The Beach

Alex Garland's debut novel, "The Beach," is possibly one of the strongest first books from a writer in the 1990s. Published in 1996, it combines a psychological thriller, a travel story, and a portrait of why young people decide to leave home for months on end and travel around the world. While any and all of these themes could become (and have become, in other books) cliché in a matter of pages, it is a testament to Garland's skill as a writer and as a thinker that he manages to create a book that rises above stereotypes and actually concerns itself with the characters involved, and their real-world counterparts.
Richard is a British student who packs his backpack and heads to Thailand, looking for adventure. His head full of Vietnam-era stories of war and post-Vietnam era stories of untouched paradises that lie just around the next corner, he finds Thailand to be simply an extension of the overcommercialized world he left behind. When a suicidal maniac in the hotel room next door leaves Richard a map to a beach rumored to be like Eden, he sets off with a pair of French lovers to find out if the stories are true.
What he discovers is a place with natural beauty, but with a society of backpackers who, like himself, are trying to escape civilization for as long as possible. He fits in with Beach culture, but the relative isolation and his conflicts with one of the other residents eventually lead Richard to take up residence more in his mind than in the real world. When things start to fall apart, partially because of forces Richard helped create, he struggles to hold on not only to his life, but his sanity.
People have compared "The Beach" to other survival-style novels like "Lord of the Flies," and accuse it of being many things it is not. Both are unfair. The people at The Beach are really little more than a bunch of potsmoking rich kids whose main forms of recreation include playing the Gameboy and smoking marijuana: that is precisely Garland's point, and it is, in a way, an indictment of both the backpacker culture in general and the optimism of youth that leads kids of that age to seek utopia without leaving the civilization they claim to hate. Garland is fully aware of the contradiction, and this is one of this main points, and one he does not shy away from. Although many fans of the book did not like the movie, one of the things the film portrayed accurately was Richard's enormously skewed point of view: he sees the world as a place to be compared with video games and movies, because that's really all he knows. He's a character that the reader is not supposed to like. It makes him no less responsible for what happens, but it's an interesting look into the psychology not only behind the traveler/backpacker culture, but into the general disaffection of world youth. Why, when we are promised that things are supposed to be a certain way, do they not turn out such?
Garland weaves a fantastic book with "The Beach," and its gentle meanderings, gut-wrenching tension, and ferocious violence are worth a read or two. Here's hoping Garland's new screenplay, "28 Days Later...", is as interesting.
Final Grade: A-

Thousands of people every year throw all of their earthly possessions into a dirty backpack and hop onto a plane to end up in some magical destination where they can forget all of their troubles, and forget about their real lives. People go to Europe, or Australia, or the Far East to get lost and found all at the same time. And for most of these people, their only goal is do have the chance at doing something that nobody else has ever done before.
"The Beach" is the story of Richard, a disillussioned Brit headed for Thailand because travel really is an escape for him. Once there, he meets a strange man named Daffy Duck, who explains to him a story about a beach, completely protected from the ocean, where everything is perfect. Aware that he is hearing Eden described to him, Richard recruits his new French friends, Etienne and Francoise, to go on an adventure, and try to find this beach that is more legend than reality. The pace at which Alex Garland writes is similar to that of an adventure novel, and at face value, that is exactly how you could interpret "The Beach". But it is more than that, and it seems to be much more to those who have travelled.
When the beach is found, it is a chance for everyone to start again, to create their own little world where there are not the usual problems. This is a utopia, surrounded by some of Mother Nature's best work, and some good people willing to make life on the beach possible.
Garland writes in many cultural references, including many quotes from "Apocalypse Now" and endless references to Game Boy games. This gives the book enough touches of reality that there is a small part in your brain wondering if such a place could actually exist.
This novel is also a metaphor for modern society, building itself up before the inevitable desire to destroy itself takes over. We tear down the things we hold dearest, and this is a human charateristic that exists even in a perfect world, even on the beach. There are many themes here, including how far would you go to keep everything perfect, even when you know that things could never be the same.
Alex Garland has created a masterpiece in "The Beach", and from experience, this book is a cult favorite among those who dare strap on the backpack and seek new adventure. An absolute must-read, there is something for everyone in this novel.

Okay, I loved the Leonardo DiCaprio's portrayal of Richard in the film version of 'The Beach', but (as with most adaptations) the book kicked the Hollywood arse. The story's the same, basically. A backpacker in Thailand, Richard, meets a guy named Daffy who gives him a map to a hidden island, then commits suicide. Richard takes up with two fellow travelers, though they're French. They make it to the island and find a small community living in secrecy. They dive right in and start wonderful new lives but it doesn't last. The differances range from minute details like the fact that Garland's Richard is English, to the way they end. But the ways in which the book is superior are the simplest, but most noticable. The use of Vietnam-war references gives a much more detached feeling to Richard, and the persistance of Daffy's 'ghost' is really interesting. Though the book lacks the really cool lines of the movie ('For mine is a generation that circles the globe in search of something we haven't tried before' or 'I still believe in paradise, but now I know that it's not some place you can look for...it's how you feel for a moment in your life. And if you find that moment, it lasts forever.') the extra time on the beach, as well as the deeper exploration of the rivalry between Richard and Bugs makes up for it. Another thing I liked was the fact that Garland didn't have the sexual content of the movie. Francois stays true to Ettienne, and likewise does Sal (short for Salvester) stay true to Bugs. I was kind of hoping that Garland's Keaty would love Cricket, I was hoping for an explanation on how it's played/scored, but Tetris was a fine substitute. I must say though that I liked the books ending a lot better than the movie's. Even though the movie's end, with Sal pulling the trigger on Richard not knowing that it's empty, drives the idea of 'How far would you go to protect paradise?' really well, the book asks a differant, and (I think) more important question: 'What would you do if paradise was ripped away from you?' Thus the ending, which really illustrates the question well, would be differant and more poiniant. I suggest seeing the movie then reading the book, just so you can get both elements of the story without being disapointed in the content. After reading this book, I can't watch the movie, and I loved that movie.

