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Spike | 15 YEARS OF BOOKS, MUSIC, ART, IDEAS | www.spikemagazine.com Alex Garland: Backpacker Blues 233 William Gibson: Waiting For The Man 237 Allen Ginsberg: Cosmopolitan Greetings 242 The Godfather: Sex And Spaghetti 244 Graham Greene / Evelyn Waugh: Literary And Political Catholicism 249 Peter Guralnick: Careless Love: The Unmaking Of Elvis Presley 256 G H Half Man Half Biscuit: Achtung Bono 258 Half Man Half Biscuit: Trouble Over Bridgewater 262 Keith Haring: Artist Or Radiant Baby? 263 Bill Hicks: Bad Mood Rising 266 Tom Hodgkinson: How To Be Idle 271 Gert Hofmann: Parable Of The Blind 273 Nick Hornby: Gender Trouble 276 Michel Houllebecq: Atomised 279 232 More Spike email RSS Facebook Twitter A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Spike | 15 YEARS OF BOOKS, MUSIC, ART, IDEAS | www.spikemagazine.com Interview [published May 1999] Alex Garland: Backpacker Blues Nancy Rawlinson finds out why The Beach author Alex Garland is still unsure of his writing success No matter where you go on this small planet of ours, you will encounter ‘Garland’s Law.’ That is, for every 10 people under the age of 30 that you meet, approximately 3.33 per cent of them will have read or be reading Alex Garland’s first novel, The Beach. Actually, I just made that up, and it already seems too conservative. I have recently been staying in two hostels in the States. In the first dorm room a Danish girl ripped through the book in about three days; her friend had just finished it. In the second, an Oxford University student was a quarter way through, and her travelling companion planned to read it next. On buses in India, on the subway in New York, in international departure lounges everywhere, the distinctive yellow spine of The Beach is truly ubiquitous. In case this is still not sounding familiar, a film adaptation of the book is currently in postproduction and due to hit our screens in spring 2000. It is directed by Danny Boyle of Trainspotting fame and it stars Leonardo Di Caprio. Honestly, could it be any hotter? In case you are one of the, oooh, seven people left in Britain who are not familiar with the plot, here is a brief summary for you. Richard, a 20-something Brit, BUY Alex Garland books online from and arrives on Thailand’s famous Khao San Road – the first stop on the well-trodden backpacker’s trail. On his first night, the man in the room next to him slits his wrists and leaves Richard with a map to a mysterious beach. Along with a French couple, Richard sets out to find this supposed paradise, where a select community are trying to create their own version of utopia. When they finally arrive, having survived a harrowing swim and some AK-47 toting marijuana farmers, the new visitors are welcomed rather uneasily. Tensions arise, not least within Richard’s psyche. You can guess the rest – the book has been described as What I Did On My Holidays meets Apocalypse Now meets Lord Of The Flies and those references are more than just a pat summery. The Beach is essentially a gripping tale of a journey into the heart of darkness, but one that is nicely wrapped up in knowing pop cultural references and located in a somewhat trendy travel destination. It is not hard to see why it was so swiftly optioned for a Hollywood blockbuster. So, you may be thinking, what of the author of this mega hit novel? And why, thus far into an interview 233 More Spike email RSS Facebook Twitter A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
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