[the beach]

Alex Garland: The Beach

Richard, our protagonist in this story, is a European (English) backpacker in Thailand. The whole story is set in that strange backpacker milieu where children of often wealthy families travel in search of themselves (and often in search of drugs as well). Richard hears rumours about a mysterious "beach", where hippiedom flourishes and a few chosen people lead a happy life. (Although everything takes place in our decade and Richard is no older than 30, strange memories of the Vietnam war are woven into the story, almost as if Richard had seen too much TV.)

The novel - as far as I know, it is Garland's debut - tells of Richard finding said paradise and subsequently finding out that it isn't really the best of worlds.

A quote from the Times Literary Supplement, printed on the book cover, expresses everything quite well:

Exceptional... Creates a picture of an ideal society gone awry... An action novel that provokes subtle responses, The Beach takes in ideas about man's inevitable progress from noble savage to social breakdown [and] the related tradition of nature versus art."

An intriguing book, and sophisticated language (at least to my non-native-speaker judgement) with some interesting observations about subtle differences between British and American English.

How to get it

The Beach

American Hardcover, 371 pp, Riverhead, ca. $ 17 US, ISBN 1-573-22048-5, at amazon.com
American trade paperback, 436 pp, Riverhead, ca. $ 11 US, ISBN 1-573-22652-1, at amazon.com
English paperback, 448 pp, Penguin, ca. GBP 5, ISBN 0-140-25841-8, at amazon.co.uk

Der Strand (German Title; translator unknown)

German paperback, 445 pp, Goldmann, EUR 7,45, ISBN 3-442-44235-4, at JF Lehmanns; at amazon.de

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Frederik Ramm, 2002-01-04