Alex Garland committed the supreme crime against escapism. He picked up the axiomatic of « Lord of the Flies » and transposed it into our world, on some virgin island in Thailand, with adults who are trying to escape from our consumer's society to reach paradise on earth with total separation from the world (not so total after all since they have a boat to go back to civilization and buy some food, some batteries and some other items of the type), with the sun, the perfect water of a lagoon, a lot of dope (marihuana), and some coconut beer. A limited, secret society of its own. This society is dominated by a woman who exerts absolute power and chess manipulation over the members, her children in her mind. They work every morning, either fishing, or gardening, or carpeting, or cooking. Then they enjoy the sun, the sand, the water and the jungle around them the rest of the time, and then in the evening and night, their dope and their total hallucinating trips. One of the founders escapes from there, haunted that he is by the Vietnam war that does not disappear from his memory, and sends three new comers to this beach. These three arrive and are accepted and we delve into the psychology of the narrator, a certain Englishman Richard, and we discover the transformation with the erasing of time and space, of any social link with the outside world. They are obliged to share the island with some Thai people who are illegally growing marihuana in another part of the island. The description of this going back to the wilderness is marvellously described and analyzed, though interlaced with mental visits of the escaped founder who had committed suicide in Bangkok, before giving Richard the map of the island. And we discover that this society is a perfectly human society. But, due to some crises (the attack of three fishermen by a shark, the subsequent death of two of them and mental derangement of the third one, the menace of the arrival of five more uninvited - except by Richard in Bangkok - newcomers, their interception by the military guards of the marihuana fields and their subsequent torturing and killing), we find out that Sal, the female chief of this escapist society, is a real fascist, able to order Richard to kill the deranged fisherman when he escapes, and to do what is nevcessary to stop the new comers, which means death, though this death will come from the marihuana guards. She is the mother of this society, some kind of God-Mother who has the right of life and death over all the members, who forces them to work hard for survival, etc. The book reveals that normal adults who want to flee from consumer's society in our modern conditions, without any excuse since they do this trip voluntarily, that those normal adults regress to a primitive life style, but also to an absolute didactorship out of fear, an overprotective spirit concerning their little world, the secrecy of this world, their total rejection of the outside world, and of course their deeply ingrained death instinct. And this regression leads them to the blurring out of the thin limit between life and death, I mean the life and death of others (for every single one member). And luckily, just before, or rather in the middle of the killing of Richard by the other members who are drunk and stoned, Richard, the two friends he came with, another friend he made on this island and an older and mysterious friend of his, will manage to escape before being caught up in absolute horror, and death. Their is no escape from our world that does not lead to the primitive mentality of the clan and the absolute dependence the clan requires from any member and the killing by all members of those who may not be absolutely in line with that collective crushing of individual minds. This book is a masterpiece that goes beyond « Lord of the Flies », because it deals with willing adults, with a voluntary escape, and also with the colonial and imperialistic spirit that lies behind : they capture a piece of territory in Thailand and make it their own. This is emphasized by the constant allusions to Vietnam, brought into the psychology of Richard by the dead escapee's ghost who gave him the map, because for him this beach is Saigon just before the fall in 1975. A must for all those who think that escape is possble and desirable. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, Universities of Paris IX and II.

OK, I believed the hype. I purchased the book & read it.
It's just what you'd kind of expect when a bunch of people find an isolated beach the want to keep to themselves - big deal. You have a bit of jealousy, danger, arguments, dope, insanity & violence thrown in, in a lame attempt to spice up a not too extraordinary scenario.
I have to admit I was expecting something a lot cleverer here. It had the right ingredients to be something special, but the author ain't no gourmet chef - he's not a cook at all. Cheap spice can't bring this dish to life.
The author really never tires of letting us know how obsessed he is with Vietnam movies and the whole VC zeitgeist. Then there's the all to frequent "nods" to his pubescent obsessions - Tin Tin comics, Airfix model planes, computer games like Tetris. Methinks the author omitted (deliberately) to mention such things as Jazz Mags (i.e. porno magazines), as all this book really is a paramasturbatory fantasy about Vietnam....Face it dude, you're not a Vietnam Vet & you never will be unless you can travel back in time - even then I don't think you'd have the guts...
If you want to read a book of real adventure, magic & travel I suggest "On The Road" by Jack Kerouac.
That book left me in a dreamy haze, full of wonders.
This book just leaves you in ridiculous maze, full of conundrums.
Leonardo Di Caprio is starring in the film version - What more can I say?

I avoided this book for several years--despite the plaudits it was getting as an important "voice of a generation" type book--because it sounded really annoying. I did go ahead and read his second book, The Tesseract, and quite liked it, which gave me hope for his first book. As it turns out, what I had thought would be a celebration of the 20-something, end-of-the-century, pan-European, backpacker/stoner set, is in fact, a fairly broad indictment of them. The narrator is a fairly typical example of this subculture, a semi-jaded, chain-smoking Brit who is disaffected with, and alienated from, the hum-drum life back home, and escapes through travel. Wandering around Southeast Asia, he's searching for an elusive eden that hasn't yet been discovered by others like him. Garland has written a kind of self-conciously hallucinogenic thriller, tarted up with endless pop-culture references, as the narrator makes his way to just such an eden with a French couple, thanks to a map given to him by a suicide case (who keeps reappearing and conversing with the narrator).
The eden he discovers is populated by 20 or so others like him in a secret island hideout with free dope nearby. The subsequent portion of the book has gotten a lot of lazy comparisons to "Lord of Flies" when it really has less to do with the break down of societal rules/norms/values, than it does with the perpetual quest for eden (and this generation's search for a meaningful life), and the lengths to which people will go to preserve it. In that sense, it has a lot more to do with Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"--which is given repeated oblique references by way of "Apoclypse Now." Garland populates this eden with a bunch of recognizable low-rent Euro globetrotters, and makes them all distinct, but somehow not quite human. It's easy to form a mental image and voice for each character, but one never cares about any of them. In that sense, its grimly satisfying to see them self-destruct and destroy their eden. In the end, I applaud how Garland threw a bunch of themes together and managed to make a readable first novel of them, however I can also see why people might love the book, while utterly missing its point.

The Beach is a solid thriller that starts well but soon becomes quite average. The debut for successful cult author Alex Garland, it follows Richard, a twenty-something lad that stumbles across, with his two friends close in tow, an idyllic, secret beach community. The paradise, however, ultimately brings about their downfall. The premise is intriguing; however, the book's thorough examination of social politics draws it out and ultimately, it is easily two hundred pages too long. Had the author kept it tight and controlled, The Beach would have been a cover to cover nailbiter... but that's not the result.
Richard, heavily influenced by media, society and western culture, stumbles across a dead body in his hotel room in Thailand. Attached to the body is a map, but to where? He meets and eventually befriends Etienne and Francois, a couple holidaying at a resort. They decide to follow the map to the mystery island marked by a black cross. Once there, they inadvertantly locate a hidden paradise full of people that have escaped the real world. It seems to good to be true, and for a while, it is. However, the social politics, as well as half the island being controlled by Thai drug dealers, brings Richard and his friends into a lot of danger.
The Beach contains a number of thrilling episodes, but they are all too few and far between. A lot of the sequences in the book simply be there just to extend the book and don't serve much purpose to the central theme of there always being an inescapable society pervaded by the media, electronics and ultimately, the world itself. After three hundred pages of what can be summed up in a few sentences (the first hundred pages are very good), the book's ending is sadly truncated and unsatisfying. Sure, the book is written well and Garland allows himself more than enough time to flex his literary muscle, but he seemed to forget that there's a conspicuous lack of anything compelling the reader to continue as soon as Richard and his friends reach the beach paradise. It is there where the book turns sour.
The title is fitting: `The Beach'. That's pretty much all it's about, really. Three hundred pages of beach: "look at the beach", "isn't the beach marvellous", "oh what a corker of a beach" - and little more than that. It's like a plum: sweet and delicious at the beginning, sour when you reach the centre... and the ending is just thrown away.

