The Beach

Linn Skaghammar ES 2A

The Beach by Alex Garland

Richard is a young British backpacker who is travelling all around Asia. On his first night in Bangkok a Scottish traveller who lives next door to Richard slits his wrists. Richard is the one who finds the blood covered body, and he discovers a map that the Scottish man, “Mr. Duck”, has left him. The map describes the way to a beach beyond your dreams, were, rumour has it, a secret society lives. This could be the adventure Richard’s been waiting for – he decides to go there with a French couple he met at the youth hostel. Before he left Bangkok to search for the beach, Richard left a copy of Mr. Duck’s map to two Americans, something he would deeply regret later. Along with the French couple, Etienne and Francoise, Richard eventually manage to get to the beach, which is a paradise – pure white sand, coral gardens, waterfalls and a lagoon hidden from the sea and the rest of the world. They get to know everyone who lives in this paradise; there are people from all around the world who play football, smoke weed and simply enjoy life together. As long as they don’t disturb the Thai farmers who grow dope on the island, or take in more people to live on the beach, they don’t have to worry about their paradise being discovered.

Life seemed very simple until there was a shark attack and two of the three Swedes got killed. A few people start to question the priorities of the leader Sal, who doesn’t want to send the hurt ones to a doctor on mainland, in case their society is discovered. Life goes on and Mr. Duck visits Richard not only in his dreams, but in real life. When a guard from the beach discovers that the two Americans Richard gave a map to are on their way, Sal sends him on a secret mission – to track the Americans and try to make sure they don’t reach the beach. Richard has to live on his own in the jungle; he sneaks around the dope fields and the Thai farmers and he starts imagining himself as a Vietnam warrior from a movie. When the Americans reach the dope fields they get killed by the farmers. Richard realises what he has to do – he has to tell Etienne and Francoise what’s happened and get out of the beach and back to Thailand before the farmers attack the beach society. They agree to leave during a party, but before they know it, the farmers appear. They brought the bodies of the Americans as a warning, and they tell everyone about Richard’s map. Some of the stoned beach people start to stab and rip the bodies until they’re completely destroyed, and then they start stabbing Richard who is screaming for Mr.Duck. Etienne, Francoise and some other people save Richard and they all leave their “paradise”. After leaving the beach, Mr. Duck never visited Richard ever again and everything was back to normal. Accept now, Richard carries a lot of scares.

I’m impressed by Alex Garland because this is his first book and it’s already a cult classic. The Beach contains everything you can expect from a book – drama, excitement, and a lot of questions about morale. Even if The Beach is about backpackers, it mainly makes you think about, and question, human behaviour. How far can you go to keep a secret? Is it fair to have monopoly on a beach? The writer indirectly asks these kinds of questions by writing this book. In that way it’s very well written. The language is easy enough to understand and the chapters are very short with some illustrations. But still it’s not too simple or trivial at all; in fact it’s quite psychedelic and sort of surreal in many ways. This so-called Mr. Duck visits Richard in his dreams, but also in life. They talk to each other, but they’re both aware of the fact that Mr. Duck is dead. Richard realises more and more how alike they are. You can either think that this Mr. Duck visits Richard for real, or you can think it’s a part of Richard conversing with another. Personally, I think it’s a way for Richard to deal with death and the beach life. The story of this book feels very real, like it could happen in real life. But it’s also like a nightmare.

I can’t talk about the book without comparing it with the film. I thought I for once preferred the film, but when I’d finished the book, I changed my mind. The thing I’m most disappointed by is that Richard is from London in the book, but in the film he’s American. In fact, they’ve changed the whole character. Richard is a nice person in the book, but in the film he’s quite selfish and he cheats with other people’s girlfriends a couple of times. (Probably just because they want to add some sex and love in the film.) That’s not fair at all to the writer Alex Garland; to change the British main character of his book to an American prat. The biggest difference however, is the straightforwardness of the film. In the book you sort of read between the lines and start thinking things like “how far will Sal go to keep their beach secret?”, but in the film she actually has to put a gun to Richards head and decide if she would rather kill a human that give up their secret. That scene is not in the book, but I think it’s great anyway, because that’s the indirect question of the book, you just see it more clearly in that scene. The final massacre in the end of the book is not in the film and I can understand why. It would probably have been censored. But the shark attack is quite succulent. I think I prefer the book but I think it should be as creepy as the film. There are a few added scenes in the film that mediate the philosophy of the beach people very well. A man had a toothache once and he wanted to go to a dentist on mainland, but he wasn’t allowed. They pulled out his tooth against his will instead. That scene is quite creepy because the man is screaming, almost going insane by the pain, but everyone just laughs at him. Another scene is when a Swede’s been bitten by the shark and wants to go to a doctor, but he’s not allowed either. Instead he dies on the beach. In the end the book is all about moral and human behaviour, and I think that’s always an important subject to bring up in books, films, theatre and music.