextet sound so familiar to Jasper?
I wonder what sixsmith was doing at this point in time.
"How come the rich own the world when they're so bloody useless?" - dean's transition through social class and what remains. The poetry of ordering a boring sandwich as room service. Class was a point of contention initially for dean/griff and elf, seeing their relationships change was a voyage.
Other things about elf and griff that can be thought and not written. If David Mitchell is Elf, I'm Levon.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Drug use, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, and Gun violence
Moderate: Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Police brutality, Homophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, and Grief
Minor: Cancer, Terminal illness, War, and Death of parent
jordangddrd's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I loved almost every part of this book, and the fresh take on a classic rock band where the members don't all hate each other's guts really compelled me to finish this book more than other similar recent releases. <The ending was Stand By Me levels of shocking and heartbreaking.> That being said, the descriptions and roles of POC characters in this book didn't meet the standards I would expect from a book written in 2020. Also, the dialogue from American characters but especially <Janis Joplin> (who was from Texas) felt to me like David Mitchell has maybe never had a conversation with an American person.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, Violence, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Drug use, and Mental illness
Moderate: Infidelity, Addiction, Car accident, Homophobia, Death, Classism, Sexism, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Antisemitism, Cancer, Fatphobia, and Body shaming
gaygothiccowboy's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism, Drug use, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Racial slurs
kingaisnotcool's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
i usually love magical realism but the magical realism in this was completely unnecessary and ruined what i hoped would be good representation of mental illness (specifically schizophrenia).
Content Warnings
Minor: Car accident, Death, Sexism, Infertility, Biphobia, Child death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pregnancy, and War
schausjk's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
This book took a really long time to actually grab me. While I did ultimately enjoy parts of it, it's not something I ever would have picked up on my own, and one of the main characters (Dean) annoyed me so deeply I would've just stopped reading at so many points in the book if I had any choice. In addition to his general attitude and treatment of women, the way Mitchell insisted on writing all Dean's "you"s as "yer" was just infuriating. Elf had promise but felt too two dimensional and wasn't given enough narrative time in the last half of the book, Jasper's story was interesting until it got too pseudo-scientific about what was going on, and we got almost nothing of Griff to the point where I clearly felt the author just wasn't interested in him. Even Levon, who has so much potential for an interesting character, was barely touched on except "is gay, will be mentioned once that he's Jewish, and is generally A Good Person". As it was, I felt the book spent too much time name-dropping artists from the 1960s that I absolutely do not care about and the book itself really dragged on. It genuinely felt like outside of Jasper, there wasn't really a plot.
From what I've read about the book itself, it's probably more satisfying for folks who've read previous David Mitchell books and can enjoy the ways it intersects with those previous books, but for a first-time reader like me, it was just tolerable
From what I've read about the book itself, it's probably more satisfying for folks who've read previous David Mitchell books and can enjoy the ways it intersects with those previous books, but for a first-time reader like me, it was just tolerable
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death, and Death of parent
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexism, and Antisemitism
chloeanderson's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Just because of jaspers last chapter otherwise it would have been 5 stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Addiction, and Child abuse
Moderate: Child death, Abandonment, and Sexism
Minor: Confinement
apersonfromflorida's review
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Drug use
Moderate: Cursing, Drug abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Police brutality, and Child death
Minor: Addiction, Lesbophobia, War, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Infertility, Death of parent, and Cancer
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