I liked "The beach" very much.
Garland tells the story of Richard (the author's alter-ego?), an english boy who is traveling through SE Asia, specifically Thailand. One night he lies awake and engages in a conversation with a most strange character, who talks (while smoking a joint) about a heavenly beach nearby.
The next morning, Richard discovers that the strange man has commited suicide, but he also discovers a drawn map informing him how to reach the beach.
From then on Garland describes the odissey Richard and some friends endure to get to the famous beach. And then their life in the months they spend in the beach community.
Although written in the most casual way, this book is rich in character development, not only regarding the main character, who is also the narrator, but of Richard's closest friends and acquaintances on the beach as well. Richard, however, is the most complex, even though he is not aware of the fact. Garland constructed Richard to be almost a symbol of the person who watched Apocalypse Now in the early teens and is fascinated by a world of adventures, jungles, asiatic people with menacing looks pointing firearms. Richard is so alienated from reality that he sees everything as a kind of game, like the ones he enjoys so much.
This is a nice and fast read complex in its apparent simplicity.

Garland's story is truly an entertining one, and I read the book virtually without putting it down once. The story of the quest for Paradise and the all too common threats against utopian life proves an interesting read indeed. That said, I have some doubts as to the literary qualities of the novel. "The Beach" is Garland's debut, and I think it shows. The characthers are way too shallow, and it's a mystery how he can fail to utilise the sexual tension between Richard, Etienne and Francoise to it's full potential. I find the "madness" part with Richard's invisible pal Mr Duck less than convincing, and the Vietnam war reference tedious. There are a number of other details that flaw an otherwise excellent story. Like the weed issue. If the hippies have cultivated such a magnificient garden, why don't they grow their own dope? Rather than stealing it from the armed drug gangsters, bringing down disaster on themselves. There doesn't seem like there are equal couples on the Beach, yet Garland wants us to believe the small isolated community have been able to survive year in, year out without any noteable sexual tension. And come on, if you want us to believe three completely healthy guys like the Swedes living isolated from the rest of the community at least make them gay so we have some possibility believing it.

Like "The Lord of The Flies", "The Beach", is about a group of people trying to maintain a type of peaceful government on there own on a deserted island. Unlike "The Lord of The Flies", in which the characters are waiting to be rescued, "The Beach", is where minimal contact with the rest of 'the world' is obstained from and frowned upon as an invasion of their own private Eden. That's why when an Englishman, and his two French traveling companions, who are given a map to this tropical utopia by "Daffy", are very unwelcome when they reach their destination. As they are assimilated into the commune, they are assigned jobs to help out the rest of the population. However, discontent arises among the masses, and a rift between two opposing factions is revealed. This break in unity is the group's tragic downfall into oppression and murder.
The book's simple language, and it's short paragraph structure made for a very fast paced novel, although the protagonist's hallucinations were very annoying, and not engaging. Also, as in reading "The Lord of The Flies", the ending left my stomach queasy, and my thoughts disturbed. Although I will read more from this exceptionally talented author, the calibre of this novel was not up to par with the great classic.

'The Beach' is undoubtedly by favourite novel of all time. It is not only intelligent and funny but it's gripping and has a lot to say. The reader is first of all introduced to Richard, an English backpacker who has just arrived in Thailand. Once there he is given a map to a beach, a so-called backpacker's paradise. So off he goes along with two French travellers, Françoise and Etienne, that he persuades to come with him. However, before setting off he draws the map for a couple of Americans. Once they reach the beach it's every bit as beautiful as they were led to believe, with a small island community under the firm leadership of Sal.
As the book progresses it becomes apparent that the often humorous yet perceptive narrative is a mask for the real darkness of this community. The central irony that the quest for true paradise ultimately destroys it runs throughout this novel, and characterisation is second to none. Unlike the movie, the book's depiction of Richard's love for Françoise is a much more subtle affair. Indeed, it is the repression of human emotions and the stifling of human desires and needs that eventually leads Richard into madness. Once again, this is much better evoked in the book, with several hallucination scenes being at once funny and creepy. The contract between the beautiful island paradise and Richard's personal hell as the community become progressively obsessed with preserving their paradise is wonderfully evoked. Yet it is when a group of marauders appear on the island and there is a terrible accident that the book really impresses. In many ways `The Beach' is similar to `Lord Of The Flies', yet this novel also works as the masterpiece of travel literature, its flowing narrative and sharp sense of humour making it an instant hit but also intensely disturbing.

I liked "The beach" very much.
Garland tells the story of Richard (the author's alter-ego?), an english boy who is traveling through SE Asia, specifically Thailand. One night he lies awake and engages in a conversation with a most strange character, who talks (while smoking a joint) about a heavenly beach nearby.
The next morning, Richard discovers that the strange man has commited suicide, but he also discovers a drawn map informing him how to reach the beach.
From then on Garland describes the odissey Richard and some friends endure to get to the famous beach. And then their life in the months they spend in the beach community.
Although written in the most casual way, this book is rich in character development, not only regarding the main character, who is also the narrator, but of Richard's closest friends and acquaintances on the beach as well. Richard, however, is the most complex, even though he is not aware of the fact. Garland constructed Richard to be almost a symbol of the person who watched Apocalypse Now in the early teens and is fascinated by a world of adventures, jungles, asiatic people with menacing looks pointing firearms. Richard is so alienated from reality that he sees everything as a kind of game, like the ones he enjoys so much.
This is a nice and fast read complex in its apparent simplicity.

