Customer Reviews

The Coma

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I picked up this book because it was written by Alex Garland and after enjoying The Beach and The Tesseract I had high hopes for this story. Unfortunately for me, I should have kept my hopes low.

Without giving too much away, as you might deduce from the title of the book, the story focuses on a coma patient and all the thoughts and ideas that come with being in a coma. Im not sure what I was expecting to be honest with you, but whatever it was, this wasnt it.

What I wanted was more of a story. What I got was more of an unofficial biography of the person lying in the coma. Which I suppose is what Garland was aiming for when he wrote the book. Trouble is, I was expecting a story. Only I didnt get one.

So is it fair for me to dislike this book when really, it is my expectations that are out of whack with what the story actually delivered? No, probably not. But then again, life isnt fair. Sorry Alex. Better luck next time.

It would be a real shame if the inept movie version of "The Beach" were to keep anyone from picking up Alex Garland's latest. "The Coma" is a real masterpiece, and like "The Tesseract" goes far beyond the budding promise of "The Beach" to show a genuine talent at work. "Coma" seems to be a straightforward tale of a man's recovery from a severe beating, but from the first eerily flat descriptions of violence through dreamscape after dreamscape, the reader is brought to increasingly disturbing place. The woodcuts add brilliantly to the atmosphere, at their most effective at their simplest: slashes of white or shadows with no faces. Garland's ability to put the reader inside another's conciousness is reminiscent of masters like Dostoevsky. Please, purge your mind of the vision of Leo DiCaprio in warpaint and get this book.

It had been a while since Alex Garland had published a novel. After The Beach and The Tesseract, Garland worked on the amazing horror flick 28 Days Later. The Coma, a short novella that is, like everything else Garland has written, not easily classifiable. This ends up being the novel's forte and also its biggest flaw.

While trying to help a woman who is being attacked on a subway, Carl is beaten to a bloody pulp and left for dead. A long while later, he wakes up from the coma the attack left him in and returns home. But he soon realizes that nothing is as it used to be. Things have changed, things are wrong, things are just unexplainable. Time seems to be moving faster, Carl finds himself moving from one place to another without remembering having done so. And how about those invisible bleeding wounds on his body?

Garland weaves his narrative just like a dream. One second we're standing in one place, the next we're in a total different setting. Things are disjointed and they don't always make sense for the reader. Until, that is, something crucial is revealed to us that changes the way we see or understand the events taking place in the narrative.

Told in the first person over very short chapters, with interesting visual images to guide us through the story, The Coma is a story that is both imaginary and frighteningly real. As always, Garland lets his imagination run wild to create a one-of-a-kind trip to the human psyche.

Then again, the book left me craving for more. I wanted more out of Carl, wanted to learn more from the characters and the situations they were in. Over the course of two very short chapters, Garland tells us a bit about Carl's childhood, but not enough to eradicate my curiosity. Some sections could have been fleshed out a bit more. It's rare that you'll want more out of a story. These days, most book should listen to the 'less is more' rule. But The Coma is an exception to the rule.

As it stands, The Coma is a very fast read that you'll probably want to read again. An original read that will leave you craving for more.

From my weird title you probably get the feel of what it is to read this book...maybe.
Alex Garland wrote one of my favourite books of all time: The Beach. While The Beach was a pretty big success (if you've seen the movie you haven't really experienced The Beach, they're very different from one another) his second book wasn't as big but was equally entertaining and different. With the release of 28 Days Later Garland delved into some interesting territory already explored by other filmmakers but with Danny Boyle they created something incredibly exciting and new in the genre. This introduction now brings me to my thoughts on Garland's third novel (more of a novella than an actual book) and fourth writing project. I liked the fact that this was a tightly written and eloquently short read but I was slightly dismayed at the predictability of the proceedings (some surprises but in general I felt I had read it before). The language that Garland uses is crisp and creates a totally visual experience. Although his father included several interesting woodcarvings to accompany each chapter they seem a little excessive and unnecessary since the language is so clear. This is foremost a writer's experiment and it is the most different, in terms of 'defined story', of his four previous works. While I found the book creepy at first it began to take on a comedic tone and is so short that I was able to finish it in little more than an hour and some (give or take, I don't use a stopwatch). I found this book to be interesting and a worthwhile investment since many of the thoughts, ideas, and descriptions stay with you long after you put the book down. For fans of Garland's work this is a must have for your collection to see where Garland is moving as an artist but for casual readers it may just be a fun little ride (this review is based on a first reading only and the novella needs to be read a second time).

If you ever get mad at yourself for not being able to remember your dreams, you will definitly relate to this book. Although its pretty short in length, it is full of intellectual stimulation regarding dream states, paranoia, mental breakdowns, and never ending new emotions from past memories. You find yourself drawn into this short story with no effort at all. Alex Garland shows us once again that he can tell a story, long and short, that will titillate our senses and our mind.

This is a wonderful, readable short novel. I won't give plot summation (you can scroll up for that), but suffice to say that this is, even though a quick read, a thoroughly engaging story and a worthy follow-up to the Tesseract. if you are hesitant of spending perhaps 20 bucks on a book you will most likely digest in one day, fret not. The story stays with you and, trust this guy, you'll be picking it up again within the month.

Bad. His writing style is very plain and boring, and the novel has literally NO substance. Don't waste your time on this. I'm glad that I only paid 1.50 or something for this. Some ideas are okay, but it comes off as a stupidly stripped down "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", without the clever mind-erase/love-story aspect, and also without the great writing (for screen, o'course).

Okay, its short - but so are many great works of literature. Garland writes so well, his atmospheric prose and original imagery really helped to hook me and he admirably wove and re-wove the strands of suspense until they had reached breaking point... The problem I had with this novel was that he then failed miserably in the last pretentious paragraph to break them. The end was meaningless disappointing drivel. We all know that Garland has been suffering from writers block - I would have preferred it if he hadn't bothered at all, rather than producing this abortive short story.

I can't argue that the story was not gripping, but I read it in an hour............
Ater such a long wait since The Tesseract I expected more.

I was a big fan of Mr. Garland's debut novel "The Beach," less so of "The Tesseract," and while I was entertained by his latest effort, I can't say it compares favorably to the narrative drive and thrill of his first book. "The Coma" is essentially a short story interspersed with some interesting wood cut illustrations by his father that really serve little purpose beyond bulking up the page count. You keep turning the pages in hopes that some sort of narrative thread will be picked up, only to discover by book's end that you're more-or-less right back where you started with little illumination, and you'll be hard-pressed an hour later to even remember the characters' names.

Still, Garland is a talented writer and I will keep buying his books in hopes that the next one will achieve the same literary heights as his debut.