The Beach Paperback – February 1, 1998

The Beach focuses on the main character of Richard, who finds a map to a hidden beach paradise while traveling in Thailand. After becoming friends with two other travelers, they set out on an adventure to find this beach. After discovering the seemingly "Edenic paradise" on a island in a Thai National Park, Richard soon finds that it's not as much as a paradise as he first thought. He comes to learn that sometimes civilized behavior tends to break down in a situation such as this, cut off from modern society, that the utopia that the founders tried to create here is harder to maintain then he originally believed.

Now first I have to say that besides being a very avid reader, I also love movies. The Beach is one of my favorite movies and for some reason I was unaware that it was of course based on a book. I have seen the movie probably 20 times, so I was afraid that might ruin the book for me. However, I was very wrong. First, like a lot of book to movie adaptations, the movie is much different from the book, the plot line is not the same, huge scenes are left out or changed and a great deal of detail is missing in the movie. Second, I have to say that although I was impressed by Garland's writing, I imagine that not everyone would enjoy this book. Garland has a unique writing style and it is also very descriptive. Even if you have never seen the movie, the way he paints the picture of the beach and lagoon is amazing. I feel like I can see the whole layout of the island. There are part of this book that are quite violent and Garland's writing made them stand out to me that much more.

Richard is the only character that I feel like I really got to know, although we do learn a lot about the other characters involved, there are so many people interacting with Richard on a daily basis. It would have been difficult for the author to describe each one of them in as much detail as Richard. The book is told from Richard's point of view and starts off when he arrives in Thailand before ever meeting Daffy or acquiring the map to the beach. The "feel" of the writing, is that Richard is writing this story a year or two after is happened, but then some chapters sounds more present tense. I don't really know how to explain it, but it worked really well. The book is also broken down into both sections and then chapters within those sections.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book; it's a lot different then what I have been reading lately. If you have seen the movie, the book is not only a lot different, but I also enjoyed it a lot more. The things the movie left out, make the book. The way it ends was absolutely perfect after the events leading up to the "climax". It is most certainly a book I would recommend to anyone looking for something a bit different, happy reading!

I imagine the elevator speech for this book being, “’Lord of the Flies’ done Paul Theroux style.” While that may or may not sound appealing, this is one of the most gripping novels I’ve read recently.

“The Beach” will have its greatest appeal with travelers because understanding the mindset of a traveler versus that of a tourist (vagabonds versus regular folk, if you prefer) is essential to being able to feel the realism in the behavior of the book’s characters. (If you don’t know the difference between a traveler and a tourist, it’s safe to say that you are a regular person who travels as a tourist.) Like “Moby Dick”, this is a book about all consuming obsession, but the obsession is in finding and protecting the traveler’s paradise. (Such a paradise is partially defined by a complete lack of tourists.) Unlike “Moby Dick”, “The Beach” isn’t rambling, and it maintains tension throughout.

The story beings on Khao San Road in Bangkok, a familiar haunt for backpackers and other low budget world travelers. The protagonist, Richard, has just gotten in to Bangkok and checks into a hostel. Rooming next to Richard is a Scottish man named “Daffy” who seems to be a complete lunatic and who keeps talking aloud to himself about a “beach.” Owing to the accent, Richard first thinks Daffy is talking about a “bitch,” but soon realizes the man’s obsession is with a patch of sand. Richard has a brief and unusual interaction with Daffy, who throws a lit joint onto Richard’s bed. In the morning, Richard finds a meticulously hand drawn map on his door with “the Beach” prominently labeled. When he goes to see why the crazy stranger left it for him; he knocks on Daffy’s ajar door to find the man has committed suicide.

The beach is on one of the small islands that are kept off-limits as part of the Thai National Parks system. Richard teams up with a French couple who was also staying next to him. While Richard had heard their amorous sounds through the thin walls on the night he met Daffy, he didn’t meet the couple until they were all called in to talk to the police about Daffy’s suicide. For some reason Richard is unwilling to tell the police about the map, but he does tell the Frenchman. The map leads them to the island. It isn’t easy to get to. Once on the island, they discover they must get through a grove of marijuana guarded by heavily armed locals to get to the fabled beach.

It turns out a small community of travelers has already set up on the idyllic beach. As with any group, some people get along well and others rub each other the wrong way. We get the best insight into those individuals who become the friends and enemies of Richard, and many of the others are the novel equivalent of movie extras. At first, all is well on the island. Richard and the French couple have to do work a few hours a day on the fishing detail, but otherwise they are living in their Eden. However, as things begin to go wrong—and they do go frightfully wrong—Richard and others begin to be confronted by the question of what they are willing to do to protect the Beach, and how will their personal moralities be twisted in the process.

Garland uses a couple of interesting techniques in the book. First, Richard is plagued by dreams featuring Daffy, and later--as the burden of secrets to which he is party piles up—he begins to have hallucinations of Daffy during the day. In both cases, it seems that the dreams and hallucinations are an attempt to help him work out the mysteries of the Beach. No one on the island will tell him about Daffy, and he is desperate to know what drove the man mad—or whether he was always like that. There’s one character, Jed, who goes off every day and no one seems to know where he goes or what he does. Eventually, Richard comes to be in on some of these secrets (e.g. becoming Jed’s partner), and the burden of knowledge doesn’t improve his state of mind. In the end, Richard seems to realize that he is the new Daffy, and what drove Daffy into madness will surely do the same for him if he doesn’t get off the island.

Second, Garland uses what—for lack of a better term—might be called foreshadowing. However, it’s not so much a matter of subtle hints as a bold statements such as [paraphrasing], “It’s too bad _________ would die, especially in the way he did.” This should have seemed ham-handed, but there’s always enough mystery about what will come next that the these tips were like lighter fluid to intensify one’s reading so one could find out what would happen next and how.

I whole-heartedly recommend this novel, and think it’s one of the best pieces of travel-oriented writing that I’ve read. It’s a page-turn from beginning to end.

So I did quite a bit of traveling, sleeping on beaches, hostels, worked on Kibbutz, all over the world in my 20s and this book gives you that same rush. Makes you long to meet unusual people, grow intensely close for short spurts of time while you share rare and sometimes dangerous experiences. Characters here were so fleshed out as were the locations. Insights into how people think in unexpected situations were extremely believable. Didn't want to let go of some of the characters at the end and wished there was a sequel. But just like traveling you have to say goodbye with that pang of yearning and later think back to all the people you met with wonder. Plus, reading this I got to experience extreme traveling without having to literally endure some of the gore these travelers encounter. But I won't give it away. Have a great trip!

Lately I had been wondering why I loved backpacking so much when I was younger; this novel made me remember. This adventure novel has depth: the main characters are well-developed, and the situation is thought-provoking. The main character, Richard, and a young French couple, take a tremendous risk to find their version of paradise, only to realize that their idealistic communal life-style on an island of perfect beauty just doesn't work. They find themselves dangerously isolated and vulnerable. And, free of the stresses and constraints of civilization, Richard seems to be losing his grip on reality. Increasingly the leader of the group which they have joined is becoming a tyrant, terrified as she is that their location will be discovered, over-run with tourists, to become yet another "has-been" resort for hipsters.