Rating: 
Summary: Pretentious and mediocre
Review: Garland may be young, and this may be a first novel, but even making for allowances it is impossible to see why this book has been so heavily and expensively hyped. There are some good moments, and some well-drawn characters, especially early on, but as the book goes on (and, boy does it go on...) it loses it's way so badly, and reverts to so many tired and predictable devices, that all reading pleasure is simply gone. And, worst of all, this book lectures and self-loves to a very irritating degree.
Rating:
Summary: Avoid!!!
Review: When it was published in paperback, everyone in London went bonkers for 'The Beach'. Everywhere you went, someone was leafing through it at a rate of knots. Life is full of great unexplained mysteries and this is one of them. 'The Beach' is awful. One of the worst things I've ever read. And if so many people genuinely rate it as one of the good books around, I wonder what else they have (or haven't) been reading. The story begins with a glimmer of mystery...there's a map which appears to lead to paradise, but from there on in, Garland botches the mystery at every turn. It's like bad Enid Blyton. I wanted to shout out 'Has no one else read LORD OF THE FLIES?' - Garland's effort is at best a pale imitation of William Golding's stunning desert-island disaster story. Please please don't waste your time on this Mills & Boon bilge when you could read Golding's quality allegory. I'm sure the brilliant Danny Boyle team will weedle a slick, trendy film out of it, but the book is just big, dumb, artless airport stuff.
Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: The Beach is a fantastic novel - the subject matter is fascinating, especially for anyone who has travelled or longs to do so. It is really well written and the characters are mostly very well developed. This is the one place where the novel disappoints - some characters are mentioned once or twice and then never heard of again which was a bit frustrating. It's one of those books that you never want to end but you're dying to find out what happens - make sure you finish it as the ending is worth waiting for.
Rating: 
Summary: Impressive....
Review: I don't usually finish a book in one day, but this one was too difficult to put down. Although the storyline is similar to other traveler books (Lord of the Flies, Are you experienced? etc.), it's Richard's descriptive mind that intrigued me most and made this book a definite A. One more advice before picking up this book, SMOKE A JOINT! You may understand it better then.
Rating: 
Summary: Everyone doesn't think this book is so great...
Review: Ironically, I was travelling in just the area where this book is set at the time I read it so at first it was very exciting to follow along (of course not to the mysterious island). Unfortunately, soon after the intriging beginning, the book starts to go downhill. It is realistic only so long and then it gets stupid and unbelievable. I found it a pain to finish. The "..Flies" parallel is the only reason why it seems to get any attention and I think that it is shallow outside of the copied plot.
Rating:
Summary: A Generation X er take on Lord of the Flies
Review: This novel is captivating from start,downtown seedy Bangkok to finish, a remote Thai island miles away from civilization. Garland writes like he knows what he's talking about--the find yourself youth travel culture and the fine threads that keep a small group together or tear it apart. This novel charts the travels of a British male (Garland?) and two French companions from backpacker row to an eerily familiar Lord of the Flies-style remote island where pecking order will unite or destroy a compelling group of characters. A fabulous travel novel!
Rating:
Summary: An adult "Lord of the Flies"
Review: Loved Thailand, loved the beach, loved "The Beach".I was given the book by a travelling mate (we "did" Nepal and India together) and I have since passed it on to other travelling companions and recommended it to many more, although you don't have to be a tourist (though who isn't?) to appreciate it. It mentions but doesn't solve that old question: is there any difference between a tourist and a traveller? Basically the novel is an adult "Lord of the Flies". The setting is similarly a tropical island paradise but of course there are serpents (figuratively) in the garden of Eden. Old themes of the nature of man (and woman) and of good versus evil given are given a new twist with added drugs. If it is a bit nightmarish for your tastes try the light-weight and amusing "Are you Experienced?" set in India.
Rating:
Summary: A thoroughly engaging mind trip of a novel.
Review: I read this book on my vacation at Myrtle Beach. The reason I bought it was I found out that the makers of Trainspotting were making it into a movie. I was pleasantly surprised with this piece of work. It has a strange narrative to it, which I really liked. It also had many surrealistic, truly f***ed-up bits in it. I enjoy reading novels that make me feel like I am dreaming when I read them. This book had a Heart of Darkness and Lord of the Flies ring to it. It was a very unusual and very entertaining combination.
Rating:
Summary: The Beach was good enough to read more than once.
Review: The Beach was a book that stays with you long after you read it, and you find yourself wanting to read it again when you are through. The main character was complex but also seemed like a guy you might know, because he seemed slightly arrogant but also insecure. Personally, I found it interesting because I, like the main character, was born in 1974, and he remembers certain things that I remember and sees things in the unique way of people in their twenties. He wants to find a place that's perfect and is too naive not to know that where there are people, this going to be conflict.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining but loses its way.
Review: I agree the book does begin well and very quickly draws you into the story. I have some experience in the kind of travelling described particularly in Thailand, so I desperately wanted to like this book. The concept itself worked but I believe Garland struggled with a suitable ending for the tale. I have to disagree with a previous reviewer who reccomended "Are You Experienced" a thoroughly unlikable book with no redeming features I can remember.
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