so has anyone else read this book yet ?its about a bunch of travellers fed up with everyone else who find this island 'paradise' off ko Samui (its in Ang Thong marine park somewhere) and turn it into their own private colony - really good story and spookily on the ball about the kind of 'travellers' who look down on others for not being travelly enough.. if you know what i mean. just seemed to me to have the whole scene to a 't' - always looking for somewhere untouched
if you've read it , let me know what you thought...
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Considering how much reading people do when they are
travelling I'd be surprised if this wasn't the hottest book
on Khao San Road. Yes, he did get a pretty acurate picture
of the travelling scene (although I'm not sure how many
people have encountered dead travellers laying on the beach
on Pang Ngan - or was it Samui?). I found it to be an
adult version of Lord of the Flies. I read it in 2 nights,
couln't put it down. I loved the whole subject of how
everything used to be so much better, before it was ruined
by other tourists. While I do understand the truth in
that, I get so sick of hearing people say that such-&-such
place used to be so much better and now it is terrible. It
gets old after hearing it about 500 times. The writer
seemed to be making a joke about that - and I really liked
it. Thanks for the post, I've been trying to get every
traveller I know to read it so we could compare notes.
Read it in a day (not that I'm trying to be competitive - I was just lounging in goa and couldnt put it down)
Loved it
Totally recommend it and agree with comments about "traveller's syndrome"!
Would like to read this book - please give name and author. Thanks .
it is The Beach by Alex Garland - I think it is published by Penguin here in the UK - he is a first time writer, so I am not sure how widely it is available outside the uk, although it is about 4th in the top ten fiction lists here....
Well, we do it to ourselves, people, especially in
places like this site (not to mention the printed word and
LPs role...) I read the Beach in Belize this year after
having it recommended by several other travellers and loved
it. The classic question: How to keep that special place
unspoiled, yet still be able to share it with others. The
old hippie who gave the kid the map in Bangkok seemed to do
so based more on desperation at his imminent demise than on
a belief about the kid's qualifications to join the hidden
world. The lesson is: be careful who you share your secrets
with, or next time there'll be a Hilton...
The Eagles said it best in their song The Last Resort;
"Call some place paradise, kiss it goodbye."
The movie is currently being filmed as we speak.
I'm a publisher in UK, and published this book (I work for
Viking, an imprint of Penguin). I'm pleased you all like
it, and so is Alex (as we sit and listen to the cash
rolling in!)
He's taking the piss out of LP & travellers, but its still
a good story.
If you liked that one, try "Are you Experienced" by William
Sutcliffe. Same kind of thing, but different - set in India.
Leonardo Di Caprio has signed for the film of The Beach,
which is in pre-production at the moment. Being made by
Danny Boyle, who did Trainspotting, and Shallow Grave.
Yeah I quite liked the book - it did take the piss nicely -
was quite hard to put down and easy to read but really just
a modern day rip-off of Lord of the Flies - not all that
original.
I read the book, went to Thailand (Ko Pang Ngan, Phi Phi)
came home read the book again! and I think The Beach is at
best AVERAGE. It's like some college creative writing
excercise and calls on popular culture references
constantly. It's as if Alex Garland went to see Pulp Fiction
and thought, "hey I'll rewrite Lord of the Flies in a
Tarantino style."
Garland is making loads off of the 'new breed' of popular
writing in the UK and it's crap.
Buy an LP guide instead.
Mr Swine
I am disgusted that good (?) old Leo has been chosen to play
Richard in the film of the beach. What on earth good can
that do to the book (oh, except, of course, bringing in the
pennies - yeah, well I guess that's a good enough reason if
you're selling out)? The film itself should be good if done
by Danny Boyle, but was it not at all possible to get an
English actor for the part (seeing as Richard was English in
the book, and it's by an English author?) I hate the way
brilliant books are ruined (and they almost always are) by
the overwhelming desire to sell out and make as much money
as possible.
Sorry this is a bit of an angry post but I loved the book so
much, I think it's such a shame to get such a wooden actor
in the part.
ps any spare parts on offer?!!!!!!!
