Alex Garland, The Beach

An inspiring read, really opens you up to the proper concept of travelling. Was sad when I finished this book.

I'd got about half way through this book when a friend mentioned that this book spawned the Di Caprio film of the same name. Fortunately i hadn't seen it so i had the story fresh from the book.

The story is about a young man travelling alone in Thailand. We learn that he is caught up in the maelstrom of his mind, his spiritless western cultivation battles his lust for freedom and excitement, a lust that's harder to fulfill as each 'eden' becomes infested with debauched travellers. He rests somewhere between his pot-fuelled paranoia and his love and disdain for travel. The plot picks up from here and the reader is taken on a journey, in every respect, leading to a secret island, a paradise with it's own community and rules. I won't say anymore as you should get a copy for yourself.

It's a pleasent and well written book, and one i thoroughly enjoyed reading. I only really had one issue with it, and that was the slightly confusing 'dream scenes' with Mr duck. Firstly, at the start of the book it's hard to differentiate between scene and 'dream scene', and a couple of times i thought it was a bit needless.

Overall, a belter and worthy of a place amongst your paperbacks.

In comparison, the film is awful. I can see why they made changes, mostly in order to squeeze the film into 2 hours or whatever it was, but it's so pretentious and 'hollywood'. I doubt many people would run for the book after seeing the film, which is an injustice.

The Beach by Alex Garland is so fast you won't feel like you're reading a novel at all! The pace whizzes along, with a fantastic plot and many underlying themes and messages to spice things up. I won't give away too much, but it's about Richard, a young man from the UK who sets off backpacking in Thailand. The guy in the next room commits suicide, leaving him a mysterious map... sounds corny but it really isn't. Read it now!