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The Beach

The Beach

List Price: $15.00
Your Price: $10.20
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the best books I've ever read
Review: The Beach was one of the best books I've ever read... Fast paced, great detail, great story, and characters who you could relate to. It was a book you hated to end. I was envious of the whole experience. To live in paradise would be awesome, yet the experiences on the island add a little spice to the lives of it's inhabitants. As a high school student, this wonderfully-written piece of work should be included in the national curriculum. Praise to Alex Garland. I look forward to reading many more.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A rare contemporary find
Review: Although I'm not a fan of novels that involve premiscuous teens as the characters, THE BEACH was a nice exception. Sure they're aroused, high, and fighting half the time, but they are still memorable characters at a memorable place. After reading everything positive about the Beach, it'll make you want to go there and take a nice vacation :)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Shocking Debut
Review: First off, The Beach should not be confused with that junk movie with DiCaprio in it. Please don't let that dissuade from this excellent novel. If ever the truism "The book is better than the movie, this is it"

Second, the Beach, like the movie Fight Club, is often wildly misunderstood. I have seen many reviews that portray this novel as a Lord of the Flies rip-off, which misses the point entirely. The Beach is the exact opposite of Lord of the Flies. Whereas in that novel the lack of society corrupted the schoolboys, in this novel society corrupts the purity of nature. This is a significant thematic departure, which completely changes the effects of the events in the novel.

The style of this book is instantly classic. As a child of the 80s I was raised on videogames, tv and a sanitized suburban existance. Garland writes about people from all over the world just like I am. Therefore the book deals with the signifigance of sport, gameboy, isolation, etc. to breathtaking affect. I was completely hooked from the very first page.

This not a book you put down after the last page and forget about fifteen minutes later. The best thing I can say about it, is that for weeks after, you will be pondering the questions it raises. To me, that is the definition of a great novel.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Mixed Confusion
Review: Well when I first started reading the book, it seemed interesting to me...yet as I kept reading on, there was so many descriptions and adjectives that kept going on endlessly that it just made me bored of reading. There didn't seem to be a good plot...and while reading this book I kept getting confused with all the charaters and the story.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Stylish and Origional
Review: Alex Garlands 'The Beach' is a must read for any fans of stylish modern literature, and for that matter, anyone yearning for a good and experimental read. The book succeads because of the writing devises employed by Garland, for the themes of the book are controversial(Vietnam and marajuana),and could easily not have worked. The characters are all intruiging(in particular the charasmatic Daffy)and involve you in a plot with various subtle undertones. The book is also impactful-this is achieved through Richards narration and gradual change in personality.A pioneering novel-if you liked this you'll like 'The Tesseract'

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The beach... an appropriate title.
Review: I liked this book. In fact I really, really liked this book up until... the last 100 pages when everything seems to come loose and Garland appears to be running out of steam. You know the bit I'm talking about... where all the dope guards come down on to the beach threatening its inhabitants and then abrubtly leaving? Highly improbable and unbelievable-the over dramatic, rushed and almost scatty ending really does taint my impression of the rest of the novel which provides high paced, fairly exciting and quick reading. For example, the guards drop five corpses on the beach as a warning. Yes the people are tripping and yes they are all slighlty on the edge but for them all to start ripping the corpses to bits? It was almost laughable- and the meaningless subplots? Sub plots are meant to add depth to a novel and these subplots needed to tied up to prevent them becoming loose ends. The Swedish fiasco for example-where does that tie in to the rest of the storyline-in fact the storyline was so loose that at times it felt as if the book was ambling along all by itself with no one powering it. I just felt really let down after spending two days reading it-what an anti climax.

Maybe I am being a little harsh, I understand that this is Garland's first novel, and yes maybe my harshness is due to the amount of publicity it has received after the release of the film starring Dicaprio(which I haven't seen yet) but I think this novel could have been a whole lot better. Needless to say I did enjoy it but I wish I had saved it for the beach.Afterall, it remains,in my mind at least,a holiday read.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One Beach of a Book
Review: I took this book with me on a recent vacation to southern Florida. Once I began to read, I found it so engaging that for two days I chose to stay inside and devour it, all the while neglegting the calls of Florida's actual beaches. Garland writes with such honesty that I found it incredibly easy to identify with the main character Richard, violent hallucinations aside. On the surface, "The Beach" is a thrilling adventure novel, set in the mellow atmosphere of a remote island and marijuana smoke. Look deeper, and you find a parallel to Vietnam that reminds me of the "Heart of Darkness" -"Apocalypse Now." Most of all, this novel sparked within me a dangerous desire to leave my normal life behind and set out on some crazy adventure to Thailand. If you're looking for a quick, exciting read with some deep inner meaning, visit "The Beach."

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: the horror, the horror
Review: I wouldn't exactly say that Garland's writing style is 'beautiful,' but it is definitely intriguing. The Beach is not a joyful read by any means -- the graphic scenes throughout the book can almost force the reader to abandon the novel at least an hour before eating. Be ready to say hello to Lord of the Flies meets Heart of Darkness (aka Apocalypse Now); as long as you don't expect to read a word-for-word adaptation of Leonardo DiCaprio's take on the book, you're in for a good read. Not a new story, just a different -- if even more graphic -- look at it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Beach is Brilliant
Review: Is there such a thing as honest fiction? I didn't think so, until I read Alex Garland's The Beach. Garland takes the reader to a place where they are alone, afraid and exhilirated at the same time. With no boring moments and a constant page-turning plot, Garland has managed to capture the truth of reality through a fictional story line. If you want to meet real people, have real adventures, and read a very well-researched and intelligent novel...then Alex Garland's The Beach should be your first pick. I'm hooked on Alex Garland and let's all hope that his pen never runs out of ink. Readers beware because it's gonna be a wild ride!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Where have I seen this before?
Review: The main "idea" behind The Beach has been seen before. Man thinks something is Extraordinary, Man starts to discover otherwise, Situation deteriorates badly. Nothing special here... BUT, and there is a BUT, Alex Garland's writing style is absolutely beautiful. In this story in particular, he does something very rare, which is to speak, as the author, directly to the reader. The phrase I think was something like: "In this exact moment I am sitting at my wordprocessor typing this sentence." I don't know if I liked that approach or not but it is nice to see that style barriers have been broken. This is a very casual novel.... It is a good read though... the setting and plot are mysterious and as I said before the style is amazing. The ideas, though; could have been better. If you are looking for better ideas go for The Tesseract, by the same author. Personally I enjoyed The Tesseract more than The Beach.... but that is up to you to decide.


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