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I have always been a good reader. I started off with The Secret Seven, moved on to The Famous Five, then progressed through The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. As I grew older, I started to read many, many trashy horror novels. Then, as I approached 14, I started on some mainstream adult reading – King, Koontz, Grisham. It was at this point, when I was starting to tire of the intelligently written but overall meaningless narrative of the aforementioned, that I found the book that has kept the title of ‘Mouldy Cheeses favorite book of all time’.
Which, as you probably know from reading the title, is Alex Garlands ‘The Beach’.
Don’t be put off by the film. It barely resembles the plot of the book at all, cutting bits out, making up entirely new sections, and even getting rid of one of the key characters. And, obviously, it stars Leo Di Caprio, which is always a bad thing.
The Beach, in its literary form, is a story of paradise going wrong. It is written from a first person point of view, from the perspective of David, a young backpacker addicted to videogames and Vietnam war films. David (I hope I remembered that name right – I’m useless with them) starts his story in Thailand, in a hotel pointed out to him by a helpful mute/heroin addict. In the night, some crazy man rips through the fly sheet that separates room from room, and attempts to talk to David. David declines.
The next morning David finds the man dead in his room, wrists cut. However, the crazy man leaves a map for David, telling him how to find ‘Paridise’ – the titular beach. David makes friends with a French couple in the hotel, and they then go and find the beach.
I won’t go much further at risk of spoiling the entire book for you, but, as is slightly predictable, things start going wrong on the beach. This raises a deep and meaningful question that is not explored in the book, but is certainly meant to be inferred by the reader; could the human race be happy in a perfect world? It is a point that is briefly raised in the Wachowski brothers movie The Matrix, and definitely one that I find interesting. The idea that humans can never be happy without sadness to compare their feelings with is a disturbing one.
It’s things like this that really make books for me. As George Orwell said in 1984 (The book, not the year) – “The best books are the ones that tell you what you already know”. If you wanted to go really A-Level English, then you could say that in The Beach the storyline does not matter, because all it is is a way of helping to establish and explore the underlying themes and questions of the book.
Then again, that’s like saying Charlies Angels is just a way of portraying issues surrounding feminism.
Oops…slightly off track here.
The book is not as story driven as a Grisham or the like, but not as random as Whalburg. It fits into a nice little niche in the middle, and I personally think it works very well. I hate to refer to the same film twice in a review that has nothing to do with it, but if you’re looking for a movie comparison The Matrix is the best I can think of. Full of style, an original and inventive storyline, and some deep and meaningful questions.
The star of the show, David (I damn well better have that name right, otherwise I’ll look like a right twonk) is a character that I can really relate to. Perhaps this is why I like the book so much. David, as I mentioned, is a videogame addict, similar to me. In fact, this is the first book I can recall that actually talks about games without mocking them and those who use them. There is a nice little section where David talks about Streetfighter II and his ‘Game Over’ theory, where he looks at the moments just before you die. All this is probably die to Alex Garlands like of videogames in real life.
On this subject, the book seems like a very personal affair. Garland writes about things that he hasn’t just researched, he has been there, done that, and put it into words. A good example of this is a passage where David is on a bus, trying to go to sleep, and he explains how he drifts off into a fantasy world to take his mind off other things and go to sleep. That is something I have never seen written before, and it is something that I do ALL THE TIME. Basically, the book feels so personal that by the end you’ll be thinking that the ‘Beach’ really does exist.
In summery – this book rules. I recommend that you nip down to your library now and grab it. If it isn’t there, then order it.
I don’t often do this, but….*****
Which, as you probably know from reading the title, is Alex Garlands ‘The Beach’.
Don’t be put off by the film. It barely resembles the plot of the book at all, cutting bits out, making up entirely new sections, and even getting rid of one of the key characters. And, obviously, it stars Leo Di Caprio, which is always a bad thing.
The Beach, in its literary form, is a story of paradise going wrong. It is written from a first person point of view, from the perspective of David, a young backpacker addicted to videogames and Vietnam war films. David (I hope I remembered that name right – I’m useless with them) starts his story in Thailand, in a hotel pointed out to him by a helpful mute/heroin addict. In the night, some crazy man rips through the fly sheet that separates room from room, and attempts to talk to David. David declines.
The next morning David finds the man dead in his room, wrists cut. However, the crazy man leaves a map for David, telling him how to find ‘Paridise’ – the titular beach. David makes friends with a French couple in the hotel, and they then go and find the beach.
