The Beach - Alex Garland
When most people think of The Beach they probably remember the 2000 movie with Leonardo DiCaprio. Well, I've still never seen the movie - this is a review of the original Alex Garland novel.
Image: The Beach Region 1 DVD
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Synopsis
A short summary
The plot of The Beach is fundamentally simple. Somewhere around Thailand is a classic desert island on which lies a beach that is paradise on earth. Only a select few know about this beach and they live there in a free communal style.
The viewpoint character, Richard, is backpacking when he meets Mister Duck. The latter dies and leaves a map pinned to Richard's door. With a couple of newly-met friends Richard sets out to find the beach.
At first the beach seems to be the promised paradise - a self-sufficient commune of young people in a beautiful setting with dope growing all around. Yet as time goes on strains emerge - people are, as always, a problem. Then things start to go very, very wrong. Meanwhile Richard is losing his grip on reality, having discussions with the ghost of Mister Duck and descending into Vietnam fantasies.
Beaucoup bad shit.
The viewpoint character, Richard, is backpacking when he meets Mister Duck. The latter dies and leaves a map pinned to Richard's door. With a couple of newly-met friends Richard sets out to find the beach.
At first the beach seems to be the promised paradise - a self-sufficient commune of young people in a beautiful setting with dope growing all around. Yet as time goes on strains emerge - people are, as always, a problem. Then things start to go very, very wrong. Meanwhile Richard is losing his grip on reality, having discussions with the ghost of Mister Duck and descending into Vietnam fantasies.
Beaucoup bad shit.
Analysis
The Beach is written in the first person, which is integral to the story and one of the reasons that any film is probably doomed to failure. First person narrative always suggests an unreliable narrator, and this book is no exception. As the story progresses we realise that Richard is not quite the cool, experienced traveller he believes himself to be. Instead he is an arrogant arsehole, unable to distinguish between fantasy and reality and with dangerously romantic fantasies about the Vietnam war.As others have said, comparisons with Lord of the Flies are unavoidable; I certainly kept expecting a conch shell to be blown. However comparing The Beach with The Magus, as one quoted review does, is just silly. It simply isn't that complex a story.
The Beach is very good and highly absorbing, with well drawn characters and superb atmosphere that drag you from beautiful dream to dark nightmare. It's a compelling read.
Eventually.
Which is my one complaint. The first hundred pages are quite simply tedious. It appears to be merely a dull travelogue interspersed with philosophical musings. Well, those aspects are there but it also turns into a damn fine story. The problem is that had I not had such strong recommendations I'd probably have given up before it started getting interesting. This book really needs about fifty pages pruning near the start. Even then it would be slow until around half way through.
Image: The Beach: Motion Picture Soundtrack (CD)
Conclusion
The Beach is an oddly unblanced book. At the beginning I was wondering why I was wasting my time; by three quarters of the way through I was regretting that it had to come to an end.
Persevere. You're in for a hard slog at first, but it's worth it.
Persevere. You're in for a hard slog at first, but it's worth it.
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Penguin Readers Level 6: the Beach (Penguin Longman Penguin Readers)
Amazon Price: (as of 07/06/2009)
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by trevorm
Hi, I'm Trevor and I live in Edinburgh - the capital of Scotland.
I'm interested in a wide variety of things and love learning. I intend to write a sim...
