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Summary: The Beach and D'Caprio
Review: I am absolutely certain that Leonardo D'Caprio or however you spell his name is going to spoil an excellent read. A book that i couldn't put down for six or seven hours of my life untill i finished and even then i wanted to pick it up and make sure i'd read every last bit of the blurb and aurthorial information i could find. Richard is depicted beautifully and he seems real, with all his faults and mistakes and surreal wanderings into fantasy. I feel this character could not be portrayed through Leonardo's face - and you know they will change it so that he ends up with a girl. Still the whole concept of a hidden paradise is well explored by Garland and the social implications of such a circumstance are investigated to a conclusion that is breathtakingly scary.
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Summary: the beach: full of hedonist fun and frolic
Review: from one author to another, from one author who can no longer stand to read badly written prose, I started reading "the beach" in Barnes and Noble and i am already addicted to it. Very well written in a hipster style--good for anyone intelligent enough to comprehend, good for someone who may not like to read but hates to read mass-market paperbacks, better for the young or young at heart ages 15-25. Really good if you wanted something to read on an overseas flight--preferably to Thailand, since that is the setting of the book. Also good if you want to have an exciting, albeit vicarious, experience into Thailand's backpacker culture. Best if you want to have a good time. If you're a snowboarder or other extreme jugador like me, this book won't let you down. Anyway, what i'm saying between the lines is that garland is a natural writer, and this book therefore is naturally flowin' with easy , engaging prose. Worth buying.
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Summary: Anybody's dream of an armchair adventure
Review: Alex Garland certainly knew exactly want he wanted from his armchair adventure when he wrote this book. This is the most confident debut I've ever read, and will be the best book I've ever read for a long time. A roller coaster couldn't be more exiting. A trip to the moon couldn't be more packd with danger. And a face-to-face confrontation with a lion couldn't be a better story. This book reaches into my soul and pulls on every ounce of adveture I have in my body. Every time I read it I want to go to Thailand more and more. The pure genius of calling the three founders after cartoon characters, and the 'expert' know-how shown with his ETAs and his FNGs - as Johnny Vaughn would say, it's a diamond bullet in the forhead. The unexpected ending, as disguisting as it maybe, switches you back onto reality with a hard slap around the face. Not everything is perfect, not even on the Beach. The part with the food poisoning is hilarious, especially when he gets his own back on bugs, I'm not sick, just trying to find humour in a serious health hazard! The year 0 should now be used to symbolise the first year you read this book, a truly desrving tribute to a truly brilliant piece of literature. When will it appear on the GCSE syllabus? The film has a lot to live up to when it comes out on Feb 11th 2000. How many times have you sighed when you finish a book? Read this one and you'll be able to experience the feeling too. A true cult read: you'll either love it or you'll hate it, but everyone I know who's read it, has loved it.
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Summary: INCREDIBLE SUSPENSE
Review: This book is an incredible accomplishment for a 27 year old writer's first book. It's a stranger in a strange land....suspensful, full of surprises and danger in a seeming paradise. I immensely enjoyed this fast read.
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Summary: The Beach By Alex Garland
Review: This book lets you look through the eyes of a man seeking for advanture. He (the main character, Richard)comes across new people in his life and new surroundings. He is faced with isolation and the secerts behind the Beach. I recommend this book with a passion for new things. It is well written and creats a new world for your imagination.
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Summary: Enjoyable novel
Review: Imagine Lord of the Flies with twenty-somethings from the nineties, and you get an idea of what "The Beach" is like. The story is set in Thailand. If you've ever backpacked through Thailand, you will read about many familiar feelings and sights in the country. An enjoyable novel.
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Summary: Luscious
Review: I loved this book up until Garland climaxed with the cliched "GunsAndWeaponryThang". I feel that a much more subtle ending would have kept in tone with the rest of the book and slightly detracted from it. "The rest of the book", though, was incredibly evocative with landscape. It gave me a taster of the world and as I've never been out of England except on Package Holidays, it's inspired me to take a Gap Year after my A-Levels and melt my way across Asia. Excellent characters too. Good book. Shame about the ending.
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Summary: Beware
Review: Well folks read the book now b4 it's to late. The movie will be out in 8 days or so and although I am curious to see it it's going to be rather a dissappointment. Richard(leo) ISN'T EVEN ENGLISH HES AMERICAN. Gonna be a lot of changes but you'll be alright BEACH fans. Just take the movie for what it is. A very different story inspired by our favourite novel. Danny Boyle Oughta be good. And give Leo a break... even though I, in all honesty, should be playing that role. I need a cigarette.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Story!
Review: Having travelled through the exact same route as Alex Garland, I often thought to myself, "Someone should write a book about this whole back-packer scene." Alex has done an excellent job describing what it's like to be on the road in Southeast Asia right down to the cultural steriotypes of each nationality. He did a wonderful job building characters and telling the story at a quick pace. I loved this book!
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Summary: 2/3 of a Great Book
Review: I enjoyed the first 2/3 of this book very much. I enjoyed its realistic view of backpackers in Asia. If you have travelled there, you have seen them. Always looking for the more hardcore place. China, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia...always trying to out do the other. I found the book very entertaining until the last 70 or so pages. The climax or lack there of was a let down. The tension built and built but never reached its potential. A good book with a poor ending. I am curious to see the movie version.
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