Book Recommendations
The Beach
By Alex Garland
Fiction, General, Action & Adventure | 448 pages
2 recommendations
Late at night in a seedy hotel, Richard is drawn into a strange conversation with a fellow guest. Through a narrow strip of mosquito netting he hears for the first time of a secret beach, and island Garden of Eden hidden somewhere in the scattered islands of a Thai marine park. The next morning, Richard finds a map pinned to his door, and the man who put it there has slashed his wrists. The challenge is irresistible, and Richard sets off on a perilous journey in search of Shangri-La.
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Caroline Frudd
"This book is the perfect travel partner if you're off to Thailand. It tells the story of Richard who sets off on the ultimate back packing adventure to find a secret paradise. But not all is what it seems. This book captures the hustle and bustle of the big city but also the quiet serene paradise. A must read for anyone going to Thailand but be warned you may just be tempted to go off into the unknown to find your own beach."
Jae Hopkins
"I absolutely love this book. Alex Garland travelled around Thailand about the same time as I spent three months there (1991) and he then wrote this novel inspired by his travels and the people he met in 1996. It has some pretty dark themes, but so much of the description resonates exactly with how I experienced the Thai islands at that time, that I get lots of smiles from it. I'd recommend it for nostalgia particularly - but maybe not if you need cheering up!"
