Review: "The Beach" by Alex Garland

Richard is an English traveller that comes to Bangkok to start over. There he meets a strange man going by the name of Daffy. The man gives him a map that leads to what supposedly could be paradise on earth. With two others, Étienne and Françoise, he goes after what he thinks is the place he’s been looking for his whole life. – And a fresh start. When they’ve crossed the ocean they are finally there, and they discover an island that certainly meets their expectations. Well, yeah, at least to begin with. On the island they meet a bunch of people, and they soon learn that these people have built a whole society for themselves. They also have kind of a dictator – Sal. She is the leader of the group, and all she is about is everyone following her orders. He also quite quickly notices that this is a multi-racial community. There are people from all different places in the world; Spain, Sweden, England and Italy. There is one scene that stands out the most according to me, and that is the scene where Richard goes crazy and is having illusions about this Daffy guy. The thing that probably triggered his behaviour is when one of the Swedes dies from blood loss – he got attacked by a shark. Richard really goes crazy and becomes the outcast of the society. He is isolated from the others because he is on watch – to watch out for newcomers.

The reason for this is that he “accidentally” gave the map to some unknown people while he and Sal were in town (Bangkok) to pick up groceries and other things that the islanders had “ordered”. He got this as a punishment, and after a while he actually sees people approaching the island, and after that everything goes downhill. He goes mad and he's on watch all the time, like a true soldier. The isolation tears him apart and the other islanders are worried about him. He comes to his senses at last, because while sneaking around and watching these unknown people he sees armed men approaching: they are the inhabitants of the island, the guards who are guarding the marijuana plantation, and they specifically told Sal never to let anyone else on to the island. These “unknown people” were not invited, and while Richard lies in the field watching and listening to what they are saying to the students, he crawls closer. The men threatens the students and they start running in the opposite direction, but they don't get far – the men shoots them one after one.

When looking in to ”The Beach”, you come across interesting passages about life and what life really is all about. What is life, and how should we approach it? Do we approach it with fear, or do we approach it with gratitude? That is what this book is about. To accept the traffic, the noises, the neon signs and all the stress that comes with living in the city. Because you never know how well you would survive on an isolated island. The book has it all; guns, drugs, happiness, sadness, grief, funerals, loneliness, hate and love. It’s a pot-pourri of events that leads to one conclusion: never underestimate your own strength and your will to survive, and you should...