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Gorgeous, Cynical, Well-Observed

Believe it or not, despite the hints throughout about dark and terrible things to come, this novel doesn't really turn dark until around the last fifth.

Until then it's beautiful scenery, well-observed love triangles and petty dislikes, and a new traveller trying to get to, and then assimilate into, the hidden island paradise known as the beach. However, our boy, English narrator Richard, was originally given a map to the beach by an angry/disturbed guy he met in a Thai hostel, just before he slit his own wrists. So I suppose the darkness is there right from the start.

It's odd that a story so brimming with obvious bad shit happening around the edges manages to stay so pleasant in the main - but then so does the beach itself. It is this amoral hippie oasis - beautiful and hidden, but with drug plantations and the beaten tourist trail so nearby - which makes up the essential dilemma of the piece.

The beach is set up almost like a modern fairy kingdom - a place where time appears to stop, everyone forgets about their lives back home, and the place is apparently run fairly and well - but with a slight hint of menace, too.

I was especially pleased with the narrator character, Richard. Though he does eventually do some terrible things, it's his shrewd observation, thirst for adventure, and just the right amount of cynicism and pettiness to stay entirely believable, which really makes this narrative work.

For large amounts of the story the islanders are simply fishing, or farming, or otherwise working - but it's Richard's keen observation and Alex Garland's tight plotting which keeps undercurrents churning away. Even when the day-to-day activities are repetitive, Richard's growing discoveries about the place and the people mean that the plot never stands still.

(This may not be my most well-thought out review as I only finished the book yesterday, and need to give things time to percolate a little more, but I did really enjoy - and devour - this book.)