Our new Diarists are the 6th form of The Priory School in Dorking, Surrey, with a group just started by Emma who teaches there.

Diary

'The Beach' by Alex Garland

The Readers Group: 6th form students from the Priory School in Dorking.

Teachers : Jane Wilcox (English), Steve Harrington (Art) & Librarian : Emma Currow.

Students (6th formers, 16-18 years old)
Amy Keene, Harriet Rushton, Tracy Miskelly, Ann English, Jacquie Guess, Jenny Laub, Katie Corbett, Toni Waters, Dan Peart, John Pullen, Tim Griffiths, Mark Palmer

The Book

The story is told from the perspective of Richard, a traveller in Thailand who is given a map to the perfect beach.

'The book is no means an easy book to relate to. Three travellers who meet by chance after Richard is left a map showing a beach by a man who he was spoken to only once during the night in an angry conversation. These three seem to have an unidentified bond, then decide to risk everything in search of the beach. To begin with I was amazed that they would undertake such an unrealistic task. It seems like only luck that the three reach their destination to surprisingly meet some agreeable people who occupy the sacred 'beach' and live an incredibly co-operative lifestyle. The three fit in immediately.'

'The Beach' is every traveller's fantasy - the perfect island hidden from the 'cancer' of tourism.'

'It's a book about backpackers, a certain kind of traveller who is looking for an adventure away from the ordinary, away from hoards of tourists. Even though it is set in Thailand the Thais are secondary to the backpackers, it is definitely seen from the perspective of the travellers who think they have as much, if not more, right to the island than the drug-farmers who are Thais. I read that Alex Garland said that the book was meant to be very anti this sort of traveller and parodies them, which I do see but I think that it could be interpreted differently.'

'I think that the book could encourage people to visit Thailand even though the story does not tell of a pleasant trip, it describes the scenery as beautiful and a vacation from the norm.'

'The book demonstrates the selfishness of the human soul.'

Plot

'I felt that it was relatively fast moving with lots of dialogue but generally 'boys own' stuff with drugs!'

'The first part of the novel is the search for paradise, or 'Eden' as Richard describes the beach. The second is the plunge into hell, the last scenes being a bad trip ending in a sacrificial offering to save the beach and the way of life, but after which things would never be the same.'

'I felt that the book was quite slow moving, not at all what I was expecting. Then, when the rots sets in, things turn up a notch or three leading to a spectacular, if stomach churning, climax and I could not put the book down.'

'A story which shows that power in paradise can corrupt.'

'It had a very fast moving story with lots going on all the way through the book.'

'Though the story is exciting and examines some powerful traits of the human psyche, I do not think it contains the depth of texts such as William Golding's 'Lord of the Flies'. At first, the short, snappy chapters set the scene, generating a feeling of morbid anticipation , particularly with the ever present threat of Mr Duck.'

Character

' The beach is about a paradise but actually describes the dark side of human nature. Richard has no idea at the end of the book the fear that his friends feel about him and the paranoia that his presence gives. Sal will stop at nothing to protect the way of life on the island, apparently thinking nothing of giving orders for Karl to be murdered rather than give away the community's secret. After Christo is attacked by the shark, he is nursed by Jed in a tent away from everyone else so they are not reminded of him. No one goes to visit with the exception of Richard. When Etienne wants to take Christo and Karl to Ko Samui for medical treatment, his comrades disagree as it may mean losing the beach, even if the cost is the men's lives. It is difficult to think that people would really behave like this but ultimately believable.'

'I think Sal became the leader rather than Bugs or Daffy who found the beach and started the community with her because she was such a strong character and the men have obvious weaknesses. She will stop at nothing to protect the beach from the outside world and is actually quite a frightening character with many of the others in fear of her. I would not like to be stuck on a desert island with Sal in charge when things were going wrong!'

'The book describes Richard's descent into madness, is this brought about by the island life? He looks back on himself as being unrecognisable and doing things that he would never do. The island has an amnesiac affect on him, he forgets about 'the world' and his companions lives outside of the beach are of no importance or interest. Is it boredom that brings on the hallucinations of Daffy? As Richard becomes obsessed with Vietnam, Daffy becomes his companion through the DMZ, taking risks with the dope guards but never realising the gravity of the situation right until the end. The violent deaths of the rafters for which he feels ultimately responsible clears his mind to show him that he must leave the island and take his friends away from the danger.'

