- Paperback: 448 pages
- Publisher: Penguin (5 July 2007)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0141031778
- ISBN-13: 978-0141031774
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.7 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 150,710 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Beach
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in The Beach for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
|
There is a newer edition of this item:
|
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Fresh, fast-paced, compulsive and clever (Nick Hornby )
Lord of the Flies and The Magus lurk at the roots of this novel, but Garland reshapes them with panache into something terrifyingly new (Mail on Sunday )
A gripping adventure, and a fascinating jigsaw (The Times )
Lord of the Flies and The Magus lurk at the roots of this novel, but Garland reshapes them with panache into something terrifyingly new (Mail on Sunday )
A gripping adventure, and a fascinating jigsaw (The Times )
Sunday Times
`A white-knuckle ride into the heart of darkness'
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
Vietnam, me love you long time. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Vietnam, me love you long time. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
ts not often I come along a book that suits me perfectly. Like any other young man, I still have the kid inside me that wishes you could be out there, exploring and starting adventures. I'm not sure how I even came across The Beach, but all I know is that its the best book I've ever read in the adventure genre.
I'd never even heard of Alex Garland, but now when I hear his name, this debut book of his springs to mind instantly. The Beach is very confidently written for such a young man, and theirs no doubt some of his other novels look intersting. The book itself however meets all the challeneges you'd expect from a traveller. Richard, the main character who narrates the book, starts off in a small hotel in Thailand, as part of his travelling. One night, a man staying in the room next to him peeps though the small mosquito net - it is from here Richard hears all about 'the beach'... And for an adventure book, the suprises get well under way from the start, as Richard goes on to find the beach with little more than a map he found pinned to his door, and 2 companions he meets in the hotel.
The use of imagery is fantastic - we get to know more about Richard as the book goes one, and cleverly, his own self description is written into the story as he describes himself in the mirror, instead of amatuerly saying "I have black hair...". The language is easy to read, and this helps to get a better vision of what the surroundings are like. The plot is fantastic too, as it keeps you wanting to read on all the time. Its not just about what Richard manages to see on his travels, its the development of the characters, and a series of events on the island that build up to a dramatic and violent end that even I wasn't expecting.
But inside the story, Garland tries to bring about many messages - the main one being about greed and our want for more in our human nature. This idea leads up to the events that turn the island from a heaven into a place were characters are on the edge.
To knit with Richards expieriences on the island, he has visions of a character who calls him self 'Daffy Duck' (hence he's a little loopy), who we discover has a big, big role to play not only on the island, but in Richards personality. The great thing about this sub-plot is that it leaves the reader making their own conclusion - 'Was Daffy manifested from Richards own thoughts and dreams?' That was one of my ideas anyway. Richards character plays a big role in th story, though thr reader maybe be unaware till they get truly stuck in. Watching Vietnam films in the past has only made Richard more young and vulnevrable- he's see's war as an adventure, but as he soon finds out thanks to Daffy, war isn't at all as good as it seems...
I would advise however that if your going to read the book, avoid the film! Its Hollywood elements do no justice to this novel, and you'll be very dissapointed. Either watch the film, or read book.
The fact that The Beach is such an absorbing book is what makes it so enjoyable. Theirs no real answer to any myths surrounding the characters pasts, and you can make your own judgements - Garland doesn't tell you what he wants you to think. With its lovely imagery and nice set up of chapters and 'sub'chapters', The Beach is a perfect book for escaping from the winter chill!
I'd never even heard of Alex Garland, but now when I hear his name, this debut book of his springs to mind instantly. The Beach is very confidently written for such a young man, and theirs no doubt some of his other novels look intersting. The book itself however meets all the challeneges you'd expect from a traveller. Richard, the main character who narrates the book, starts off in a small hotel in Thailand, as part of his travelling. One night, a man staying in the room next to him peeps though the small mosquito net - it is from here Richard hears all about 'the beach'... And for an adventure book, the suprises get well under way from the start, as Richard goes on to find the beach with little more than a map he found pinned to his door, and 2 companions he meets in the hotel.
The use of imagery is fantastic - we get to know more about Richard as the book goes one, and cleverly, his own self description is written into the story as he describes himself in the mirror, instead of amatuerly saying "I have black hair...". The language is easy to read, and this helps to get a better vision of what the surroundings are like. The plot is fantastic too, as it keeps you wanting to read on all the time. Its not just about what Richard manages to see on his travels, its the development of the characters, and a series of events on the island that build up to a dramatic and violent end that even I wasn't expecting.
But inside the story, Garland tries to bring about many messages - the main one being about greed and our want for more in our human nature. This idea leads up to the events that turn the island from a heaven into a place were characters are on the edge.
