The Beach (novel) The Beach (novel) The Beach is a 1996 novel by English author Alex Garland. Set in Thailand, it is the story of a young backpacker's search for a legendary, idyllic and isolated beach untouched by tourism, and his time there in its small, international community of backpackers. In 2000, it was adapted into a film directed by Danny Boyle and starring Leonardo DiCaprio. In 2003, the novel was listed on the BBC's survey The Big Read. In a cheap hotel on the Khao San Road in Bangkok, Richard, a young American backpacker, meets a mentally disturbed Scotsman going by the
On the Beach (novel) been pointless. "The New York Times" called "On the Beach" "the most haunting evocation we have of a world dying of radiation after an atomic war." "San Francisco Chronicle"s reviewer called it "the most shocking fiction I have read in years. What is shocking about it is both the idea and the sheer imaginative brilliance with which Mr. Shute brings it off." "Daily Telegraph" called it "Shute's most considerable achievement" and "The Times" stated that it is "the most evocative novel on the aftermath of a nuclear war." "The Guardian" commented that "fictions such as "On the Beach" played an