'The ending was amazing. The people on the island community were trying to get away from the world and presumably live in a better way and yet they tear the corpses of the rafters limb from limb and attack Richard who would presumably have died a horrible violent death if his friends hadn't intercepted.. I didn't know whether it was the drugs that they had taken that made them behave in such an obscene manner or whether it was a build up of the tensions of the last few days. Probably a bit of both, I like to think that most people would never behave in such a way.'

Themes

Dreams? Community? Vietnam?
'Tourism is a recurring theme throughout the book, the characters think of themselves as travellers and not tourists, they travel instead of simply going on holiday. All of the characters want to escape the 'cancer' as Daffy describes tourism and the destruction it brings - yet it is Daffy who Richard accuses of introducing the cancer to the island community purposefully by giving the map to Richard who passes it on.

'The backpackers, the travellers, the island community think themselves superior to tourists yet by the end of the book it is they who have taken a previously uninhabited Eden and left it far, far worse than what they wanted to avoid on the mainland.'

Utopia
'Why does it not work? The paranoia and the division of the community is illustrated in many scenes. Can it all go back to Richard giving the map to Sammy and Zeph? I think he did this in order to give himself a bit of insurance, that if something happened to him that they would not be far behind. Other than the shark attack, the bad things which split the community apart seem to stem from this.'

'Utopia is unobtainable when linked so closely to human emotions.'

Community
'Richard is travelling through Thailand, 'collecting memories'. He is not looking for his way of life to be changed permanently but is attracted to the idea of the beach and the hedonism that he thinks he will find there. This is in direct contrast with the view that Sal takes of the community, she has been there for six years and it is her life. I do not think that her character would have been able to adjust to 'the world' after the destruction of the beach and think that Richard was right that she would have died. I also like to think this happened as she was so unpleasant!'

Drugs
'Drugs are in the book from start to end - Richard shares a joint with Daffy which was about the extent of their friendship and it concludes with a huge drug crazed finale. But I think that the message is anti-drugs.'

Video Games
'Richard has grown up with a culture saturated with video games. He befriends Keaty and their shared passion is the gameboy. Then he makes up the games in his head, when he is by the dope fields with Jed he plays a game in his head where if he makes a noise he loses a life and so on. I wonder if the author shares this love of video games - he certainly seems to have done his research.'

'The travellers are at the beach to 'get way from it all' and have very little possessions with them, yet it was important enough for Keaty to bring the gameboy with him and Richard is hugely frustrated when the batteries run out. Maybe he offered to go on the rice run in order to make sure that the batteries were bought.'

Comments

'I would imagine that it would appeal to males rather than females!'

' I really liked this book, I couldn't put it down! It was a little strange in some places bit really involved you and the ending was brilliant. I preferred it to the film as it made more sense and the characters were fleshed out, Jed for example.'

' I thought that 'The Beach' started well yet tailed off to an unconvincing ending. What I particularly enjoyed though was the parallel between the mental break up of Richard and the physical break up of the beach itself.'

'I think that the film ruined the book! I think that they completely changed Richard who was after all the central character and Hollywood-ised it. The film introduced sex into the plot with Richard sleeping with both Sal and Francoise which in turn also changed what the women were about. I preferred the ending of the book too, I think Richard gets lets off the hook in the film and has behaved far worse!'

'I thought that 'The Beach' was a brilliant book. Once I started reading it I could not stop. The ending was certainly not like I expected it to be but I thought that it worked well.'

'To summarise, the book generates ideas and ideologies for discussion but fails to discuss them to the full.'

'I haven't yet finished the book, but I am not enjoying it as much as I expected. I think this is because it is a complete fantasy to me and I am unable to relate to the concept in any way. I am eager nevertheless, to finish the book as I have heard that the ending is fantastic. I am also curious as to how the characters develop, Richard especially. At the moment he seems a bit selfish and not always rational in his decisions. I have no doubt that 'The Beach' is a good book, however, it is simply not to my taste.'