Alex Garland – The Beach
I bought this because I have seen and liked the Danny Boyle film version (2000), and because it was on 3-for-2 at Waterstones. I was expecting a light little holiday read to dip into now and again when it took my fancy. The Beach is NOT a light holiday read! I finished it in about 6 hours and ended up getting terrible sunburn because I was too absorbed to move into the shade. This book is absolutely addictive. You have been warned!
The main character is Richard, a 20-something traveller who finds himself in Thailand. The opening scene is on the Koh San road in Bangkok, which Alex Garland paints a perfect picture of. Richard stays the night in a horrible hostel, in a room next to an annoying and very mad Scottish man who calls himself Daffy Duck. After being subjected to Daffy raving all night, Richard finds him dead and a map of how to find a secret paradise beach taped to his door. Needless to say, Richard and his two friends Francoise and Etienne find The Beach. And I wouldn’t be spoiling the plot too much if I told you that it all goes a bit Lord of the Flies. The plot is undoubtedly the strongest thing about the book- it moves very quickly, and leaves tantalising little clues about what might happen next to keep you turning the pages.
What I found most interesting about The Beach was the fact that I didn’t actually like Richard, or root for him in any way. His narration is annoying because he keeps boasting about how many cigarettes/how much dope he smokes, and complaining about tourists who ruin things. If you have ever met a backpacker who goes on about ‘I can’t believe how Westernised [insert name of country] has become’, you will understand what I mean. Worse, as the book goes on, Richard turns into a horrible and amoral person. I would say that I actually liked him less, by the end, than Alex from A Clockwork Orange. The weird thing was though, that this didn’t make me enjoy the book any less. In fact I think it made me like it more. It was fun to get inside the head of someone I have nothing in common with (besides a penchant for Sega Megadrive and Gameboy games).
Overall, I would recommend The Beach to anyone who’s looking for a page-turner. Steer clear if you’re prone to nightmares though- Alex Garland also wrote the screenplay for 28 Days Later. He doesn’t hold back on the gore.