The Beach was ok in parts, totally agree with #9, bacon boy.
Also agree that Leo is the WRONG person for the movie. If
you want a wider selection of reader reviews, go to
amazon.com, book search and into reviews. Great forum for
venting your spleen!
I doubt if Alex Garland will ever write a REAL quality
novel. (But who cares? Neither did Barbra Cartland and she's
stinking rich!) Don't demean Lord of the Flies with
comparisons!
The Beach had to have been written with the target audience
being malcontented pimply fifteen year olds. I'm fucking
embarrassed that I read the thing. Gaping plot holes, racist
sensibilities, and two-dimensional characters.
~
For the life of me, I don't understand why this book has
been such a media sensation.
I think no 11 is wrong, and will shortly have to eat his
words: try the tesseract, came out in uk last week. set in
the philippines, it is an altogether better, more ambitious
novel than the beach. ENJOY!
I liked it, too . . . found it really struck a chord . . . not just about the whole Thai beach scene, but also about how demented things can become when people try to preserve their vision no matter what. As far as Garland's concerned, I found it a remarkably well-paced read, surprising, full-fleshed-out characters . . . I don't think those of you who are lambasting it realize how hard that is to do.
I came across my copy of Garland's "The Beach" in the most
romantic way conceivable: I found it in the shelf for
leftover reading matters in a guesthouse in Bangkok's Soi
Ngarm Duphlii ("the little Khao San"). To my eyes this is
one of the most interesting spots in any guesthouse - the
place where other travellers leave the magazines and books
and maps they don't want any more. Most of it is junk, much
is so tattered and torn it can only be read in part, and
sometimes you come across really good surprises. Like me,
when I found this particular paperback. I had no clue as to
what it was, had never heard about the author or the title
before, and I was a little turned off by the publisher's
overly calculated claims on the cover ("has all the makings
of a cult classic"). Never the less I was intriqued by the
unspoken promise of the image on the front cover, the
staring eye and the beachscape.
Did I like the book? Hmmm, I haven't regretted reading it.
Maybe I am a reader who just do not flow with this
particular writer. I recognize his storytelling talent, but
I did not really find the plot believable. The characters
did not strike me as really possible.
Then I returned to Denmark, and before within half a year
the book was out in a Danish translation getting positive
reviews. By and large I'd say "The Beach" first of all
has given me some insight into what many travellers like to
read when they read about travelling, the half
self-ironical, half self-romanticising images they like to
enjoy before or after going abroad themselves.
With all the hussle about a novel on some beach in
Thailand, it seems to me that some of us are forgetting
what is really happening to these places. Number five has
a point: tell someone about a place and the next time you
come back you'll find a Hilton... But that's not the worse.
Devastation of coastal habitats, water eutrofication and
sea-blossoming, pollution, coral bleaching,... it all comes
with touristic 'developpement'. It would be nice if there
were still some 'secret beaches' on this world...
A response to post #16.
I agree absolutely that terrible things are happening to the
environment (and to many of the people) in the places that
we love to visit, and I am glad that you share my anger at
this destruction. However, tourism is probably far less
destructive than many other ways in which these places are
being exploited (over-fishing, shrimp-farming, mining,
logging, soil erosion from intensive agriculture,...).
There is good evidence that 'backpacker' type tourism helps
to conserve environments in question while putting money in
the pockets of ordinary local people. Even Hilton-type
development, with its trail of golf courses and excessive
demands on local water resources, is probably less damaging
than the things that happen where there is no tourism at
all.
So book that flight: when you travel, you are not only
having a good time, but also helping to save the planet!
what island and area do you think the author is really referring to and augmenting in his book? Combination Koh Tao and Koh Nang Yung a decade ago?
A book that made me thump, v. nice. But bad. Just what Alex
was writing about - 'the beach' will bring MORE travellers
to the region. Which grates with my ass. Godamn! Soon we'll
have a freakin' disney hotel there! And good as
trainspotting was, I really hope the makers and actors in
the film turn insane and... Hey! - Kill each other in
horrific ways! Perhaps the book should have stayed un -
published and been curculated underground. Yeah, baby.
