| The Beach (novel) |
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''The Beach'' ( 1996 ) is a Novel by Alex Garland about Backpackers in Thailand . THE STORY In a cheap guest-house, Richard, a young traveller from England , meets a Mentally Disturbed Scotsman going by the Pseudonym of '' Daffy Duck '' who leaves him a hand-drawn Map of some hidden Beach inaccessible to Tourist s, and then commits Suicide . Together with a young French couple, ''Étienne'' and ''Françoise'', Richard, who considers himself a lifestyle traveller rather than an ordinary Tourist , goes and looks for what he believes must be Paradise on earth. On their way to the Beach , Richard gives a copy of the map to Sammy and Zeph, two American s he meets in Koh Samui . When the group finally reaches the beach - after bribing a local boat contractor, taking a long swim and eventually jumping down a Waterfall - they are faced with a tightly-knit Self-sufficient Community which has almost completely shut itself off from Civilization and which has developed a sophisticated Hierarchy (or Pecking Order ) under the quasi- Dictatorial rule of a young American woman called Sal and her Lover Bugs, who were the first to the Island, along with Daffy in 1989. The three went under the psydonems of Sylvester (pronounced SALvester and hence Sal), Bugs (as in Bugs Bunny) and Daffy (as in Daffy Duck), the novel is set in 1995, 6 years after they found the Beach. Newcomers are basically not welcome but are not sent back either because it would jeopardize the secrecy of the project. Richard, Étienne and Françoise manage to incorporate themselves into the island community and are quickly accepted. Being a self-sufficient community, work is very important and there are a number of details, or work rosters, for the garden, fishing and carpentary. Along with Francois and Etienne, Richard becomes apart of the fishing detail. After a few months the two Americans and three German s arrive at the neighbouring island and Richard moves to the perimeter detail to watch them together with the group's guardian Jed, the only one who knows that Richard spread word about the beach. Because of a free spot in the Fishing detail, one of the Community members named Keaty moves in and a few days later catches a dead Squid that Poison s most of the residents. The day after the food poisoning incident only two of the fishing details are still in operation. One of these, consisting of three Swedes who fish outside the safe Lagoon area, is attacked by a Shark . One of the fishermen (Sten) dies on the same day and the second (Christo) a few days later. The third (Karl), who was not hurt by the shark, suffers a mental breakdown and leaves the beach by the only boat a week later. The wounded Swede, Christo, requires Jed's presence in the camp and this leaves Richard to work alone on the island. Being alone on the inner-island, Richard has even more day-dreams in which Daffy - the man who gave him the map - appears, along with hallucinations of being in a DMZ in Vietnam . This comes to a peak following the arrival of the American/German group, who are killed by Mercenaries defending their illegal Drug stash. Richard watches the entire episode and loses his sense of Reality . Not only does Richard go mad, but the other beach dwellers, who forced themselves to return to normal life after the burial of Sten, lose their grip on reality. Petty feuds and disagreements are brewing between the residents, but the upcoming Tet Feast - the Beach's Birthday - is supposed to be a turning point. During the festival, however, the mercenaries arrive and leave the dead bodies of the American/German party as a warning. Most of the beach dwellers work themselves into a murderous frenzy from which Richard and a few of his closest friends narrowly escape. In the end they escape to the mainland. Richard still keeps contact with Keaty and Jed. CRITIQUES ON ''THE BEACH''
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