Richard, the narrator and central character of this impressive first novel, is on
a ‘year-out’, travelling the well-worn year-out trails of South East Asia when
we meet him in a Bangkok hotel. His neighbour in the hotel Daffy is
apparently deranged and, sure enough, tops himself – but leaves directions to the
remote beach of the title for Richard to find. Intrigued by the prospect of
going somewhere still off the beaten track, Richard and his new-found
French chums Etienne and Francoise manage to find the beach where they
discover a new-ageish community of seasoned travellers living off the land
and smoking lots of dope from a nearby plantation. The community is already
a hotbed of interpersonal tension and the new arrivals find themselves adding
to it as the camp splits increasingly into the old guard against the new. And
none of this is helped by the fact that Richard himself has given away the
location of the island to some other travellers. As the threat of encroachment
from the outside world looms, Richard becomes increasingly disturbed by
fantasies of the Vietnam War and a series of violent episodes raises the
tension to breaking point.
This is a novel which promises a great deal, but never quite delivers in the
end. The individual relationships – between Richard and the beautiful
Francoise, between the various members of the community – and the sense of
spiralling insanity on Richard’s part, are sketched out brilliantly, giving the
best parts of the novel an edge of real menace and drawing the reader
completely, if temporarily, into the hermetic world the novel creates and
occupies. But it’s as if Garland, when it comes to it, is afraid to stick the boot
in where needed, as if he loves some of his characters rather more than they
deserve. The potentially explosive mix never detonates with the power
you would hope for. The author is only twenty-six, however, and that he
needs to learn ruthlessness is explicable and, given the many true qualities
this book has, almost forgivable.
Despite its flaws, The Beach is an engaging and interesting debut by an
author who shows enormous promise. A little more ice in his heart and he’ll
surely do great things.
Reviewed by Steven Kelly
