As someone who normally reads a music memoir or other nonfiction music book every week, I come to fictional stories about musicians with a particularly critical eye. When there are so many true stories about actual musicians out there, why make up a story about a fictional band?

I ask that question not out of any disdain for fiction as a genre — far from it. Outside of books I read for this feature, about half of what I read is fiction. Writers of books and stories about fictional musicians, though, face a special challenge: the music itself, the lure that usually draws us in to stories about musicians, doesn't exist.

Of course, that doesn't prevent a fiction writer from taking the That Thing You Do! route and coming up with some music, but it's most typical for writers to leave the music to readers' imaginations. The benefit of that approach is that you can posit a song that, say, Leonard Cohen would compliment — as the fictionalized version of him does in the case of a number by the eponymous quartet in David Mitchell's Utopia Avenue (buy now) — and you can leave it at that. Surely there are hundreds of songs out there that Leonard Cohen admired but you haven't heard...let's just say "Mona Lisa Sings the Blues" is one of them.

Utopia Avenue reads as a love letter, but not an uncritical one, to a place and time in popular culture. It opens in London in 1967, as a band discover musical alchemy amidst other artists who are feeling similarly adventurous. What if a jazz-loving drummer, a fiery rock guitarist, and a (relatively) seasoned bassist joined up with a folk singer-songwriter? One can very plausibly imagine a band like Utopia Avenue flourishing at a time when David Bowie was releasing songs about gnomes and Pink Floyd were still fronted by Syd Barrett.

The members of Utopia Avenue meet Barrett and Bowie, among the many real-life legends who populate the book's 574 pages. Brian Jones kvetches about never getting songwriting credit in the Stones, Sandy Denny lends the band's singer Elf (an appropriately twee abbreviation of Elizabeth Frances) some moral support, and bassist Dean takes a strange trip with Jerry Garcia in San Francisco. Inevitably, the band end up at the Chelsea Hotel partying with Cohen and Janis Joplin. Even John Lennon makes a cameo. (Jasper greets him with, "You're you, aren't you?"...which Lennon actually probably did get a lot.) Implausibly, Jim Morrison shows up but doesn't puke or punch anyone.

The novel's organized into chapters corresponding to the songs on the six sides of Utopia Avenue's three albums. Mitchell doesn't carry that, or any, conceit too far in a book that makes for a pleasant read if not a page-turner. Each chapter is a more or less self-contained vignette centering on one of the band members, flashing back and forth in time to create suspense and develop character. Having only read Cloud Atlas among Mitchell's several previous novels, I may have missed some references to the rest of his oeuvre...but it was hard to miss the references to Cloud Atlas and another of his books, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet.

Mitchell's many fans, and the many more fans of rock's adolescent years as a genre, will enjoy Utopia Avenue. It's certainly a plausible account, except perhaps in its rather sunny view of how intraband dynamics play out.

The group's three songwriters agree to release singles written by each of them in turn, which creates some tension at their label (which sees Elf's material as most marketable) but otherwise doesn't create much tension. Guitarist Jasper struggles with a growing mental health concern, but aside from a lackluster gig, it never really gets in the way of his work. Ditto for Elf's poor relationship decisions, even when she brings her know-it-all musician boyfriend into the recording studio.

Would Griff the drummer ever hook up with Elf? "Maybe if we weren't in the same band," he shrugs, "but sex can't compete with music." (Take that, Fleetwood.)

Would Levon the manager ever swindle his artists? Never; he sees them as "a sort of family." (Take that, Klein.)

Would handsome Dean ever accept Allen Klein's offer of a solo deal? Readers, the bassist burns the business card. (Take that, Timberlake.)

Would Elf drop acid with Jerry Garcia? "LSD and I do not get along," she says demurely. (Dean indulges, but still makes the next morning's recording session with time and sanity to spare.)

Misfortune, to say the least, does befall Utopia Avenue, but all in all their experience as a band more or less reflects their moniker. Mitchell's novel is a kinder, gentler version of a sadder story that's been told many times. In 2020, maybe that's exactly what we need.

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Upcoming Rock and Roll Book Club picks

Tune in to The Current at 8:30 a.m. (Central) every Thursday morning to hear Jay Gabler and Jill Riley talk about a new book. Also, find Jay's reviews online.

September 17: Blues All Around Me: The Autobiography of B.B. King (buy now)

September 24: My Life In the Purple Kingdom by BrownMark (buy now)

October 1: The Meaning of Mariah Carey by Mariah Carey (buy now)

October 8: See a Little Light: The Trail of Rage and Melody by Bob Mould (buy now)