The Beach [Paperback] - Softcover

Garland, Alex

3.97

87,729 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140258418 ISBN 13: 9780140258417

Publisher: Gardners Books, 1997

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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.

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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 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.

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

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PublisherGardners Books
Publication date1997
ISBN 10 0140258418
ISBN 13 9780140258417
BindingPaperback
Number of pages448
Rating
- 3.97
  
  87,729 ratings by Goodreads

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