The Beach
by Alex Garland
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A young backpacker in Thailand searching for something different learns of the existence of an idyllic island which is not even on the map. The novel describes his jungle journey to reach the island where he discovers a secret commune of international drifters living off fish and pot. The man's arrival coincides with growing tension between factions, leading to the commune's violent demise. A first novel.Tags
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Captivating page burner. At the end of the day, it's an ex-pat slacker Lord of the Flies. I don't know that it offers much profound, but it's thoroughly engrossing, impossible to put down and I loved the narrator's voice. Have to give credit, as well, to the fact that real relationships were developed without gimmick or artifice, within the context of the story, I didn't feel as if any element was contrived. Perhaps better: Fight Club meets Lord of the Flies. I'll read another by Garland.
Having seen the movie based off of this novel I kind of knew what to expect. Thematically, the two are very similar, but the intensity of the novel is much more pronounced. Richard's mental state is one of the major aspects of the story, along with his perpetual search for paradise/danger (yeah, it's kind of weird that he seems to equate the two), and the novel obviously does a much better job of illuminating this theme because there is more space narratively speaking. The book also empahsizes the violence that occurs within the idyllic beach community, not only because there is physically more of it, but also because we are given a more long term picture of the consequences on the community. The treatment of this theme also emphasizes show more that the violence also comes from within the community, rather than from without, which brings the book closer to the Lord of the Flies in a way that the film cannot due to the "Hollywood treatment" of some of the story aspects. show less
A cross-over between Lord of the Flies and Heart of Darkness set on a drug island in Thailand, with a bunch of backpackers trying to create heaven on the beach, but ending in ruins and horror. Must be an absolute number one bestseller among backpackers. Written very much from a perspective that is very familiar for people my age – the songs (REM), the Vietnam war imagery (from Tour of Duty) and the kind of fun (first Gameboy; soccer on the beach) we had in the 1990s, backpacking through Asia.
(SPOILERS AHEAD!!) In short the story is about a British guy, Richard, who shortly after arriving in Bangkok has an exchange with a guy smoking pot, found dead in the morning, leaving a map with an island crossed-out. Jointly with a French show more couple, he sets off travelling to the island, neatly escaping some Thai drug lords, growing cannabis on the island, with a jump from a steep cliff as the only way out, landing them in a secluded beach community or the Thai version of paradise on earth, led by Sal, a woman who seems to lead against her own will. All goes well. Everyone forgets about ‘the world’ out there, all perform a chorus (gardening, or fishing, or cooking, or carpentry) and besides the occasional rice run with a hidden long boat there is no contact with the outside. But slowly Richard’s consciousness corrodes. He has made a mistake – leaving a copy of the map with some pot-smoking American friends. And that proves their undoing… Besides two classical incidents that split the community in two. The three Swedes get unfortunate, with a shark attack killing one outright, fatally hurting another and turning the final one mad. A second incident concerns an incidentally caused case of mass food poisoning, which causes subliminal tensions to break to the surface. Meanwhile Richard is haunted by the dead man (Duck) and the two Americans and three Germans who are brooding on ways to get to the island from the neighbouring island. Together with Jed, Richard has to protect the community from discovery (and doing the occasional dope run). Sal is trying to ‘manage’ all threats by using Richard, covering up for him and blackmailing him into another desperate action to keep the place from being discovered. Richard sees the five outsiders approach and does nothing when they get caught by the Thai kill squad, who actually slaughter the unwanted newcomers. When next Sal nudges him into solving the problem of the mad Swede, Rich has reached the bottom of his own corruption. He no longer wants to participate in Sal’s mad schemes to keep the utopia afloat and tries to orchestrate the escape of all he cares about – Francoise and Etienne, Jed and the game boy. They mastermind a collective blackout by stuffing the food with dope. Jed however, wakes with the second (dying) Swede in a tent and does not want to come unless the Swede is dead. Richard lends a hand at the night, by strangling the Swede. When all seems ready, the party indeed degenerating into one collective drunken, stoned trip, the group gets surrounded by Thai guards with AK47’s. The captain shows the map that guided the American-German party – Richard thinks they will all die now. But no, they are spared except for Richard himself who gets beaten up and next carved up by his own, when the crowd discovers the mutilated bodies of the American-German party and spins into collective madness by cutting limbs of the corpses and taking out the intestines. They direct their collective anger at Richard, the drawer of the map. They start stabbing him, but then Jed rises to the occasion – protects his friend and the five escape on the raft that brought the unfortunate newcomers. Everyone gets home, end of story. Duck made one final appearance, exclaiming ‘the horror, the horror’, in a clear reference to Dr Kurtz in Heart of Darkness.
