The Beach



The Beach is the first novel of British author Alex Garland. First published in 1996.

Richard is a tourist who is bored with the lack of adventure in all the exotic countries where he tries to find it. He and two friends come into possession of a map. They discover a beautiful island beach where a small populace lives in secret. However, paradise never works; it isn't long before everything comes to a horrific climax.

Made into a largely despised film by Danny Boyle; the film starred Leonardo DiCaprio.


 * Crowning Music of Awesome: The Moby song Porcelain fits perfectly with the atmosphere of the scene where Richard and his friends marvel at the beauty of the beach.
 * Did Not Do Research: One of Richard's favorite places he travelled to is the Philippines, but the novel mispells "Boracay" as "Borocay", and reads "the rice terraces of Baguio", which is actually in Banaue.
 * Enemy Within:
 * unwittingly becomes this, what with slipping into madness - plus, his naïve desire for danger and adventure cloud his judgement and lead him and his friends into bad situations.
 * Crazy Awesome: Daffy
 * Everyone Looks Sexier If French: The lovely Françoise.
 * Holiday in Cambodia:
 * Mercy Kill
 * Only Known by Their Nickname: Daffy, Bugs and Sal. The reader never learns Daffy or Bugs' real names.
 * Only Sane Man: Étienne.
 * Sanity Slippage
 * Surfer Dude: Sammy and Zeph, at first; subverted when Richard cottons on that it's all an act in response to snobby European travellers.
 * Squick: The food poisoning, tooth pulling,, the climax...
 * The Multiverse: Discussed briefly just before they get to The Beach.
 * The Tetris Effect: When Richard is in the jungle on he briefly sees everything as a video game with HUD, lives and enemies as obstacles.
 * The Tooth Hurts: One of the inhabitants of the island needs to have a tooth pulled out, but he's not allowed to return to the mainland to have it done by a dentist.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist:
 * Underwater Kiss
 * Utopia Justifies the Means