Garland's story is truly an entertining one, and I read the book virtually without putting it down once. The story of the quest for Paradise and the all too common threats against utopian life proves an interesting read indeed. That said, I have some doubts as to the literary qualities of the novel. "The Beach" is Garland's debut, and I think it shows. The characthers are way too shallow, and it's a mystery how he can fail to utilise the sexual tension between Richard, Etienne and Francoise to it's full potential. I find the "madness" part with Richard's invisible pal Mr Duck less than convincing, and the Vietnam war reference tedious. There are a number of other details that flaw an otherwise excellent story. Like the weed issue. If the hippies have cultivated such a magnificient garden, why don't they grow their own dope? Rather than stealing it from the armed drug gangsters, bringing down disaster on themselves. There doesn't seem like there are equal couples on the Beach, yet Garland wants us to believe the small isolated community have been able to survive year in, year out without any noteable sexual tension. And come on, if you want us to believe three completely healthy guys like the Swedes living isolated from the rest of the community at least make them gay so we have some possibility believing it.

Like "The Lord of The Flies", "The Beach", is about a group of people trying to maintain a type of peaceful government on there own on a deserted island. Unlike "The Lord of The Flies", in which the characters are waiting to be rescued, "The Beach", is where minimal contact with the rest of 'the world' is obstained from and frowned upon as an invasion of their own private Eden. That's why when an Englishman, and his two French traveling companions, who are given a map to this tropical utopia by "Daffy", are very unwelcome when they reach their destination. As they are assimilated into the commune, they are assigned jobs to help out the rest of the population. However, discontent arises among the masses, and a rift between two opposing factions is revealed. This break in unity is the group's tragic downfall into oppression and murder.
The book's simple language, and it's short paragraph structure made for a very fast paced novel, although the protagonist's hallucinations were very annoying, and not engaging. Also, as in reading "The Lord of The Flies", the ending left my stomach queasy, and my thoughts disturbed. Although I will read more from this exceptionally talented author, the calibre of this novel was not up to par with the great classic.

'The Beach' is undoubtedly by favourite novel of all time. It is not only intelligent and funny but it's gripping and has a lot to say. The reader is first of all introduced to Richard, an English backpacker who has just arrived in Thailand. Once there he is given a map to a beach, a so-called backpacker's paradise. So off he goes along with two French travellers, Françoise and Etienne, that he persuades to come with him. However, before setting off he draws the map for a couple of Americans. Once they reach the beach it's every bit as beautiful as they were led to believe, with a small island community under the firm leadership of Sal.
As the book progresses it becomes apparent that the often humorous yet perceptive narrative is a mask for the real darkness of this community. The central irony that the quest for true paradise ultimately destroys it runs throughout this novel, and characterisation is second to none. Unlike the movie, the book's depiction of Richard's love for Françoise is a much more subtle affair. Indeed, it is the repression of human emotions and the stifling of human desires and needs that eventually leads Richard into madness. Once again, this is much better evoked in the book, with several hallucination scenes being at once funny and creepy. The contract between the beautiful island paradise and Richard's personal hell as the community become progressively obsessed with preserving their paradise is wonderfully evoked. Yet it is when a group of marauders appear on the island and there is a terrible accident that the book really impresses. In many ways `The Beach' is similar to `Lord Of The Flies', yet this novel also works as the masterpiece of travel literature, its flowing narrative and sharp sense of humour making it an instant hit but also intensely disturbing.

The Beach is a truly shocking and absorbing novel about self-discovery and the loss of innocence, told through the eyes of a Gen-X-er. The story follows the travels of a young modern backpacker, Richard, on his quest for excitement and pleasure. His traveling, which consists of staying in crumbling rooms with thin walls, and eating questionable foods, takes him to Thailand where he meets a young French couple, Etienne and Francoise.
Fueled by rumors of paradise and a hand-drawn map, the trio head out on a search for a secret island that holds the perfect beach. They find their beach, but get more than they bargained for when they discover that things aren't always what they seem. In order to keep paradise secret, sacrifices must be made.
The Beach, written from a Gen-X point-of-view, is thought-provoking and extremely disturbing, yet intelligently written. It is a truly excellent piece of modern literature that captures the Gen-X attitude and backpacker way of life perfectly. It's a story choked full of excitement, longing, insanity, and of course, drugs.
At its core is this message: Would you sacrifice your own self-worth and morality to save the perfect paradise? What happens when that paradise becomes not so perfect?
I truly loved this novel. The recently-made movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Richard does not even do the book justice. Although I think Leo is a brilliant actor, I'd recommend reading the book over watching the movie.

This wildly over-hyped first novel, which was followed by a supposedly dreadful Leonardo DiCaprio film version, gets by mainly on the strength of
references to classic (especially Vietnam-era) literature and modern pop culture and a sado-masochistic plotline where Gen-X gets taught a lesson. In
the story of a young backpacker in Southeast Asia, who finds a kind of utopian commune on an island beach off the coast of Thailand, Garland seems
to be quite consciously summoning everything from Lord of the Flies to Gilligan's Island. And he explicitly invokes The Heart of Darkness,
Apocalypse Now, Platoon, etc., and a wide range of video games with which I'm not familiar. The result is a book that's achingly aware of where it's
coming from, but teases us by wandering down the paths of its various sources only to end up in dead-ends. So, when we finally do get where we're
going we feel a tad ill-used.
The book begins with our putative protagonist, Richard, in Bangkok, where a bungalow mate tells him how to find the island and then commits
suicide. Richard and a French couple set out to find the much-rumored beach and, after some reasonably exciting difficulties, do so. The denizens
don't seem to have much of a philosophy or a sense of mission; they're content just to have found a beach that other tourists haven't "ruined". Their
days are spent in fishing, gathering food, and performing a variety of other mundane tasks just aimed at keeping their community going. They divert
themselves with a few sports contests, a Gameboy, and a lot of dope, illicitly obtained from a local field that is the domain of a scary group of armed
men, with whom they have an implicit non-interference agreement.
Over the course of the novel the tension begins to rise within the community and between the beach dwellers and the dope growers. Richard fears
that a couple fellow travelers with whom he shared the story of the beach may show up and get him in trouble with his reclusive comrades. And we
gradually realize that Richard is a rather unreliable narrator, as his drug use, which requires ever bolder incursions on the drug fields, and his
imaginary conversations with the dead guy who told him about the beach start to obscure reality. Even more startling is the way in which he seems to
want to create his own version of the Vietnam experience on the island. He's itching for trouble and we're pretty sure he's eventually going to find it.
The book maintains a compelling atmosphere of dread and Mr. Garland is an effective story-teller, but there's a sort of dissatisfying hollowness to the
whole affair. The dialogue is almost entirely pointless and that seems to be the author's intent. The islanders lack of any meaningful goals makes
their group seem temporary almost by definition, so we're never emotionally invested in its survival. We know that as soon as they're found the group
will collapse, because the beach won't be "cool" anymore. Meanwhile, their coolness is an inadequate hook for our rooting interest. Worst of all,
because they don't believe in anything interesting, other than a kind of dubious communal ethos, and because they have nothing interesting to say, it's
not apparent that Mr. Garland even wants us to care that they and their Beach are doomed. In fact, there's guilty pleasure to be had in watching it all
come a cropper.
It's not a bad book, and I can accept that Mr. Garland's message may be that this generation of young people lead lives that are so devoid of purpose
that they have to live vicariously through cultural reference to other people's experiences, that the highest aspirations of his generation, their visions of
Utopia, amount to nothing more than an unlimited supply of pot and an undiscovered beach on which to smoke it and play Tetris. But if that's all this
was about, it seems like he could have conveyed that message more quickly. Four hundred something pages was a long time to spend with a group of
characters who even their creator seemed to want dead.
GRADE : C+