Well written, pacy, with Richard in the first person, and short scenes written in movie-type descriptions. Deserves to be a modern day classic in the backpackers scene. show less
(SPOILERS AHEAD!!) In short the story is about a British guy, Richard, who shortly after arriving in Bangkok has an exchange with a guy smoking pot, found dead in the morning, leaving a map with an island crossed-out. Jointly with a French show more couple, he sets off travelling to the island, neatly escaping some Thai drug lords, growing cannabis on the island, with a jump from a steep cliff as the only way out, landing them in a secluded beach community or the Thai version of paradise on earth, led by Sal, a woman who seems to lead against her own will. All goes well. Everyone forgets about ‘the world’ out there, all perform a chorus (gardening, or fishing, or cooking, or carpentry) and besides the occasional rice run with a hidden long boat there is no contact with the outside. But slowly Richard’s consciousness corrodes. He has made a mistake – leaving a copy of the map with some pot-smoking American friends. And that proves their undoing… Besides two classical incidents that split the community in two. The three Swedes get unfortunate, with a shark attack killing one outright, fatally hurting another and turning the final one mad. A second incident concerns an incidentally caused case of mass food poisoning, which causes subliminal tensions to break to the surface. Meanwhile Richard is haunted by the dead man (Duck) and the two Americans and three Germans who are brooding on ways to get to the island from the neighbouring island. Together with Jed, Richard has to protect the community from discovery (and doing the occasional dope run). Sal is trying to ‘manage’ all threats by using Richard, covering up for him and blackmailing him into another desperate action to keep the place from being discovered. Richard sees the five outsiders approach and does nothing when they get caught by the Thai kill squad, who actually slaughter the unwanted newcomers. When next Sal nudges him into solving the problem of the mad Swede, Rich has reached the bottom of his own corruption. He no longer wants to participate in Sal’s mad schemes to keep the utopia afloat and tries to orchestrate the escape of all he cares about – Francoise and Etienne, Jed and the game boy. They mastermind a collective blackout by stuffing the food with dope. Jed however, wakes with the second (dying) Swede in a tent and does not want to come unless the Swede is dead. Richard lends a hand at the night, by strangling the Swede. When all seems ready, the party indeed degenerating into one collective drunken, stoned trip, the group gets surrounded by Thai guards with AK47’s. The captain shows the map that guided the American-German party – Richard thinks they will all die now. But no, they are spared except for Richard himself who gets beaten up and next carved up by his own, when the crowd discovers the mutilated bodies of the American-German party and spins into collective madness by cutting limbs of the corpses and taking out the intestines. They direct their collective anger at Richard, the drawer of the map. They start stabbing him, but then Jed rises to the occasion – protects his friend and the five escape on the raft that brought the unfortunate newcomers. Everyone gets home, end of story. Duck made one final appearance, exclaiming ‘the horror, the horror’, in a clear reference to Dr Kurtz in Heart of Darkness.
