Product Description

Richard is drawn into a strange conversation in a hotel. He hears of a secret island Garden of Eden hidden in the scattered islands of a Thai marine park. Next morning, he finds a map pinned to his door and the man who put it there has slashed his wrists. The challenge is irresistible and he sets off on a perilous journey in search of Shangri-La.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #50253 in Books
• Published on: 1997-06-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

From Amazon.co.uk
In our ever-shrinking world, where popular Western culture seems to have infected every nation on the planet, it is hard to find even a small niche of unspoiled land--forget searching for pristine islands or continents. This is the situation in Alex Garland's debut novel, The Beach. Human progress has reduced Eden to a secret little beach near Thailand. In the tradition of grand adventure novels, Richard, a rootless traveller rambling around Thailand on his way somewhere else, is given a hand-drawn map by a madman who calls himself Daffy Duck. He and two French travellers set out on a journey to find this paradise.

What makes this a truly satisfying novel is the number of levels on which it operates. On the surface it's a fast-paced adventure novel; at another level it explores why we search for these utopias, be they mysterious lost continents or small island communes. Garland weaves a gripping and thought-provoking narrative that suggests we are, in fact, such products of our Western culture that we cannot help but pollute and ultimately destroy the very sanctuary we seek. --Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk Review
In our ever-shrinking world, where popular Western culture seems to have infected every nation on the planet, it is hard to find even a small niche of unspoiled land--forget searching for pristine islands or continents. This is the situation in Alex Garland's debut novel, The Beach. Human progress has reduced Eden to a secret little beach near Thailand. In the tradition of grand adventure novels, Richard, a rootless traveller rambling around Thailand on his way somewhere else, is given a hand-drawn map by a madman who calls himself Daffy Duck. He and two French travellers set out on a journey to find this paradise.

What makes this a truly satisfying novel is the number of levels on which it operates. On the surface it's a fast-paced adventure novel; at another level it explores why we search for these utopias, be they mysterious lost continents or small island communes. Garland weaves a gripping and thought-provoking narrative that suggests we are, in fact, such products of our Western culture that we cannot help but pollute and ultimately destroy the very sanctuary we seek. --Amazon.com

From the Publisher
PRAISE FOR THE BEACH
‘THE BEACH is fresh, fast-paced, compulsive and clever – a LORD OF THE FLIES for the Generation X. It has all the makings of a cult classic.’ Nick Hornby

‘An impressive new writer has arrived.’ SUNDAY 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

‘Alex Garland is writing a brand new kind of adventure novel. His style is dangerously simple yet altogether captivating.’ Douglas Rushkoff

‘The storyline is winningly compulsive, the writing deceptively simple in this, frankly, brilliantly conceived first novel.’ Q Magazine

‘A gripping adventure and also fascinating jigsaw…Cleanly written, strongly driven, this is a terrific debut.’ THE TIMES

‘A highly confident debut…this incisive novel may well come to be regarded as a defining text in the history of imaginative travel writing.’ DAILY TELEGRAPH

‘An exceptional first novel…An action novel that provokes subtle responses, THE BEACH takes in ideas about man’s inevitable progress from noble savage to social breakdown (and) the related tradition of nature versus art.’ TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

‘A literary adrenalin rush…What Irvine Welsh did for the modern junkie, Alex Garland is about to do for the modern junkie, Alex Garland is about to do for thousands of young adventurers.’ PUNCH

‘Garland has written a powerful and frighteningly believable novel.’ COMPANY

‘Precise and speedy prose, with good old-fashioned romantic adventure spiced up with deadpan authorial irony.’ THE GUARDIAN

‘Brutal but compelling stuff…Pick this up and you won’t be able to put it down.’ MAXIM

Customer Reviews

Not quite 'Eden'...
This book is very well-written, capturing the reader's attention from the start. A travel-fiction set in Thailand, following a backpacker as he searches for the perfect 'Eden', a place unsullied by other tourists; 'The Beach'.

For a first novel it's fantastic; it kept me going back and reading. I read half of it in one stint, but then had to slow down a little due to work. The characters are believable and the society in which they work is convincing too. It is funny (if you're into black humour...), witty, and human.

My only problem, possibly due to hype from the film (which I haven't seen yet...), was that I felt the book was building and building to a huge climax, and then when it got to the end I felt a little letdown and like the payoff I was expecting hadn't arrived. The book is definitely worth reading and I'd recommend it to anybody, but just don't go in with expectations. Chances are it will differ from them.

Only Just Found This
I had heard of this book but only decided to give it a go because it was a perfect partner with You Are Here (Steve Horsfall). The Beach is in many respects a modern version of "Lord of the Flies". The premise of the story focuses on Richard, a young traveler in search of a hidden beach were there are white sands and clear waters and a life of luxury waiting to be found. Eventually paradise falls apart as more and more discover it. Excellent, I will now try the film although I'm told it's not so good.

Welcome back to the valley of death
I appreciate that a lot of people have enjoyed this book so don't want to go over the top with praise...I think the references to Vietnam give the paradise dark overtones i.e. paradise cannot last forever, history will scar and repeat. The knowledge of the main character that he is going crazy, psychosis, i believe is excellent and catalogues in depth how Richard is influcnced by his surroundings and the death of Daffy. Ultimately, most readers will not completely understand the connections between Vietnam and the beach, aside from the geographical location. I think this is part of the intrigue; the book is dark and mysterious and encourages multiple readings to try and understand it. Even if you only grasp the idea of the break-down of civilisation, the book is compelling and the description of Asia leave a deep impact on the imagination. If you do however, believe that the author is too-hyped up on Vietnam, read his second novel, The Tesseract and you will see a completely different type of book, though with a complex make-up. In short an excellent first novel and well-worth its money as it can be read so many times without losing the edge. On a lighter note, Leonado DiCaprio was a pathetic cast for Richard, with no dark side and a sad attempt at going round the bend.