A hot book, fast paced, well-written, words sharper than razor blades, powerful characters, interesting through-out! This book is absolutely fantastic, the character of Richard is described so well, so ALIVE that you just become him - in a way - while reading, even becoming a part of his menacing memories of the Vietnam war. The only reason I gave it 4 stars is, because it takes about 200 pages until something happens, you might call a trigger to later events and there on to the big showdown at the end of the book. The first 200 pages are constructed very well, just like the last, but it kind of just shuffles along, giving us the beach life, the adventure of being stranded on an unknown island. These elements are important to build up a story, but chewed on for too long when it comes to creating the right circumstances for bad things to happen. All I want to say is, that Garland although writing well, had some problems with keeping the story fluid. Put these aside and you got a very thrilling, invloving read, you will remember for a long time - and enjoy much longer, even when you are finished.

Beautiful, haunting, extraordinaire. THE BEACH is a superb novel about the search for meaning through travel, longing and the failures of the human heart. It has a slow, almost rocking pace, that will lull you into a false sense of comfort. It's been often compared to LORD OF THE FLIES, but think about it more as a HEART OF DARKNESS, sponsored by an American Airlines.

Loved THE BEACH for its predatory, deliberate way of examining mediocrity through the extraordinaire and its amazing insight into the dynamics of human interaction. While it is a beautiful, visual novel that might give you the travel bug, it'll also make you think twice the idea of "settling" and to stop thriving, even in a secret paradise you have all for yourself.

I read this book when I discovered that Danny Boyle of "Trainspotting" fame was set to direct the film version. Being a fan of Boyle I picked up Garland's debut and was astounded to see the kind of praise published on my edition. People were calling it brilliant and inspired, that Garland was the voice of a generation. I hope not. Garland can only speak for himself, as can anyone, and what Garland has to say isn't all that original - William Golding said it already in "The Lord of the Flies." "The Beach" is overrated - it's not brilliant, it's not a work of pure genius, it's none of those - but it's fun. If you want to escape from the mundane hum-drum of day-to-day life and want to take a tropical vacation adventure, then read "The Beach." It's typical, it's trite, yes, but it's fun. It's 300+ plus pages of escapism. Garland himself has lived this sort of life, no doubt, but he's still young (26 when first published) and people who knock into him because of what other people say aren't looking at him honestly. He's got a lot of talent and I have no doubts he will pen the "Gatsby" or "Catcher in the Rye" for his generation, but "The Beach" isn't it. Read this, then "The Tesseract" and keep a close eye on Garland, because he's going places.

Alex Garland writes with insight and irony as well as humour. His characters are excellently drawn, and many have characteristics that remind me of people I know. His description of Thailand is vivid and artistic--enough so to make my best friend book a plane ticket for Bangkok after reading this!
The story itself seems to be a bright narrative of life in paradise, until Nature and human nature conspire against it. This novel is an insightful exploration into the darker parts of the human soul. At times I felt almost sick while I read this book, but at other times I felt a tremendous joy, both at having discovered such a well-written book, and at the events, characters, and setting of the story.
I watched the movie without knowing it was based on a book, and I admire Leo's performance. Richard's character is intricate and to some extent mysterious, and it must have been a difficult undertaking to become him for the screen.
I highly recommend this book, even to people who didn't like Lord of the Flies (I happen to be one of those people).

I began this book prepared to dislike it. With the movie poster splashed across the front cover, I figured this would be derivative "Hollywood-esque" pulp drawing largely on Lord of the Flies for inspiration. I was pleasantly surprised to find a genuine novel between the covers. The main character is well delineated, and Garland takes the courageous step of making his protagonist a less than sympathetic character. At times you end up empathizing more with various secondary characters than you do with Richard. Garland also manages to integrate disparate elements of Western culture--movies, video games, "wanderlust", cartoons, disillusionment--in a way that usually tells us more about the characters. I don't know if Garland is drawing upon some of his own experiences, but many of the perspectives seem genuine, and the "coming of age" theme comes through without being heavyhanded.
The action proceeds in a slow, revolving cycle that somehow seems appropriate for the languid environment of The Beach. While this could be a criticism, I did not mind the slow pace--it gives you time to get to know the characters better, even though you know this utopia cannot endure. Garland also had the good sense not to include a sappy romance storyline (which Hollywood felt obligated to add).
However, there is one thing to make clear: this novel is no "Gen X" introspection, as some of the editorial reviews indicated. It is a dangerous step to extrapolate the values that appear in "The Beach" beyond the scope of the book's pages.
Unfortunately the movie loses some of the character depth in translation to the film--it is a worthy attempt that falls short. They shaped the film to fit Leonardo DiCaprio, rather than vice versa, and they added extraneous storylines, eliminated an important character, and altered the denouement. The ending short-changes some of the themes that hold the storyline together.
The novel is worth the read, but skip the movie. Garland takes you for an interesting ride that keeps you reading to the end.

The main "idea" behind The Beach has been seen before. Man thinks something is Extraordinary, Man starts to discover otherwise, Situation deteriorates badly. Nothing special here... BUT, and there is a BUT, Alex Garland's writing style is absolutely beautiful. In this story in particular, he does something very rare, which is to speak, as the author, directly to the reader. The phrase I think was something like: "In this exact moment I am sitting at my wordprocessor typing this sentence." I don't know if I liked that approach or not but it is nice to see that style barriers have been broken. This is a very casual novel.... It is a good read though... the setting and plot are mysterious and as I said before the style is amazing. The ideas, though; could have been better. If you are looking for better ideas go for The Tesseract, by the same author. Personally I enjoyed The Tesseract more than The Beach.... but that is up to you to decide.

