{"product_id":"the-beach-9781573226523","title":"The Beach","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe irresistible novel that was adapted into a major motion picture starring Leonardo DiCaprio.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe Khao San Road, Bangkok--first stop for the hordes of rootless young Westerners traveling in Southeast Asia. On Richard's first night there, in a low-budget guest house, a fellow traveler slashes his wrists, bequeathing to Richard a meticulously drawn map to \"the Beach.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe Beach, as Richard has come to learn, is the subject of a legend among young travelers in Asia: a lagoon hidden from the sea, with white sand and coral gardens, freshwater falls surrounded by jungle, plants untouched for a thousand years. There, it is rumored, a carefully selected international few have settled in a communal Eden. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHaunted by the figure of Mr. Duck--the name by which the Thai police have identified the dead man--and his own obsession with Vietnam movies, Richard sets off with a young French couple to an island hidden away in an archipelago forbidden to tourists. They discover the Beach, and it is as beautiful and idyllic as it is reputed to be. Yet over time it becomes clear that Beach culture, as Richard calls it, has troubling, even deadly, undercurrents. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSpellbinding and hallucinogenic, \u003ci\u003eThe Beach \u003c\/i\u003eby Alex Garland--both a national bestseller and his debut--is a highly accomplished and suspenseful novel that fixates on a generation in their twenties, who, burdened with the legacy of the preceding generation and saturated by popular culture, long for an unruined landscape, but find it difficult to experience the world firsthand.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Riverhead Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/01\/1998\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781573226523\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 448\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.70lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.00h x 5.10w x 1.00d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003eOutside\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/01\/2008 pg. 28\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Alex Garland","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52107784880309,"sku":"9781573226523","price":15.3,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_5e46b0c6-e88f-46b7-b1de-38eeadd6095e.jpg?v=1765862325","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-beach-9781573226523","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}