Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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34 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An adventure you'll never forget..., January 24, 2002
Ready for some excitement and adventure? Pick up The Beach and lose yourself on a tropical island...Richard, a twentysomething backpacker who spends most of his time searching for bigger and better places to see, finds his way to Thailand for a little R&R. But something is definitely different about this trip and most of it comes in the form of his crazy hostel neighbor, Daffy, who talks incessantly and angrily about a beach. Tucked away in a remote and off-limits part of Thailand, the beach Daffy speaks of is considered a utopia, a perfect world that is unspoiled by tourists, a prize at the end of a tiring quest. Naturally Richard is curious, so he sets out with a French couple, Etienne and Francoise, and a map drawn by Daffy in search of this pristine fantasy land. The island commune in The Beach would definitely pass for a secret Woodstock hideaway. Richard's journey is like no other; a riveting and spectacular adventure. Reading this book was the next best thing to swimming in their private lagoon, spearing fish and viewing the underwater corals. Island politics and the obsessive desire to keep the island's secrecy plays a heavy role in this novel and is also a prime example of how, even in paradise, one can somehow manage to destroy it.
Dark and sinister, as well as sarcastically funny, The Beach is a fast and furious novel that transports readers to another place in the blink of an eye. Alex Garland's writing is razor-sharp and indicative of his amazing storytelling talent. The movie cannot begin to touch the depth and fascination of this unforgettable novel.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Beyond Travel Writing, November 17, 2000
Here's the quick synopsis: Richard, a 24 yo Englishman, escapes heartaches and realities at home by backpacking in Thailand (and it's written in the 1st, and told as if he's sitting around, writing a biography). He hooks up with a French couple and they travel to a legendary beach on an island in the Thai Marine Park (where they join a colony). Richard talks to a dead man, lusts after Francoise, and recons the dope farmers who live on the other side of the island -- things quickly go wrong (surprise, surprise). It's like watching war films and listening to the doors ... throw in a bit of discontented 90s youth and there you go. When I recommend this book, I quite often get the "Oh the Leo Beach movie" stare of disdain. It's very much more than that. This is an intelligent novel that examines the intersection of Vietnam war films on a generation of people who have lived without war, the elite repulsion Westerners have for the "Disneyification" of Third and Second World nations, and the ethnocentric enclaves created within "foreign" territories. This book functions on two levels: as an enjoyable quick read for someone who is looking for a pop culture punch of action and as a text that deserves a closer observation.
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Paradise and its discontents, March 9, 2000
It's telling that Alex Garland's debut novel has become a cult favorite among the same vacuous subpopulation of travelers that he spends much of this book lambasting. There's something impoverished about The Beach: reading it fails to provide the kind of "authentic experience" for which Garland's 20something characters are questing. Though I launched into this book looking for a subtext about rootlessness and the search for purpose among the gypsy backpackers that symbolize ALL of us GenXers, that idea went undeveloped. No idea, no theory, undergirds this book to give it structure or purpose. Undeveloped too are Garlands characters; they descend into madness and their lives hang in the balance, ho hum. You can't gasp when you don't give a damn. Finally, The Beach fails to portray a paradise that is very compelling: the commune that is the focus of this book is more of a tropical work camp, no one has interesting conversations or does much save for get stoned and play Tetris, and most of the members don't seem to get along. Though I'm two years younger than Garland, I felt that this book was somehow aimed at a teenage audience, or for some generation coarser and more emotionally stillborn and lobotomized than my own. Life's a beach, indeed....
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