To knit with Richards expieriences on the island, he has visions of a character who calls him self 'Daffy Duck' (hence he's a little loopy), who we discover has a big, big role to play not only on the island, but in Richards personality. The great thing about this sub-plot is that it leaves the reader making their own conclusion - 'Was Daffy manifested from Richards own thoughts and dreams?' That was one of my ideas anyway. Richards character plays a big role in th story, though thr reader maybe be unaware till they get truly stuck in. Watching Vietnam films in the past has only made Richard more young and vulnevrable- he's see's war as an adventure, but as he soon finds out thanks to Daffy, war isn't at all as good as it seems...
I would advise however that if your going to read the book, avoid the film! Its Hollywood elements do no justice to this novel, and you'll be very dissapointed. Either watch the film, or read book.
The fact that The Beach is such an absorbing book is what makes it so enjoyable. Theirs no real answer to any myths surrounding the characters pasts, and you can make your own judgements - Garland doesn't tell you what he wants you to think. With its lovely imagery and nice set up of chapters and 'sub'chapters', The Beach is a perfect book for escaping from the winter chill!
Format:Kindle Edition
The first time I read this book, I was 19 and on my way back from Thailand and indulging in the cliché of reading the well known book (thanks to the amazing film by Danny Boyle staring the equally amazing Leo) which is set in the back packer haven of Thailand. The premise starts with a boy arriving on the Khoa San Road after feeling disillusioned with his life back in England, his girlfriend left him and the only logical escape is to head East. He meets an even more disillusioned Daffy in a hostel who gives him a map to a mysterious utopian island before an abrupt suicide. Accompanied by a French couple he sets out to find this paradise.
What I like most about this book is the number of levels it works on. On one level you have the story of Richard life on the Island and the politics involved with 'paradise' and harbouring a crush on a beautiful, yet unattainable French girl. On another level there is the the whole concept of a 'paradise' and how utopia's fail because of the human agency involved. With some brilliantly real characters whose emotions leap out of the page giving them a realistic dimension that I think is Garland's reason d tre. I am one of the few who thought his 'The tesseract' was actually an amazing book even though it was criticised for the abrupt ending just before the climax.
Watching the Utopia unravel was one of the best flights I have ever had and was a nice change from the Wilbur Smith book I left on the 747 in exchange for it.
An amazing story full of believable characters, (down to the slightest of emotional rifts which are often so insignificant they are all together ignored in other books) an amazing exotic setting of 'paradise' with the back drop of the 'seeking something more' back packer culture.
What I like most about this book is the number of levels it works on. On one level you have the story of Richard life on the Island and the politics involved with 'paradise' and harbouring a crush on a beautiful, yet unattainable French girl. On another level there is the the whole concept of a 'paradise' and how utopia's fail because of the human agency involved. With some brilliantly real characters whose emotions leap out of the page giving them a realistic dimension that I think is Garland's reason d tre. I am one of the few who thought his 'The tesseract' was actually an amazing book even though it was criticised for the abrupt ending just before the climax.
Watching the Utopia unravel was one of the best flights I have ever had and was a nice change from the Wilbur Smith book I left on the 747 in exchange for it.
An amazing story full of believable characters, (down to the slightest of emotional rifts which are often so insignificant they are all together ignored in other books) an amazing exotic setting of 'paradise' with the back drop of the 'seeking something more' back packer culture.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
My title says it all really. The book is in my all-time top ten and is a fantastic first novel.
The film adaptation has tainted the novel's image so badly, I find it literally impossible to get people to read it. But the fact you are reading this means you are at least a little interested, so please just bite the bullet.
Even if you don't like it, you will not be able to completely slate it because it is technically very well written, it is tight and concise, and has you feeling for the characters - not like some fiction ('Something Happened', by Joseph Heller). This is fact. If you want proof of this, look at the summary of scores for the book and you'll see it hasn't polarized readers (unlike 'Something Happened' - man I hate that novel).
The end.
The film adaptation has tainted the novel's image so badly, I find it literally impossible to get people to read it. But the fact you are reading this means you are at least a little interested, so please just bite the bullet.
Even if you don't like it, you will not be able to completely slate it because it is technically very well written, it is tight and concise, and has you feeling for the characters - not like some fiction ('Something Happened', by Joseph Heller). This is fact. If you want proof of this, look at the summary of scores for the book and you'll see it hasn't polarized readers (unlike 'Something Happened' - man I hate that novel).
The end.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Come to my beach?
I saw the film first and thought the book was better.
It was a surprisingly good read it was part psychological review of motives and human nature and how ruthless... Read more
It was a surprisingly good read it was part psychological review of motives and human nature and how ruthless... Read more
Published 24 months ago by B Murphy
Interesting
This book totally passed me by when it first came out, though now I do not know why. Having recently seen the film which came on t.v. Read more
Published on 12 Sep 2009 by Pen pal
Great holiday read
This is another version of Lord of the Flies/Heart of Darkness without being as deep or literary as either of the aforementioned, but still a hugely entertaining and readable book. Read more
Published on 18 Jun 2008 by Love Books
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
