Book Review - The Beach

 Its been awhile since I've done this, but I finally finished a book!

The book was Alex Garland's wonderful "The Beach".   The book has been described as some sort of "Lord of hte Flies" for Generation X, but I disagree.

Its about a backpacker who's searching for the ultimate holiday spot, a beach that hasn't been discovered by other tourists.  By random chance, he bunked next to a dying man named "Daffy Duck" in a Thai hostel.  The dying man told Richard (the traveller) about a Beach that was beautiful, untamed, and an absolute must see....he even drew a map for Richard.

Richard, being the backpacker that he is, decides to recruit some other people to join him.  They find the beach, and becoming a part of the official unofficial beach clan.  Run like a commune, with rules, orders, and jobs for everybody, Richard and his friends learn to the love the beach..until they discover its underbelly..........can't give away more about the plot without giving it away....

The plot was absolutely riveting....a bit slow to begin, but once you get a bit into it, you won't want to put it down.  The author leveraged all 5 senses when describing locations, actions, and intentions.....you can really close your eyes and picture the scene (cliche in a review, i konw, but i'm serious)..

the pace...again, a bit slow to begin, but picks up nicely.  really short chapters, I almost felt like I was reading a book by Chuck Palahniuk (the dude that wrote Fight Club), but witty enough to feel like something by Kurt Vonnegut (and so it goes).....

overall, I really loved the book, and would recommend it to anybody that likes adventure stories and traveling.  I haven't seen the movie yet (starring Leonardo DiCaprio), but I would add it to my netflix queue (provided that I start an account with them first)......