"Tourists went on holidays while travellers did something else. They travelled"
The Beach is an adventure you’ll never forget !
I feel it’s safe to say we are all past our backpacking adventures, so it will be interesting if we relate in any way to the characters in our story.
I’ve read an interview with Alex Garland where he refers to his novel as a satire, and a parody of the backpacker mentality. Interesting considering it was backpackers that gave this novel its cult following.
How much similarity do we find between The Beach and Lord of the Flies?
Are there any other novels we can recall that have the similar theme of Utopia going really badly?
Anyway, Ladies I hope all the talk of sunny beaches and tropical paradises warms your bones.
Hello Ladies!
ReplyDeleteHope all is well. Other than Mother Nature not being able to make up her mind, things are going well here.
Nancy, you wrote "The Beach is an adventure you'll never forget!" And I believe you may be extremely right. I frequently forget titles and authors but story lines stick with me and I don't believe I'll be able to forget The Beach any time soon. I never read Lord of the Flies, but if it is similar in nature I may pass. The book, I think about most when I think utopian societies, is Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. While not a story of a utopian society going wrong, it was to me a tale of how terrifying a "utopian" world could be.
Richard said 'Tourists went on holidays while travelers did something else. They travelled". I guess I must be categorized as a tourist. The strangest thing about the people of the beach to me was their disinterest in ever leaving the island. I'm afraid Franklin and I were never backpackers. We went from high school to college to career, with no layovers. It seems to me that the backpacker "mentality" would be the idea of continuous movement, much like a nomad. Whereas the people on the island seemed set to be stationary. Is this the satire that Mr. Garland spoke of? Do most backpackers start out nomadic and then eventually "settle" in one area without ever noticing that they are no longer travelers? Do they eventually succumb to the natural desire for security? My experience with real backpackers is limited to no experience. I'm afraid I'll have to ask you both for your views on these "travelers".
No, Nancy I could not relate to any of the characters in this novel maybe because of my lack of backpacking. But I did really like Sal at the beginning of this novel. I found her to be an exceptional leader until her dark side was revealed. Then I found her to be terrifying. I still find Daffy's leaving the beach and his suicide baffling. He was distressed that the beach was no longer a private utopia but he sent Richard there. Why not take that secret to the grave or find a new private place? In addition, his ghost presence was odd. Was Richard hallucinating as part of some PTSD or from too much drug use? Or was Daffy really a ghost hunting Richard and Jed? I am very curious as to what you both thought about this month’s novel.
I am trying to get ahead so I’m not dropping the ball on you ladies when this kiddo comes. I remember that “Everything I never told you”, “ The goldfinch” and “Land of love and drowning” were my suggestions. But was the “Fried green tomatoes” mine too? I can’t remember. Three more weeks left!
-Katie
It must be just over two weeks to go now, Katie. Hope everything is as you want it to be, and that you’re being spoiled. I really appreciate the trouble you are taking to ensure the club runs smoothly while you are ‘otherwise engaged’. Take great care of yourself.
ReplyDeleteNancy, the date of Jay’s return, early April, may well change as another of his nephews is getting married in late April. I’m sure he’d love to visit you and Ivars in Yamba, Nancy, but he has a friend from U.K. joining him in Malaysia. I’m not sure what they plan to do. Anyway, to be truly selfish, I don’t think he should visit you without me! I’d love to come. I could visit my relatives, see all those bits of Australia I’ve never seen . . .
Tomorrow, my brother and his wife return from a month in New Zealand. I very much look forward to hearing about their trip, but mostly it will be such a relief to have someone to talk to about my parents. Mum has made a good physical recovery from her illness, but has slipped a little mentally. Dad gets less and less mobile. He still refers to your visit, Nancy. I got them out to the pub last week, and sat with Mum watching the birds on the Mere. . . . spring is coming. In solitude and sunshine, I ate an ice-cream by the Mere today, watching the swans. Glorious.
I was never a backpacker either, Katie, but I have been to Surat Thani and Koh Samui, around 1982 I think - before there were flights to Koh Samui anyway. The sea was too rough to cross so we spent Christmas Eve in a brothel in Surat Thani (fascinating – worked on a system of bells) before taking the boat to Koh Samui on Christmas Day. I’m very proud to say I was the only one who didn’t throw up on the journey. It was the first place I ever saw men in thongs (hope I’ve got the right word – I’m not referring to shoes). Playing beach volleyball. Not a pretty sight, to be honest. It wasn’t a backpackers’ paradise, and perhaps for that reason I really enjoyed it – with a group of girlfriends, much the best way to travel.
