Product Description

Gripping from the first pages, Garland's new novel is set over three hours during one night in Manila. With the pace and suspense of THE BEACH this novel intertwines three stories: the shady dealings of gangsters, the tautly and emotionally drawn tale of a Phillipino family and the violent lives of a gang of street kids, until their different lives collide in a shattering finale. It is beautifully written and unputdownable. 'Is Alex Garland the new Graham Greene? After THE TESSERACT the question needs to be asked ... a powerful narrative drive, exotic locations that unfold like a corrupt and mysterious flower, and a moody intelligence that holds everything together' - JG Ballard

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #104406 in Books
• Published on: 1999-08-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
A single evening in Manila hints at shared consciousness and the circular nature of time and experience. More ambitious than his successful debut, The Beach, Alex Garland's second novel follows three seemingly disparate stories that converge just this side of possible. Opening pages are reminiscent of a Raymond Chandler detective story: the dirty hotel room that "didn't know it was a hotel, or had forgotten"; the flinty, deep thinking protagonist; a meeting with rough-cut thugs. But just when we expect the arrival of the stock sultry woman, the cast of characters begins to assume the more recognisable aspects of ordinary life--to eerie effect.

Garland shows a talent for finely crafted phrases that emboss an image and encapsulate a moment. One minor character's brief sensory flashback provides more human insight than the pages of descriptive overload in the usual thriller. The Tesseract is an exciting tale that never stoops to the level of popcorn storytelling. --Samantha Starmer

About the Author
Alex Garland was born in London in 1970. He has written two novels, The Beach (1996), The Tesseract (1998) and an illustrated novella, The Coma (2003), in collaboration with his father. He has also written two screenplays, 28 Days Later (2002) and Sunshine (2007).

Customer Reviews

Godless Masterpiece
Once in a while an author appears that is hyped for all the wrong reasons and it's up to the future generations to repair the damage and deliver him to his true place in the canon. It happened to Philip Roth, reduced for decades to being the "Portnoy guy", until his recent American trilogy finally forced people to recognize him as one of the greats. The same will hopefully happen to Garland. Marketed as the standard-bearer for the asian wing of the back-pack army, it is easy to forget how talented this guy really is. This book basically takes Graham Greene's story-telling ability and eye for local colour and turns the great man's themes upside down. It doesn't have The Beach's compelling narrative voice, but it's more plot-driven, and ultimately a better novel. It's an atheitisc hymn, and more original than anything any english writer has written since Ballard's The Unlimited Dream Company. Buy both actually, and rejoice.

An admirably skilled, and truly originol book
The Tesseract begins in surroundings closely comparable to that of "the beach", yet as you become immersed within this brilliantly structured novel, it couldn't be more different. The flare of Alex Garland's writing remains, as seperate stories emerge containing uniquely vivid and interesting characters. I found myself so hooked to this paperback that I locked my self away, and completed the novel in just around twenty four hours. Then, on the arrival of the last chapter, I couldn't have been more content, as the stories of each character are shown to intertwine in one final scene, viewed from all possible perspectives, though cleverly, not repeating itself.

In places, the narative can seem to drag on, but those points are few and far between. As a whole, this book is wonderfully refreshing, reaching the same level of perfection as the beach. Even if you didn't enjoy the beach however, there is nothing to stop you from enjoying this as much as I.

Enjoyable, inventive stuff, though with too light a touch.
I don't envy an author the task of writing a second novel, when the first has been deemed a post-modern classic. Yet, the manner with which Alex Garland set about this task with The Tesseract was inspired. Instead of trying to outdo, or repeat his previous efforts, he simply side-stepped them with this neat collage of interwoven short-stories. Each tale was a glimpse of a true life with its many intricate problems and joys. The initial character was extremely similar to that of the hero in The Beach, yet ultimately is the person we are the least sympathetic towards. His most touching portrayal is that of the Nurse, who we recognise, and subsequently empathise with the most. Yet it is the character of the homeless child which undermines all that had gone before it in the book. Up to that stage there was a deep sense of commitment to each individual to ensure that they were not stereotypes. Or that if they were then to twist them into a situation that makes their actions believable. The boy is not real, he is a tool with which to tie all those stories which had gone before him together. Unfortunately this was clumsily done. This flaw is almost rescued by the prescence of the shrink, trying to give meaning to the boy, almost but not quite.
I enjoyed this book thoroughly. The reason behind the criticism's I have given above is simple; it was so very nearly another classic. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed his previous work, and anyone who enjoyed Pulp Fiction who can also read.