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Summary: A story full of richly detailed characters and situations
Review: The Beach is about a guy from England named Richard who makes a trip to Thailand. Upon arriving in Thailand, a Scotish man who goes by the name of "Daffy Duck" gives Richard a hand-drawn map just before comitting suicide. The map gives Richard read-between-the-lines directions to "the beach" which is supposedly a modern-day Eden. He meets up with a French couple, Francoise and Etienne, and they make their secret trip to the beach, although they find out that it is the not the Eden or Utopia they'd orginally thought it would be. One of the great things about this novel is that the author gives great decriptions of details and characters which makes it more realistic.
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Summary: Generation X gets a Serious Wake-Up Call!
Review: "The Beach" is a fresh, brilliant story of a 24 year old British man, Richard, trying to find himself as is immersed in the culture of Thailand. On his first night, when trying to get some sleep, his neighbor in the hotel, a bonkers Scottish guy named Daffy Duck says he knows where paradise is. The next morning, Richard finds a map to this island and finds Daffy dead. He teams up with an attractive French couple and they head off. I first picked this up in summer, because "A Life Less Ordinary" is one of my favorite movies and I wanted to see why the filmmakers were so interested in this book. I actually finished it on vacation in England, and I was really blown away by this story. Even though I'm only 17, and this book supposedly speaks to Gen-Xrs, I found that a lot of the messages in the book ring true to me and I was surprised how much I could relate to the central character of Richard, who enjoys immersing himself in a world he doesn't understand, and is horrified at what he eventually discovers, which is that "paradise" isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Garland made a great message about how we try to get away and isolate ourselves from our modern world it finds us (one of Richard's island buddies has a GameBoy -- great idea, Garland!), and that paradise can never be a true reality, because some of those people who want that paradise can cause it's destruction (Sal, the island leader is case in point), and I loved the shocking, violent ending where paradise comes crashing down, because it's residents can really never be free of their outside world. Speaking of that, the scene -- we get the impression -- is supposed to be EXTREMLY violent, but Garland thankfully does not go into much detail. Bravo on your first novel, Mr. Garland. I can't want to explore the rest of the worlds you create
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Summary: A somewhat entertaining read
Review: I first bought this book because of the hype surround the upcoming movie version. I expected to find exciting adventures of backpackers on a remote beach in the islands of thailand. What I ended up finding was a moderately penned book with a very stupid Lord of the Flies type ending. I really tried to enjoy it, but it ended up being only.......ok.....at best.
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Summary: Amazingly restrained
Review: The Beach is the best travel novel Iv'e read. The descriptions of travellers and the life they create on the beach is brilliantly recognised. It made me want to go travelling to the Far East and how many books can you say that about! Stranger still it's going to make me want to go and see a Leonerdo Cuppicinno film. Garland is amazingly restrained and keeps the violence to minimal but perhaps this is a criticism more than praise! I've read William Golding's Lord of the Flies(which explores similer themes) and I have to say The Beach is better in terms of character, discription and story and that is high praise indeed.
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Summary: intricate and deep novel and a nail biting adventure!
Review: Alex Garland first novel well lives up to the hype surrounding it. The story of richard, a travellor who discovers himself on a paradise island in thailand is so fast paced yet intricately described that it is almost impossible to put the book down. The descriptions place you there and you never want to leave. The ending is NOT disappointing, it is a mellow winding down from a highly charged, eventful pre-ending. The book is completely believable and a must-read for anyone who likes reading. Alex Garland's writing style is so fluent and inspiring, there is no part of the book that is hard to read.The visits from Mister Duck add a twist that gives the novel that extra bit of depth. A massive success for an amazing author.
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Summary: Makes you want to stay home!
Review: The Beach by Alex Garland is a backpacker's hell. Set in exotic Thailand, the book wavers from being unbelievable to making you think, "This could happen to me." It's interesting to see how the main character, Richard, descends into complete immorality.
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Summary: Hooked on this Book
Review: For any one who has travelled and has the bug associated with it, The Beach is a book that will make you want to quit your job and go on an adventure. I felt like I was in the main characters shoes trekking through Thailand, not knowing what would happen from day to day. The author has obviously been the backpacker and draws us in from the very first chapter. The story turns a little weird towards the end but nonetheless it is an excellent read. I could not put the book down and have since been looking for a similar type of escape novel. I have The Gringo Trail lined up for hopefully the next riveting read through South America! Don't know how long I can hold this corporate job with this kind of reading!
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Summary: The Beach Alex Garlands debut!
Review: This book is amazing, a detailed yet supprisingly easy read, It is imaginative yet truthful and very honest. You get involved even at the beggining of the book and you would do anything to try and help Richard! It is great all the way through and really captures you but I have to say the twist near the end is great, and it will be interesting to see if the movie of the book out feb 11th can pull this off, although I know Leonardo DiCaprio was perfectly cast as Richard Lewis, and when you read the book you get a very clear picture of Richard and Leo fits in there nicley it is hard toimagine anyone else in the role! It is a great book so buy it NOW!
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Summary: Talk about a disappointment....
Review: I so badly wanted to like this book, and I questioned myself after reading it, did I miss something? You take a plot, destined for suspense, twists, and page turning excitement, and what you get is a bunch of scattered, haphazard events, that don't tie together, aren't interesting, and don't lead to anything. I wasted good imagination trying to figure out the twist, only to find there wasn't one, at least not one original. Never did I suspect Garland was going to use a washed up, banal ending. A little foreshadowing of tension amongst the group would have helped swallow the lame, choppy, 3 page ending, so far fetched, completely lost from Garland's prose. Some actual character development would have helped us believe these people were one helping of stew off from insanity. Why waste over 400 pages convincing readers that these boring, lazy, people are content living on this beach, and then think we're actually going to believe, in the last chapter of the book, that they are a bunch of mad savages? One of the most exciting parts of the book was when Richard was stuck in an air pocket while swimming through the cave on his way to the boat for the rice run. I couldn't wait to find out how he and Jed were going to get the rice back to the beach knowing they'd have to swim back through the cave. Hmmm... Garland skipped right over that. I guess he couldn't come up with an explanation either... And Mr. Duck? He went from a haunting, bloody nightmare, to Richard's bumbling guardian angel. Cheesy.... Duck's random appearances were annoying and distracting. Garland didn't keep Richard's character clear as to whether he was the hero or the enemy. You want to respect him for resisting Francoise out of loyalty to Etienne, for standing by Jed when no one else did. But then you come to find out he's capable of following through with inhumane acts with no conscience. The story has no clear focus. Either keep with the dreamlike adventures on the DMZ, or develop more convincing interpersonal relationships amongst the savage hippies. With all the chaos in the end, it leaves you scratching your head wondering how in the world they survived and got off the beach safely. So ridiculous... Unconvincing characters... neglected plot development... unexplained happenings... a true disappointment.
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Summary: Beached
Review: This book was the hyped book of the season, and it simply didn't deliver. Amid hipster pop culture references, this book follows a very well-travelled thematic path, ending up as a Gen-X "Lord of the Flies", which itself dealt with tired themes. This is a "shocking book" for the easily shocked.
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