(The book does get mention in the second entry.)
Backpackers I have met invariably had very little money and were looking for cheap places to stay in exotic countries where they felt they could live like locals and learn a lot. This resulted in very sick backpackers in airports with inadequate toilets. I am, of course, stereotyping here, but there’s lots of truth in the stereotype. Of course, I could just be jealous – I never could carry a backpack.
ReplyDeleteYou’re right, of course, Katie, there’s an inherent conflict in backpacking: should we think of backpackers as seeking paradise, where they stay until the society inevitably disintegrates when they resume the quest? A bit like medieval knights? Lancelot the original backpacker?
I digress. The book cannot be compared to “Lord of the Flies” which is brilliant. It’s about a group of public schoolboys stranded on a deserted island. It’s deeply distressing and depressing in its insights into human nature - it has a heft and depth that “The Beach” doesn’t begin to achieve. Nevertheless, I finished “The Beach” – it was serialized on the radio recently and I thought : “Nancy, what are you doing to me?” when I realised I was going to have to read it. But it is an interesting story: do we think Richard was beginning to lose it when Mister Duck appeared on the train from Bangkok? Or, given Jed saw Mr. Duck and Sal thought Richard looked like him, was there really a ghost? I couldn’t identify with any of the characters either, Katie, but I sympathised most with Étienne – a good man. Rather a lot of blood and gore, but I suppose that’s to be expected when Utopia is destroyed. Lots of novels about Utopia’s destruction: the perfect relationship destroyed; childhood ending; environment ruined . . . Camelot. Thomas Moore (according to Wikipedia) thought it was unobtainable. I prefer to think of a play we did as kids at school about the Bluebird of Happiness: continually alights and flies away.
I’m rambling, ladies, and it’s late at night here. Your patience will have been sorely tried by this long text, most of which has nothing to do with the book.
Love to you both
Hello Ladies,
ReplyDeleteI was really interested to read both of your reactions to this months novel. Sue, I’m so sorry it was a task for you, but cheers for soldiering through it.
I was pleased I read the interview with Alex Garland before I read this story, it helped me in some ways to see it in a better light. I found so much sarcasm as he seemed to be poking fun, very maliciously I know, at the superiority and elitism that sometimes enters the backpacker mentality. He also seems to have an intimate knowledge of the effects of too many drugs and I felt a lot of the bizarre behaviour and hallucinations can be ascribed to this.
I gave up trying to make logical sense of events and accepted perhaps this was a window into an extremely drug addled mind.
You discuss stereotyping Sue, it seems to me this novel is full of them. I’m not sure of Alex Garlands age when he wrote this but, it feels pretty young to me. I know he spent a lot of time in the Philippines so I felt the descriptions of the islands and the towns was pretty accurate.
Was Koh Samui like this Sue?
I have spent some time in Asia, never backpacking though, I was not adventurous enough and would probably have been one of those sick in the airports that you describe Sue.
I have done some backpacking in Europe many years ago and our little beachside town here has a very successful backpacker lodge running so I have a lot of exposure to these people. Now I’m older they seem mostly just fun loving young people out for an adventure. I must admit I have been known to stereotype them myself as the great unwashed.
As a young person amongst them I was very aware of the elitism I spoke of earlier, it seems there was a great need to be the coolest, most well travelled and most adventurous one. I actually believe that is one thing Garland captures so well in this novel and I love the irony that it was backpackers themselves who in there ignorance of his true purpose for this story turned this book into a cult classic.
Now on to important stuff.
Katie , you and Franklin have been in my thoughts so much these last few weeks. It is such an exciting time for you all. I’ve been recalling my own second pregnancy and birthing. We can compare notes next time, as your little one will be here by then. Gracie turned 22 in early February, just after she was born I wrote my labour with her and my feelings in the following days. On her birthday I gave this to her to read, she was amazed and so was I at all the things I had forgotten. It was wonderful for us to relive this together.
Sue, I’m so sorry to here Bill and Dorothy are not going so well. It is such a difficult thing for everyone to cope with. I feel for you and can only send my love and support and please remember my email if you need to vent to someone who knows what your going through.
love to you both,
Nancy x
ps Fried Green Tomatoes was mine !