Somehow--I don't know how--/The Beach/ managed to stay engaging enough to keep me reading until the end, but the more I think about it the less I like it. Author Alex Garland has crafted a retooled /Lord of the Flies/ targeted at a small subset of alternative hipsters in their 20s, the sort of people one sees rioting against the World Trade Organization and vandalizing Starbucks franchises. They are people who cannot live without the comforts of Western Civilization but nevertheless despise it. If you are familiar with the genus species you can understand how taxing it must be to read an entire novel populated with nothing but them.
The book's characters rebel against the West by traveling to the Third World. They don't know what they are looking for there and don't do much except swim, lie on the beach, and work on their tans--as though such things are somehow nobler pastimes in Thailand than in the Hamptons. In a telling narrative, Richard, the book's slacker protagonist (is that an oxymoron?), admits that he travels to the Third World in search of extreme poverty. For him and his fellow-travelers, poverty equals authenticity. They barely seem to notice that real people live in such degradation and suffer lives that are poor, nasty, brutish, and short--to Richard and the other pampered Westerners, such misery is just a prop that exists only to reinforce their illusions, no more real to them than the cardboard sunset on a movie stage.
Their recurrent complaint about the various vacation destinations they discover is that more tourists soon follow, shattering the supposed authenticity of the cultural experience. Once a village makes it into a travel guidebook, they lament, it's finished. This theme, repeated ad nauseum throughout the story, is a mildly more sophisticated version than the tendency of people you knew in high school to stop buying albums of any band that became popular among their less enlightened fellows.
In /The Beach/, however, these folks have happened upon a solution to that quandary. They settle a deserted island as a refuge from civilization, although as it happens nobody except other disgruntled Westerners actually lives there among them. On this island, they stock up on batteries and cigarettes, play a communal Nintendo Game Boy, ride a motorboat to the mainland whenever they need to stock up on food which they are incapable of growing for themselves, and otherwise do everything short of actually constructing a McDonald's franchise, all the while deluding themselves into thinking they have discovered an authentic exotic land. In truth, of course, it is more like Disney World than Xanadu.
Garland does an adequate job communicating these themes and tells a reasonably suspenseful story, although none of the things about which it keeps readers in suspense are ever actually resolved. The plot lulls during dozens of torturous dream sequences in which the disembodied spirit of a minor supporting character returns and appears to drive the narrator insane but mostly just acts like a pathetic, unintentionally comic swipe of Obi-Wan Kenobi's posthumous appearances in the /Star Wars/ trilogy. I didn't know whether to laugh or wretch, so I usually just skipped pages.

At last, Gen-X seems to have found its storyteller. This is one whale of a tale, even though it has been beached and acquired a certain odor of Hollywood hype. Garland's debut hits THE THEME for Gen-X: the outsider of moral ambivalence who just wants to observe while others gyre and gimble in a moral miasma. The central character's vision has the scope of a GameBoy. His emotional connections are no deeper than a duck. But, as he wanders through this set piece that resembles Central Perk in Eden, his engagement with these paper-thin personae begin to cut him deeply and moral ambivalence is not an option. Choose he must, and Garland swept me right along with him in the process. It was an adventure. Like all coming-of-age situations, it all seems so dumb in retrospect and so essential in the midst. Why then only three stars? First, Giles Foden did better with THE THEME in "The Last King of Scotland." Second, I am now reading Garland's second effort, "The Tesseract." It is much much better. One hopes that this is a trajectory leading to apotheosis. Too many stars ruin the suspense.

I liked this book. In fact I really, really liked this book up until... the last 100 pages when everything seems to come loose and Garland appears to be running out of steam. You know the bit I'm talking about... where all the dope guards come down on to the beach threatening its inhabitants and then abrubtly leaving? Highly improbable and unbelievable-the over dramatic, rushed and almost scatty ending really does taint my impression of the rest of the novel which provides high paced, fairly exciting and quick reading. For example, the guards drop five corpses on the beach as a warning. Yes the people are tripping and yes they are all slighlty on the edge but for them all to start ripping the corpses to bits? It was almost laughable- and the meaningless subplots? Sub plots are meant to add depth to a novel and these subplots needed to tied up to prevent them becoming loose ends. The Swedish fiasco for example-where does that tie in to the rest of the storyline-in fact the storyline was so loose that at times it felt as if the book was ambling along all by itself with no one powering it. I just felt really let down after spending two days reading it-what an anti climax.
Maybe I am being a little harsh, I understand that this is Garland's first novel, and yes maybe my harshness is due to the amount of publicity it has received after the release of the film starring Dicaprio(which I haven't seen yet) but I think this novel could have been a whole lot better. Needless to say I did enjoy it but I wish I had saved it for the beach.Afterall, it remains,in my mind at least,a holiday read.

Taut thriller that parallels much of the classic Lord of the Flies. In fact it's so similar it's hard to believe this novel hasn't been called on the carpet for its blatant thievery of the classic. What allows such a theft is Garland's simple yet effective prose. That and his ability to transport readers to an exotic place with fairly good characterization of the players in this book. He is so effective that it would be impossible for the reader not to visualize nearly every scene of this book. He also gets away with it because today's younger people have never read Lord of the Flies and to them this is fresh and novel; and spoken in their terms, complete with video games, drugs, and the obvious rebellion displayed by the young adult characters. Some parallels of this book and Lord of the Flies must be pointed out. The narrator's steely knife scene at the end is equivalent to the steely knives the children of Lord used to kill the pig. Mr. Duck is a longer drawn out version of the fly in the pig's head rising off the ground and talking to the little boy. The boat in this novel may compare to the conch in Lord. It's been a long time since I've read the classic in school but I would guess that there must be a dozen direct comparisons. This is a quick read for its written simplicity. It is also a page turner for its edginess, which is completely driven by the narrator. The ending was perhaps a bit of a let down but I'm not sure what sort of ending would justify the suspense that develops in this book. It's good just for how well it does carry the suspense. There are no heroes in this story, nobody is particularly more likable than the others. This speaks much to how well written this is since readers usually must have a likable principal character, rather than one that's no better than the rest. In that sense the comparison to The Secret History is just as valid to Lord of the Flies. This is more powerful, though, because it accomplishes the degree of increasing suspense in fewer words and with more effect. There is not a single boring or banal scene in the whole book. Every sentence and every word has direct bearing on the overall feel of the book, the overall mood that the author wishes to convey. And maybe the book can be faulted for its over simplistic writing. Perhaps true layers do not exist in the book. Maybe there is no subtlety other than the subtlety that is pointed out as obvious subtlety. I am looking forward to Garland's next work which is already out on shelves. His second attempt will prove whether or not he is modern day literary writer with the stuff that can be counted on book after book. Because this first novel of Garland's can easily be dismissed as beginners luck, a flash in the pants, a one time memoir-like greatness. And finally will his future work be truly fresh without the borrowed translation from another classic novel. One thing's for sure about this book, I was ready to light up a joint every time I picked up the book and started to read.

