The Beach (Paperback)

by Alex Garland (Author) "The first I heard of the beach was in Bangkok, on the Ko Sanh Road..." (more)
Key Phrases: dope guards, dope fields, alex garland, Mister Duck, Koh Phangan, Koh Samui (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The Khao San Road, Bangkok--first stop for the hordes of rootless young Westerners traveling in Southeast Asia. On Richard's first night there, in a low-budget guest house, a fellow traveler slashes his wrists, bequeathing to Richard a meticulously drawn map to "the Beach."

The Beach, as Richard has come to learn, is the subject of a legend among young travelers in Asia: a lagoon hidden from the sea, with white sand and coral gardens, freshwater falls surrounded by jungle, plants untouched for a thousand years. There, it is rumored, a carefully selected international few have settled in a communal Eden.

Haunted by the figure of Mr. Duck--the name by which the Thai police have identified the dead man--and his own obsession with Vietnam movies, Richard sets off with a young French couple to an island hidden away in an archipelago forbidden to tourists. They discover the Beach, and it is as beautiful and idyllic as it is reputed to be. Yet over time it becomes clear that Beach culture, as Richard calls it, has troubling, even deadly, undercurrents.

Spellbinding and hallucinogenic, The Beach is a look at a generation in their twenties, who, burdened with the legacy of the preceding generation and saturated by popular culture, long for an unruined landscape, but find it difficult to experience the world firsthand.

From the Inside Flap
The Bookcassette® format is a special recording technique developed as a means of condensing the full, unabridged audio text of a book to record it on fewer tapes. In order to listen to these tapes, you will need a cassette player with balance control to adjust left/right speaker output. Special adaptors to allow these tapes to be played on any cassette player are available through the publisher or some US retail electronics stores. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Riverhead Trade (February 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573226521
• ISBN-13: 978-1573226523
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (587 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #70,980 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An adventure you'll never forget..., January 24, 2002

By	Dianna Johnston "Compulsive Reader" (Joplin, MO) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Ready for some excitement and adventure? Pick up The Beach and lose yourself on a tropical island...

Richard, a twentysomething backpacker who spends most of his time searching for bigger and better places to see, finds his way to Thailand for a little R&R. But something is definitely different about this trip and most of it comes in the form of his crazy hostel neighbor, Daffy, who talks incessantly and angrily about a beach. Tucked away in a remote and off-limits part of Thailand, the beach Daffy speaks of is considered a utopia, a perfect world that is unspoiled by tourists, a prize at the end of a tiring quest. Naturally Richard is curious, so he sets out with a French couple, Etienne and Francoise, and a map drawn by Daffy in search of this pristine fantasy land.

The island commune in The Beach would definitely pass for a secret Woodstock hideaway. Richard's journey is like no other; a riveting and spectacular adventure. Reading this book was the next best thing to swimming in their private lagoon, spearing fish and viewing the underwater corals. Island politics and the obsessive desire to keep the island's secrecy plays a heavy role in this novel and is also a prime example of how, even in paradise, one can somehow manage to destroy it.

Dark and sinister, as well as sarcastically funny, The Beach is a fast and furious novel that transports readers to another place in the blink of an eye. Alex Garland's writing is razor-sharp and indicative of his amazing storytelling talent. The movie cannot begin to touch the depth and fascination of this unforgettable novel.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beyond Travel Writing, November 17, 2000

By	M. Whitman "mwriter" (Cincinnati, OH) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Here's the quick synopsis: Richard, a 24 yo Englishman, escapes heartaches and realities at home by backpacking in Thailand (and it's written in the 1st, and told as if he's sitting around, writing a biography). He hooks up with a French couple and they travel to a legendary beach on an island in the Thai Marine Park (where they join a colony). Richard talks to a dead man, lusts after Francoise, and recons the dope farmers who live on the other side of the island -- things quickly go wrong (surprise, surprise). It's like watching war films and listening to the doors ... throw in a bit of discontented 90s youth and there you go.

When I recommend this book, I quite often get the "Oh the Leo Beach movie" stare of disdain. It's very much more than that. This is an intelligent novel that examines the intersection of Vietnam war films on a generation of people who have lived without war, the elite repulsion Westerners have for the "Disneyification" of Third and Second World nations, and the ethnocentric enclaves created within "foreign" territories.

This book functions on two levels: as an enjoyable quick read for someone who is looking for a pop culture punch of action and as a text that deserves a closer observation.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, but great movie too!, June 24, 2005

By	Gaetan Lion - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I first saw the movie on DVD a couple of weeks ago. I found the movie extraordinary. It was so beautiful, mesmerizing, and intense. The plot, the casting, the acting, the scenery, the photography it all worked together seamlessly. After reading everyone's reviews I just had to read the book. You know the cliché: "If you liked the movie, you will love the book, it's so much better." Well, not necessarily in this specific case they are both excellent. If anything, relative to their own medium the movie is a better movie than the book is for a book. This does not mean the book is bad. It is still outstanding.

The book was great fun to read, and is an incredible page turner. Actually, never reading fiction I am typically an incredibly slow reader (typically 35 pages an hour). But, in this case I found myself cruising effortlessly at speeds close to or over 60 pages an hour. And, I read the whole book (400 pages) in less than 3 full days, and that was during the working week. That's definitely a personal best for me in terms of speed and pretty close to a best in terms of enjoyment too.

The book has a fairly universal appeal. I frankly don't have that much interest or respect in the type of dope addicted, hedonistic, vapid and meaningless culture described in the book. Yet, somehow I could relate very much to the characters. The plot was a complex mix of Robinson Crusoe, Lord of the Flies, Apocalypse Now, and the Drifters (by James Michener). It was the group dynamics, the power plays, the politics, and the hardship that made this story so interesting. The protagonists faced wrenching moral dilemma days after days. They are put in situations where they are no clear cut good or bad answers. Sometimes given the circumstances, the apparently cruel thing is the right thing to do. Most of the characters had few redeeming qualities by themselves, but as a society they became fascinating. They became a representative microcosm of the entire of humankind.

The writing is so hip, that at first it is almost irritating. How many times can you read the four letter word in the same paragraph. For a while, you almost question whether people really do speak like that. But, the genius in the writing was that it was made to be adapted into a screenplay. Voluntarily or not, Alex Garland created a magical cash machine when he wrote this first novel. Twentieth Century Fox must have gone bezerk when they came across his story. After this book, Garland did not rest on his laurels as he soon wrote "28 Days Later" which was turned into one of the best Armageddon horror movies I have seen in the past few years.

As you can tell, I can unequivocally recommend the book and the movie as well. Reading this book tempts me to read again both Robinson Crusoe and The Drifters.