Well written, pacy, with Richard in the first person, and short scenes written in movie-type descriptions. Deserves to be a modern day classic in the backpackers scene. show less
This book is about a despised lifestyle of entitled youths who are so entitled that they can go ruin paradise in Asia with their runaway numbers. An English boy in Thailand finds out about"the beach," a "paradise" on a remote island in the gulf of Thailand, prohibited to visitors. Well, that's the kind of prohibition that he's bound to break, so he sets off with a French boy and girl, determined to make paradise their own. Amazingly enough, despite huge obstacles, they do make their way there, and join a small community of other entitled boys and girls playing at hippie commune. Because humans are, well, human, paradise can't last for long, plus, this place never belonged to them, right?
This is somewhat entertaining, but the show more entitlement, the animal cruelty, and the racism were hard to take. I won't be reading anymore from this author. show less
This is somewhat entertaining, but the show more entitlement, the animal cruelty, and the racism were hard to take. I won't be reading anymore from this author. show less
Absolutely fantastic. Veers between well-written abstract sequences and grounded realism with ease, and keeps one guessing right up to the very end without resorting ridiculous, forced-seeming twists.
In various parts I felt a character's dismay, disgust, triumph, seething anger, bewilderment, lust, smugness or absolute horror. Kinda made me long to sell all my belongings and go backpacking across southeast Asia, though, so reader beware, I guess?
In various parts I felt a character's dismay, disgust, triumph, seething anger, bewilderment, lust, smugness or absolute horror. Kinda made me long to sell all my belongings and go backpacking across southeast Asia, though, so reader beware, I guess?
Paradise lost?
“Escape through travel works. Almost from the moment I boarded my flight, life in England became meaningless. Seat-belt signs lit up, problems switched off. Broken armrests took precedence over broken hearts. By the time the plane was airborne I'd forgotten England even existed.”
It has been several years since I last watched the movie version of this book so felt that enough time had passed for me to tackle the original and I wasn't disappointed.
The story at first seems like a simple adventure tale, a young British backpacker Richard heads off to Thailand where his path crosses a fellow traveller in a flop house called Daffy Duck who promptly kills himself by slitting his own wrists leaving Richard a map of the show more 'beach'. The beach is a legend among backpackers, a paradise where a select group live an easy tranquil life separated from normal society. Richard, along with a French couple, decides to try and find this paradise. Once there he finds the depiction of the place as he expected and more but that life is not as tranquil as he believed. There are all the trappings of normal society, work, hierarchy, an inner circle and outsiders all mixed in with a large amount of drug use. However, there is also a realization that no place can totally cut itself off from the outside world and its influences.
Initially we are sucked into the beauty of the location and in many respects the book reads like a travelogue with beautifully descriptive sections but all the time there is an undercurrent of brutality circling like a shark just under the surface. Each chapter is short, usually 4 or 5 pages long with finely clipped prose like little vignettes making you want to read another one all the time slowly reeling you in. Then as you realise that Richard is slowly losing his mind the cracks around the edges of this 'paradise' become more and more evident until you know that one or the other must finally collapse.
I must admit that the idea of living in some kind of commune, cutting myself off from the rest of humanity, has never appealed to me so in this respect I found it a little difficult to empathize with any of the characters. This was to certain extent is enhanced by the lack of surnames,only christian names or nationalities are all that's given,thus giving the impression that the characters were little more than outline figures with little material depth but then perhaps this was the author's intention.
Overall I found this a very enjoyable read and can see why people believe that it will become a type of cult classic.However, it is had not to draw comparisons with William Golding's Lord of the Flies and for me that was done better. Still a valiant first effort. show less
“Escape through travel works. Almost from the moment I boarded my flight, life in England became meaningless. Seat-belt signs lit up, problems switched off. Broken armrests took precedence over broken hearts. By the time the plane was airborne I'd forgotten England even existed.”
It has been several years since I last watched the movie version of this book so felt that enough time had passed for me to tackle the original and I wasn't disappointed.