I won’t go much further at risk of spoiling the entire book for you, but, as is slightly predictable, things start going wrong on the beach. This raises a deep and meaningful question that is not explored in the book, but is certainly meant to be inferred by the reader; could the human race be happy in a perfect world? It is a point that is briefly raised in the Wachowski brothers movie The Matrix, and definitely one that I find interesting. The idea that humans can never be happy without sadness to compare their feelings with is a disturbing one.
It’s things like this that really make books for me. As George Orwell said in 1984 (The book, not the year) – “The best books are the ones that tell you what you already know”. If you wanted to go really A-Level English, then you could say that in The Beach the storyline does not matter, because all it is is a way of helping to establish and explore the underlying themes and questions of the book.
Then again, that’s like saying Charlies Angels is just a way of portraying issues surrounding feminism.
Oops…slightly off track here.
The book is not as story driven as a Grisham or the like, but not as random as Whalburg. It fits into a nice little niche in the middle, and I personally think it works very well. I hate to refer to the same film twice in a review that has nothing to do with it, but if you’re looking for a movie comparison The Matrix is the best I can think of. Full of style, an original and inventive storyline, and some deep and meaningful questions.
The star of the show, David (I damn well better have that name right, otherwise I’ll look like a right twonk) is a character that I can really relate to. Perhaps this is why I like the book so much. David, as I mentioned, is a videogame addict, similar to me. In fact, this is the first book I can recall that actually talks about games without mocking them and those who use them. There is a nice little section where David talks about Streetfighter II and his ‘Game Over’ theory, where he looks at the moments just before you die. All this is probably die to Alex Garlands like of videogames in real life.
On this subject, the book seems like a very personal affair. Garland writes about things that he hasn’t just researched, he has been there, done that, and put it into words. A good example of this is a passage where David is on a bus, trying to go to sleep, and he explains how he drifts off into a fantasy world to take his mind off other things and go to sleep. That is something I have never seen written before, and it is something that I do ALL THE TIME. Basically, the book feels so personal that by the end you’ll be thinking that the ‘Beach’ really does exist.
In summery – this book rules. I recommend that you nip down to your library now and grab it. If it isn’t there, then order it.
I don’t often do this, but….*****
*Farts in Strykes general direction*
No, I just hate this book and the film moreso :-D
Pop, books seem to be ignored.
Sorry - didn't mean Mark Whalburg there.
Whoops.
Whoops.
I have always been a good reader. I started off with The Secret Seven, moved on to The Famous Five, then progressed through The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. As I grew older, I started to read many, many trashy horror novels. Then, as I approached 14, I started on some mainstream adult reading – King, Koontz, Grisham. It was at this point, when I was starting to tire of the intelligently written but overall meaningless narrative of the aforementioned, that I found the book that has kept the title of ‘Mouldy Cheeses favorite book of all time’.
Which, as you probably know from reading the title, is Alex Garlands ‘The Beach’.
Don’t be put off by the film. It barely resembles the plot of the book at all, cutting bits out, making up entirely new sections, and even getting rid of one of the key characters. And, obviously, it stars Leo Di Caprio, which is always a bad thing.
The Beach, in its literary form, is a story of paradise going wrong. It is written from a first person point of view, from the perspective of David, a young backpacker addicted to videogames and Vietnam war films. David (I hope I remembered that name right – I’m useless with them) starts his story in Thailand, in a hotel pointed out to him by a helpful mute/heroin addict. In the night, some crazy man rips through the fly sheet that separates room from room, and attempts to talk to David. David declines.
The next morning David finds the man dead in his room, wrists cut. However, the crazy man leaves a map for David, telling him how to find ‘Paridise’ – the titular beach. David makes friends with a French couple in the hotel, and they then go and find the beach.
I won’t go much further at risk of spoiling the entire book for you, but, as is slightly predictable, things start going wrong on the beach. This raises a deep and meaningful question that is not explored in the book, but is certainly meant to be inferred by the reader; could the human race be happy in a perfect world? It is a point that is briefly raised in the Wachowski brothers movie The Matrix, and definitely one that I find interesting. The idea that humans can never be happy without sadness to compare their feelings with is a disturbing one.
It’s things like this that really make books for me. As George Orwell said in 1984 (The book, not the year) – “The best books are the ones that tell you what you already know”. If you wanted to go really A-Level English, then you could say that in The Beach the storyline does not matter, because all it is is a way of helping to establish and explore the underlying themes and questions of the book.
Then again, that’s like saying Charlies Angels is just a way of portraying issues surrounding feminism.
