false 607639 47 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, <I>The Beach</I>. Human progress has reduced Eden to a secret little beach near Thailand. In the tradition of grand adventure novels, Richard, a rootless traveler 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 travelers set out on a journey to find this paradise. <P> 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 1020156 1996 The Beach total:4555|5:1146|4:1807|3:1198|2:306|1:98| 4555 17262 5585 507 4 8 false false Tue May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri May 04 20:46:01 -0700 2007 Thu May 10 11:01:46 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 7 false false Mon Mar 05 23:10:45 -0800 2007 Mon Sep 29 20:35:58 -0700 2008 6 more...]]> 4 2 false false Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Sep 17 22:44:30 -0700 2007 Mon Sep 17 22:45:10 -0700 2007 the only time i put the book down was when i had to do number one. and by then i realized that i was well on my way to pulling an all-nighter.
...more...]]> 5 4 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 17 07:51:01 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 30 14:01:12 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 2 false false Mon Apr 23 16:49:17 -0700 2007 Wed May 09 10:46:29 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 2 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Mon Apr 02 01:11:08 -0700 2007 Mon Apr 02 01:16:06 -0700 2007 The movie was watered down, warped, and completely missed the point Garland tried to make in his astonishingly succesful first novel.
For starters, Richard, the main character, is brown, English, and doesnt have sex with anybody. He's n...more...]]> 5 2 true false Wed Jul 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 22 14:38:24 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 30 01:40:23 -0700 2009 1 Gorgeous, Cynical, Well-Observed

Believe it or not, despite the hints throughout about dark and terrible things to come, this novel doesn't really turn dark until around the last fifth.

Until then it's beautiful scenery, well-observed love triangles and petty dislikes, and a ne...more...]]> 5 2 false false Sat Mar 15 17:33:52 -0700 2008 Sat Mar 15 17:48:03 -0700 2008
The Beach was the catalyst for this experiment I've started, I couldn't believe that it'd been five years since I've read the thing. It was also the book I was most afraid wouldn't hold up. It's reputation has suffered since the awful Danny Boyle movi...more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Oct 31 07:08:47 -0700 2007 Wed Oct 31 07:12:35 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Wed Sep 05 16:48:32 -0700 2007 Wed Sep 05 16:52:27 -0700 2007
It's fantastic if only because it captures perfectly that young,...more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Jan 28 12:34:32 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 28 12:35:59 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Wed Dec 31 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Mar 02 12:42:42 -0800 2009 Mon Mar 02 12:56:45 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Sat Jan 03 11:32:54 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 03 12:17:56 -0800 2009 1 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 26 21:57:56 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 26 22:04:12 -0800 2008 why does development overtake everywhere?
what w...more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Oct 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 14 19:36:35 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 14 19:43:11 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> 5 0 false true Wed Sep 23 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 23 13:57:12 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 23 15:03:57 -0700 2009 1
I must be one of the few that actually LOVES the movie. "Desire is desire..." and all of the...more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jun 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 24 20:00:28 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 24 20:17:49 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false true Wed Jun 03 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 04 20:33:25 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 04 20:39:30 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon May 11 06:36:41 -0700 2009 Mon May 11 06:41:51 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat May 02 13:06:43 -0700 2009 Sat May 02 13:13:28 -0700 2009 more...]]>