E - mail and Disagree!
I just checked www.amazon.com and Alex Garland is soon
coming out with a new book. "The Tesseract"
One interesting thing I found about The Beach. It is
written in clear, basic--some would say pedestrian--
English. Thus it seems a logical choice for a reader with
less than perfect comprehension of English, or for a
schoolchild learning how to read.
And I hear the filming of the movie is trashing a real
beach in Thailand, or have the protests by Thais managed to
stop it? If so, it won't be hard to find a replacement
"beach," ; lots of govt officials would welcome the payoffs.
The book's beach location is being filmed on Ko Phi Phi,
just off the coast of Krabi. For the campground location in
the book, the studio cleared approx. 300 sq. meters of
forest to accomodate the filming. The studio claims it will
replant the area. The production comapny has had the full
support of the Thai gov't. Along with Leo, the film stars
Virginie Le Doyen, Giullome Canet and Jerry Swindell.
It's too bad - not that I want to be an elitist backpacker
snob - but it's true that after this movie is made,
everyone and there 16 year old leo loving sister are going
to want to hop on over to s.e. asia, but realizing upon my
first return from the area that most domestiques don't want
to sleep in bungalows with out hot water or totally clean
sheets, or god forbid room service - the quaint little
spots we all found are going to be turned to the way side
and replaced by high rises with attenddents running around
in uniforms serving drinks and charging them to your room -
not that I want to sound bitter - but I hate the these
places will change for tourists when we should change to
accomadate their way of life.
I found the novel to be a rather immature. It has been
over-hyped succesfully by clever marketing. It was also
not credible - I would have thought that Richard would have
had some romance during his months on 'the beach'.
All in all a disappointing read, albeit one that has
cleverly tapped into the zeitgeist. However, Garland
utilises the quasi autobiographical genre to good effect.
Don't bother buying it - borrow it.
Cliches!!
Hey,
I just want to mention that "The Beach" is an excellent
book........
......alex :-)
Hi Everyone,
I haven't read the book, but if its a case that the film is
being filmed in Ko Phi Phi, then it somewhat a case of
recreating as opposed to maintaining paradise. Look at the
L.P.'s description of Ko Phi Phi! I visited Ko Phi Phi last
August and spent 3 very relaxing and enjoyable days there.
The beaches are really beautiful and there are lots of
things to do there apart from sunbathing. However, walk to
where the locals live, and even through some of the streets
and you will find huge heaps of discarded coconuts and
other rubbish. Its a shame because if its a sign of things
to come, as has been mentioned in other posts, then Ko Phi
Phi will be ruined.
'Are You Experience' is a pile of shit. Carer (are you
Andrew Kidd?) you are recommending it simply because
Penguin publishes it. We want quality here. The Beach was
good. At Penguin you needed it to be. The last best book
you published (and I was there at the time) was Secret
History. But also Alex Garland is an arse. Personally I
mean.
Any other books from this genre?
Post #24 called it immature... interesting. Considering it
was the first novel of a 26 year old! It's bound to be
somewhat immature. I really enjoyed it. I read it upon
returning from my travels and found that his style and
description threw me right back into the backpacking scene.
Well done in that respect.
And #24... if you think its immature because there was no
"love story" Pah-leeze! What IS immature is the idea that
backpacker lifestyle is all about shagging... Now,
imagining Leo not shagging for his entire stay on the island
might be harder to believe (which is why in my eyes he
is the WRONG choice for the part) "Richard" is a bit more of
a gloomy, introspective creature I think - not so pretty.
Totally believable that he wouldn't have had a shag.
My 0.02$
-A
http://members.tripod.com/~Aviva00
If you aren't necessarily fussed about whether it's a novel
or non-fiction, but merely enjoy reading about travels, try
Nick Danzinger's books. He has done some mad travelling
(his contact with heavy armaments is not recommended) which
he actually manages to write about with great lucidity.