Many other reviews here have been comparing "Beach" to other books. Yes, there are shades of "On the Road," "Lord of the Flies," Michener's "Drifters," and maybe even a little "Sand Pebbles" thrown in. That's fine - I like new stories to remind me of other great tales. Good writing examples complement each other; it's not one book vs. another. And this is good writing. Garland keeps the basic story simple; it's easy to follow and relatively believable. One of the best things done is that Garland creates a sort of tension throughout the book. The reader is not able to relax and simply glide along. You know something's going to happen but not what or when (you do know, of course, that Richard will make it due to the first person narration). When things go wrong, they do so in a wild but logical manner. Nothing goes too far over the top with characters commiting improbable acts (read "A Simple Plan" for the exact opposite, though it's still a fine story). The dream sequences enhance the story, rather than annoy the reader as often happens. This is a modern tale of adventure that ranks right up there with other generation-defining work. I haven't seen the movie nor do I plan to, this is good enough.

True, this book is slightly overrated. Yes, the parallels to Lord of the Flies, Heart of Darkness, Animal Farm, On the Road, and Treasure Island are somewhat overdone. However, this may be the best novel to come out of Generation X thus far. It is rare to find a true page-turner that does not fall into the monstrous pile of best-selling trash that crowds the shelves of your local bookstore. This is a story about human interaction, disillusionment, and finally, the nature of mankind. At the same time it is a subtle commentary on modern society and how we are influenced by our surroundings (some may squawk at the use of pop-culture references, but these references are in the book for a reason). In the end, what separates this debut novel from many of the classics is style. Garland may not yet be the master of prose that Golding and Conrad were, but give him time. Definately a recommended read.

Many people have missed the point of Garlands novel. Garland, rather than trying to convey the realism of a backpacker, is ironising the whole thing. For those of you familiar with the phrase, it is post modern. There is not depth to the characters , beacuase the characters are depthless and superficial. It is post-modern due to it's intertextuality, drawing on texts such as Heart of Darkness-Richards Vietnam fantasies; and what do the beachers become most concerned about, batteries for the nintendo. Richard sees himself as in a video game, and cannot relate to reality or it's consequences. Mr duck is an interesting character, do you not wonder why he left the beach? The only real disappointment was the ending where it all got a bit Steven King. So those who have read it already, ready it again. Leonardo di Caprio is completely the wrong choice for the role of Richard (who is an amoral person), and it si spoiled by the fact that Leo gets the girl in the film too. Guess the irony got lost here to. Expected better from My Boyle.

Alex Garland's book, "The Beach," was an underground classic among the hiking and backpacking subculture long before it was made into a big-time Hollywood movie. In it, Garland takes a "Lord of the Flies" motif and combines it with the dangers of living a hedonisitc lifestyle.

Richard, the protagonist, is a 20-something searching for the ultimate adventure. Sick of the hustle and bustle of the urban world, Richard embarks on an adventure in Thailand thinking it will bring him peace, quiet, and a simpler life.

The writing is somewhat sophomoric at times, which is why this is not a five-star book. Had Garland been more eloquent and sophisticated in his writing (which he IS very capable of), this book would possibly be considered among scholars as more of a creative fictional case-study of today's modern youth culture rather than merely a "pop" read. But then again, Garland WAS only 25 years old when he wrote it -- an impressive feat!

Be sure to see the movie after you read the book, as there are several significant plot differences.

Wow . . . what was that all about? True for any artistic work . . . it depends on the person experiencing it. For those whose life is absent of adventure, The Beach is a well written collage of action, suspense, and conflict, serving as a motivator to go and experience life. For those who seek the never ending peace, tranquility and joy that Paradise offers, it is hopeful, and in some instances validated our notion of what Paradise must be like (in the early part of the book at least). For those whose pessimism looms in the forefront of their conciseness, it's predictable, but well written., The Beach is creatively written and filled with symbolism. It is bound to strike a cord with almost anyone who reads the book. Lesson learned . . . Paradise is a perfectly beautiful place and can only stay that way if mortal man never discovers it.

First off, The Beach should not be confused with that junk movie with DiCaprio in it. Please don't let that dissuade from this excellent novel. If ever the truism "The book is better than the movie, this is it"
Second, the Beach, like the movie Fight Club, is often wildly misunderstood. I have seen many reviews that portray this novel as a Lord of the Flies rip-off, which misses the point entirely. The Beach is the exact opposite of Lord of the Flies. Whereas in that novel the lack of society corrupted the schoolboys, in this novel society corrupts the purity of nature. This is a significant thematic departure, which completely changes the effects of the events in the novel.
The style of this book is instantly classic. As a child of the 80s I was raised on videogames, tv and a sanitized suburban existance. Garland writes about people from all over the world just like I am. Therefore the book deals with the signifigance of sport, gameboy, isolation, etc. to breathtaking affect. I was completely hooked from the very first page.
This not a book you put down after the last page and forget about fifteen minutes later. The best thing I can say about it, is that for weeks after, you will be pondering the questions it raises. To me, that is the definition of a great novel.

Yeah, this is the book that will fascinate the young student/intellectual/traveller-type from Page 1 all the way to the back cover... Its minimalist dialogues, brief allusions to modern psychoanalytic theory along references to Tetris and Street Figther II are those necessary literary elements which should make this book an instant bestseller all over the world. As a matter of fact, I am currently trying to get the Hungarian rights to publish the book in the Hungarian language. There is no doubt in my mind that the 'conspirational charm' of the prose (and not only that of the Thai cab driver) will appeal to many a young disillusioned member of our increasingly globalized world.
'Read it, man, it cool,' as the shrivelled-up Thai lady would say leaning on her mop in that dusty corridor of the run-down Khao San hostel.

If you like fantasy books (although, this actually could be happening for all we know), then I recommend you pick this book up asap! The title doesn't tell us much, the back cover tells us a little more but as soon as you get into this book, you won't be able to put it down. Briefly, the story revolves around a young man named Richard who is given a map by a stranger of a so-called secret community living on a beach in Thailand. The story revolves around Richard and two friends, travelling to Thailand in search of this secret paradise. That's where all the excitement starts. This book is a page turner from beginning to end. I felt myself rooting inside for the trio to find the secret hide-a-way so when they actually do, then it really gets exciting. You will enjoy this book immensely! If you like fantasy's that is. ;-)

An overpraised book that owes much to Lord of the Flies, which is better written, more concise, and more profound, even after 40 years. Garland throws all his energy into setting up a few good violent scenes (especially the climax), but character isn't his strong point. Also, the beach community that Garland invents is hardly appealing, even at first glance. None of these fun-loving tourists has much fun; they don't even seem to like one another. All they do is smoke dope, play soccer occassionally, and fish. Richard, the main character, doesn't have one romantic interlude throughout the book (a 6-month span). Doesn't anybody have sex in this community? The American pop-culture references, which weigh down each paragraph of the book, in the end become vapid, repetitious, and tiresome. Same with the trippy dream sequences. The book just doesn't have much substance. Maybe the movie will be better.