The story at first seems like a simple adventure tale, a young British backpacker Richard heads off to Thailand where his path crosses a fellow traveller in a flop house called Daffy Duck who promptly kills himself by slitting his own wrists leaving Richard a map of the show more 'beach'. The beach is a legend among backpackers, a paradise where a select group live an easy tranquil life separated from normal society. Richard, along with a French couple, decides to try and find this paradise. Once there he finds the depiction of the place as he expected and more but that life is not as tranquil as he believed. There are all the trappings of normal society, work, hierarchy, an inner circle and outsiders all mixed in with a large amount of drug use. However, there is also a realization that no place can totally cut itself off from the outside world and its influences.
Initially we are sucked into the beauty of the location and in many respects the book reads like a travelogue with beautifully descriptive sections but all the time there is an undercurrent of brutality circling like a shark just under the surface. Each chapter is short, usually 4 or 5 pages long with finely clipped prose like little vignettes making you want to read another one all the time slowly reeling you in. Then as you realise that Richard is slowly losing his mind the cracks around the edges of this 'paradise' become more and more evident until you know that one or the other must finally collapse.
I must admit that the idea of living in some kind of commune, cutting myself off from the rest of humanity, has never appealed to me so in this respect I found it a little difficult to empathize with any of the characters. This was to certain extent is enhanced by the lack of surnames,only christian names or nationalities are all that's given,thus giving the impression that the characters were little more than outline figures with little material depth but then perhaps this was the author's intention.
Overall I found this a very enjoyable read and can see why people believe that it will become a type of cult classic.However, it is had not to draw comparisons with William Golding's Lord of the Flies and for me that was done better. Still a valiant first effort. show less
I've got a soft spot for this book, because with every read I notice more details, more comes together, and I enjoy it at a deeper level than the last time. I know people who'll say it's a rip-off of Lord of the Flies, but don't believe it. This is an adult novel filled with generational themes, pop culture, and character. It is both fuller and more worthwhile than Lord of the Flies, and students react well to it, I've learned after teaching it four times in contemporary literature. The references to Vietnam and the underlying idea of that particular war also add a dimension to the novel that can't really be described, but is incredibly appropriate. There's a great deal here to think and talk about.
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Author Information
23+ Works 9,043 Members
Born in London in 1970, Alex Garland published his first novel, The Beach, when he was 26. Set among a group of backpackers in Southeast Asia, The Beach is a fast-paced and suspenseful thriller that has been called the first serious Generation X novel. Like The Lord of the Flies, to which it has sometimes been compared, The Beach deals with a dark show more side of humanity, revealed when the characters find themselves set apart from civilization. Garland's second novel, The Tesseract, was published in 1998 and is also set in Southeast Asia, this time in the Philippines. The Tesseract follows the lives of several different characters during one night in Manila, with the different stories all coming together to meet in an explosive ending. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Beach
- Original publication date
- 1996
- People/Characters
- Richard; Etienne; Françoise; Mister Duck; Sal; Jed (show all 15); Keaty; Bugs; Jesse; Cassie; Sten; Christo; Karl; Sammy; Zeph
- Important places
- Thailand; Bangkok, Thailand; The Beach; Khao San Road, Bangkok; London, England, UK
- Important events
- The War on Drugs (1971-?)
- Related movies
- The Beach (2000/I | IMDb)
- Dedication
- For Suzy, Theo, Leo, Laura, and my parents
- First words
- The first I heard of the beach was in Bangkok, on the Khao San Road.
- Quotations*
- Wenn es nur eine Kamera gäbe, die Gerüche einfangen kann. Gerüche sind etwas viel Lebendigeres als Bilder. Ich bin schon oft an einem heißen Tag durch London gelaufen, habe den Geruch von brütendem Müll oder schmelzende... (show all)m Asphalt wahrgenommen und mich plötzlich in eine Seitenstraße von Delhi versetzt gefühlt.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Beaucoup bad shit, too beaucoup.
- Blurbers
- Hornby, Nick; Biswell, Andrew; Q; Washington Post; Lewis, Jemma
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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