His books really enlighten on cultures along the way -
who'd have thought that the "Allahu Akbar..." chant I so
often woke up to in Asia actually translates in part to
"come fast to prayer, come fast to prayer; prayer is better
than sleep..." - interesting lyric. In respect to The
Beach, I did enjoy it in the same way I may enjoy a James
Bond movie if I'm in that particular mood. Nobody's saying
it is written in deep, highbrow English - not everything
you read has to be, the variety and joy of literature is in
precisely that. The Tesseract is more complex but again I
couldn't say it's better, just different. I'm not sure
about his definition of the four dimensional hypercube, at
least in the mathematical sense...
What Aviva said about Leo not getting any action has
obviously been taken on board by the screen play writers -
apparently in the film Richard does have sex with Franτoise
in the surf... Hollywood clichΘ alert...
People said the same thing about Hemmingway's language in
his time...but in retrospect he's brilliant. I thought it
was a great novel, and believeable or not seems
irrelevant. Why is sci-fi fantasy ok, but not a novel
that's slightly out there? And as for the romance, Richard
is a totally obsessive character, first he's obsessed with
Franciose (which he can't have) and then he's obsessed with
the whole Vietnam reinaction thing. Where's the room for
romance?
I liked it, although AG didn't really fully exploit the
dramatic possibilities of The Return From The
Island.....weak ending.All you readers who suggest that the
book/film's popularity will lure 1,000s more starry-eyed
Leo-philes to Thailand are idiots. I've never been to
Thailand, and for me - suggestible person that I am - the
book was a MASSIVE DISINCENTIVE.
I just couldn't put the book down - actually read it 3 times
by now.
I actually loved this book, and also cared a lot for Richard
in it, although some people I guess find him too flawed. In
any case, I wanted to let people know they shouldn't worry
about the casting of Leonardo Di Caprio in the role of
Richard. If you see some of his movies (besides the
Titanic), you'll see he usually plays dark, brooding
characters usually going through some sort of personal hell
(does it pretty well too). Except for the fact that he isn't
english, Di Caprio should be perfect for to play Richard.
wasn't this lord of the flies in disguise????
Japanese teeny-boppers? Leo's biggest fans are obsessed
love-struck Japanese girls. They love "everything Leo" and I
can imagine a new industry where they head down to Ko Phi
Phi in pilgrimage (while their Uncle's diddle away up
north). As far as Leo being Richard...ever see
"The Basketball Diaries". But I expect whoever's making this
film will screw it up as bad as they did Jim Carroll's
wonderfully sympathetic novel to "outsiders".
If you really want to visit "THE UNTOUCHED", you much visit
us at the island of Saparua, because hardly any tourist has
visited yet and we offer you more than 2 kilometer of
private beautiful beach!
Please don't tell this secret to too many people because we
want to keep it untouched!
And for the real divers, this will be paradise on earth!
Hope to hear or see you soon!
Your sincerely,
Ozzy*
I'm just glad that Alex Garland chose the Beach's setting
in Thailand, and not in my country (which is close by).
Don't get me wrong: I liked the book. Started out very
idealistically, but did turn into a "Lord Of The Flies." It
ended rather abruptly. What happened to Richard
(emotionally, psychologically) in the following months back
in London? His character needed more closure -is he still
idealistic, or now more realistic? We needed to hear from
Richard telling us how it changed him. A paragraph would
have done it. Mr. Garland seemed to have just wanted to
terminate the book and cash in, or meet the deadline. I'd
hate to be in Thailand when this movie comes out, and for
many years to come! I'm keeping a low profile on OUR secret
paradise!!
I also loved the Beach and could not put it down. I am not
much of a reader as I have a short attention span which is
why I was so surprised by my reaction to this book. I was
so upset when it ended. I guess I liked it so much because
of the fact that I am a young traveller who wants to find
such isolated paradises...but also because it was so
trippy! I loved Daffy Duck!
I immediately read the Tesseract after, but was not too
impressed by that one. It was okay...but considering the
Beach is my favorite book ever I was very dissapointed.
Tesseract is very slow in the beginning I think. It gets
better towards the middle and end, but it certainly isn't a
very memorable book.