Oops…slightly off track here.
The book is not as story driven as a Grisham or the like, but not as random as Whalburg. It fits into a nice little niche in the middle, and I personally think it works very well. I hate to refer to the same film twice in a review that has nothing to do with it, but if you’re looking for a movie comparison The Matrix is the best I can think of. Full of style, an original and inventive storyline, and some deep and meaningful questions.
The star of the show, David (I damn well better have that name right, otherwise I’ll look like a right twonk) is a character that I can really relate to. Perhaps this is why I like the book so much. David, as I mentioned, is a videogame addict, similar to me. In fact, this is the first book I can recall that actually talks about games without mocking them and those who use them. There is a nice little section where David talks about Streetfighter II and his ‘Game Over’ theory, where he looks at the moments just before you die. All this is probably die to Alex Garlands like of videogames in real life.
On this subject, the book seems like a very personal affair. Garland writes about things that he hasn’t just researched, he has been there, done that, and put it into words. A good example of this is a passage where David is on a bus, trying to go to sleep, and he explains how he drifts off into a fantasy world to take his mind off other things and go to sleep. That is something I have never seen written before, and it is something that I do ALL THE TIME. Basically, the book feels so personal that by the end you’ll be thinking that the ‘Beach’ really does exist.
In summery – this book rules. I recommend that you nip down to your library now and grab it. If it isn’t there, then order it.
I don’t often do this, but….*****
Which, as you probably know from reading the title, is Alex Garlands ‘The Beach’.
Don’t be put off by the film. It barely resembles the plot of the book at all, cutting bits out, making up entirely new sections, and even getting rid of one of the key characters. And, obviously, it stars Leo Di Caprio, which is always a bad thing.
The Beach, in its literary form, is a story of paradise going wrong. It is written from a first person point of view, from the perspective of David, a young backpacker addicted to videogames and Vietnam war films. David (I hope I remembered that name right – I’m useless with them) starts his story in Thailand, in a hotel pointed out to him by a helpful mute/heroin addict. In the night, some crazy man rips through the fly sheet that separates room from room, and attempts to talk to David. David declines.
The next morning David finds the man dead in his room, wrists cut. However, the crazy man leaves a map for David, telling him how to find ‘Paridise’ – the titular beach. David makes friends with a French couple in the hotel, and they then go and find the beach.
I won’t go much further at risk of spoiling the entire book for you, but, as is slightly predictable, things start going wrong on the beach. This raises a deep and meaningful question that is not explored in the book, but is certainly meant to be inferred by the reader; could the human race be happy in a perfect world? It is a point that is briefly raised in the Wachowski brothers movie The Matrix, and definitely one that I find interesting. The idea that humans can never be happy without sadness to compare their feelings with is a disturbing one.
It’s things like this that really make books for me. As George Orwell said in 1984 (The book, not the year) – “The best books are the ones that tell you what you already know”. If you wanted to go really A-Level English, then you could say that in The Beach the storyline does not matter, because all it is is a way of helping to establish and explore the underlying themes and questions of the book.
Then again, that’s like saying Charlies Angels is just a way of portraying issues surrounding feminism.
Oops…slightly off track here.
The book is not as story driven as a Grisham or the like, but not as random as Whalburg. It fits into a nice little niche in the middle, and I personally think it works very well. I hate to refer to the same film twice in a review that has nothing to do with it, but if you’re looking for a movie comparison The Matrix is the best I can think of. Full of style, an original and inventive storyline, and some deep and meaningful questions.
The star of the show, David (I damn well better have that name right, otherwise I’ll look like a right twonk) is a character that I can really relate to. Perhaps this is why I like the book so much. David, as I mentioned, is a videogame addict, similar to me. In fact, this is the first book I can recall that actually talks about games without mocking them and those who use them. There is a nice little section where David talks about Streetfighter II and his ‘Game Over’ theory, where he looks at the moments just before you die. All this is probably die to Alex Garlands like of videogames in real life.
On this subject, the book seems like a very personal affair. Garland writes about things that he hasn’t just researched, he has been there, done that, and put it into words. A good example of this is a passage where David is on a bus, trying to go to sleep, and he explains how he drifts off into a fantasy world to take his mind off other things and go to sleep. That is something I have never seen written before, and it is something that I do ALL THE TIME. Basically, the book feels so personal that by the end you’ll be thinking that the ‘Beach’ really does exist.
In summery – this book rules. I recommend that you nip down to your library now and grab it. If it isn’t there, then order it.
I don’t often do this, but….*****