While I generally enjoyed reading The Beach, what I realize in hindsight is that he chose to jam too much time and feeling into such a short passage.

I would have liked to explore Kao San road a bit more. I would have liked to have known what it was like for the dreamers on The Beach when they were relaxed and dreaming, and not running from their own, often falsely created, paranoia.

I give this book three stars, and suggest you check it out in your free time, but whether you check it out or not, life will go on.

RR

I agree with many of the commenters that, while Alex Garland is a very good writer, this story left me scratching my head at its lack of conclusiveness. There's no achoring theme or conclusory message to this tale. Although it was a total page turner, no doubt about that, when I got to the end, all I could say was, "WHAT?! That's it?". No lessons learned or even alluded to for the main character. No vindications or revelations. So, it was kind of disappointing in the end. One really has to draw one's own conclusions and take it for whatever personal "lessons" the reader gets out of it.

I enjoyed this book. I have not seen the movie. I enjoyed the character development and the slow unraveling of an artificial utopian society...(what other kind of utopia exists?)The book was thought provoking and well paced.
The one question that I still puzzle over is the connection between the Vietnam War and the Twenty Something's generation. Perhaps I've missed a major nuance of Twenty Something culture, since I'm way older, but I just couldn't understand why the narrator of this tale was so enamored with Vietnam War Era lingo. I can understand that there might be a handful of Vietnam Vets seeking solace in "Paradise", but I just can not understand why this young kid is so focused on the era. If the book drew a connection, I missed it.

While The Beach may start out slow, the pace speeds up when things start to get intense in Alex Garland's mythical island paradise. Perhaps the best thing in this book is Richard, the main character. He sees a dead man that we meet in the first chapter, watches as people get more primal and agitated by each other, and have to stand by as a predicatably violent climax looms closer. He is by far the most interesting thing in this book. This is a very adult book with lots of adult language, nudity, sex, violence and blood, and tons of marijuana smoking. Apparently, the only thing to do in paradise is get stoned. The writing is fluid and well-paced. Despite the books shortcomings, this is a very good character study and Lord of the Flies take-off. This is definitly a one-night read.

This book was delightfully hair-raising.The Ecologist Traveller nightmare.And,as we'we all seen in The Lord of The Flies of William Golding,any Eden has a serpent in it...Nature is beautiful,human nature is flawed.The end is,however,hardly plausible.Why are the Beachers so scared of dividing their secret whit the new arrivals? More to the point,why the drug-growers controlling the island had not killed any trespasser on the spot in the first place? Those criminals aren't known to be willing to share their territory whit intruders.Indonesia is full of islands...why couldn't they have chosen one goon-free ?Maybe it was the only tourist-free,ok.But put me on a diet of rice and fish,fish and rice,and I'll see Daffy Duck talking to me,too !

The Beach is certainly an impressive effort for a young man still in his twenties. I can certainly understand the ecstatic reviews - especially from the younger readers - readers still void of real life experience.
The story line however, is sadly reminiscent of the pop reality of the late sixties with all the same ingredients, youth throwing off the shackles of responsibility, unlimited drugs, and adventure in an exotic land. This read will have a special appeal for the feminine gender with its copious doses of love and affection, although the contrived relationships are base and deceitful in their entirety.
I look forward to Garland's further efforts as he becomes more seasoned and begins to write for a broader and more mature audience.

I really was afraid to read this book, because back when Leonardo DiCaprio was good-looking I watched the movie. I should have realized earlier that the book would assuredly be better. Garland is brilliant, and considering this was a debut novel, I'm awed. The thing that impressed me most about the book was that despite having very little plot--location choices, if nothing else, were limited--you still wanted to inhale it and still wanted to see what would happen next.

In many ways the "plot" is predictable. Richard, a young Englishman in Thailand, stays a few nights in a sleazy hotel where he is given a strange map of a supposedly deserted island-paradise by a strange person known only as Daffy Duck. The night after receiving Daffy's map, Richard finds him dead. Accompanied by two fellow hotel-guests (Francoise and Etienne), Richard decides to go to the island outlined on the map. Thinking that someone should know where they are going, Richard informs two American college students of his plans, giving them a copy of the map.

Of course, what happens next is nothing unexpected. Adventures ensue as Richard, Francoise and Etienne try to make it to the designated location; upon their arrival they encounter a 'village' of about twenty people, some of whom are disappointed to learn of Daffy's death; the traveling trio decides to stay on the island, and Richard begins to panic that the Americans may show up; Richard continues to panic to the point of hallucination, and camp relations start to get tense; the Americans show up, the whole island oasis life is shot to hell, and Richard, Francoise and Etienne barely escape.

Still, the book is addictive. It creates a feeling of suspense that I have not felt from another book. The characters and the interactions between them were increasingly complex. Issues of "Can utopia stay utopian?" "How selfish is this isolated, island lifestyle?" "Do vacations have to end?" and "When is this going to become like Lord of the Flies?" keep you turning the later pages.

This is definitely a book worth buying, or at the very least checking out of a library. It really is an fun and sometimes thrilling read.

Given the hype this book has recieved, I expected a magical mystery tour, but instead I found myself with a novel that sputters it's way through an uneven tirade of sex, drugs, murder, and eventual insanity. It tries and fails to portray the "supposed" enligtenment of one character, aka, the rest of us, "Generation X", in a prettily wrapped package! Don't buy the hype! Garland started his novel with a level of extreme potential, but leaves the reader puzzled as to the ultimate point of this novel's journey. If you're into the sprituality and duality of human character-buy it. If you are into a good book to read that doesn't make those of us in our 20's look lost-then don't bother.

I can't believe I wasted my time actually reading this thing, After seeing some of the rave reviews I stuck it out til the end, puzzling that somewhere in this excuse for a novel there would be something worth reading sooner or later. What is particularly galling is the readers in the store who found Garland's book The Tesseract to be a letdown from this one. I read Tesseract first, and after I got past the first part of the story found it extremely engaging. The movie industry should forget about giving Leonardo de Caprio a day at The Beach. This novel reads like the script of a made-for-TV movie: cliched, strung out with just a enough teasers to keep you watching until the next commercial.