I Think This Could Be A Contender!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                         I would have finished David Mitchell's "Utopia Avenue" sooner, had it not  been for my procedure, last week.   That said, let me say I found it more satisfying than his previous, shorter book, "Slade House," which a dark,  Victorian combo of Dickens and Lewis Carroll.  I should have loved it to pieces, but I did not.  Mitchell is one  of those writers,  whom,  I am convinced, paints better on a larger canvass,  and "Utopia Avenue" proves me right; at 574 pages, it whizzes by like a whirlwind, catching  the reader its grasp.

                                          The  novel  refers to an  English band during the Sixties--a classic time  for pop music,  which I should know, having grown up in.  Its members are Dean Moss,  bassist, who hails from Gravesend;  Jasper de Zoet, a lead guitarist, and the scion of a wealthy,  prominent, Netherlands family: Peter "Griff" Griffin, the group's jazz drummer, from Yorkshire; lastly, but hardly least, Elf  Holloway, the soul female, keyboardist, and lead singer.  She was part of an earlier folk act, with her prick  of an ex-husband,  Bruce, who,  of course, once this group starts climbing, wants to hitch his wagon to theirs.  No dice.

                                          Each member is given a compelling  back  story, as is the group's manager, Levon.  But  the  glory of  this book,  especially for Sixties raised baby boomers,  such as I, is the outpouring of  references of  period artists--Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Mama  Cass, Jimi Hendrix,  Janis Joplin, Cream,  to name a few.  And, of  course, The Beatles.

                                           The concept  is brilliant; the narrative is structured like a conceptual multi-disc album,  and each chapter is a  music track.  Within this framework, the band's  rise, and fall,  is chronicled, and the  resolution is as neatly wrapped as any I have read lately.    But Mitchell loves to  play head games, with references to other works and characters of  his own.  Jasper de Zoet, for example, is a descendant of Jacob de Zoet, the title character from Mitchell's 2010 novel, "The Thousand Autumns  Of Jacob  De Zoet," which I was not crazy about, at the time, and  am  now  contemplating reading again.  And references abound to my two favorite Mitchell  books,  "Cloud Atlas,"  and "The Bone  Clocks."

                                            Darlings,  this could very well end up on my Best List.   It  will be coming out sooner,  than later.  Meanwhile,  for those who love top flight literary fiction, I cannot recommend anything  out there better than  Mitchell's current  work.

                                             The  hours will fly like minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!