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Steven Godin's Reviews > The Beach
The Beach
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Not to sound like someone who doesn't like the sun, or appreciate jaw dropping scenery, but I'd rather spend my time in Oslo in the middle of winter than sweat myself to death in the sticky heat of Thailand. I'm not one of those people who so wanted to be Richard after reading the novel or watching the movie. My idea of paradise isn't anywhere near that beach. I don't even like beaches. Not that I want to find myself in that part of the world again, but I'd be more enthusiastic about exploring a cave system and fighting off bats that I would be sitting or lying on sand. Anything to stop me having to rub sun lotion in every five minutes. The reason I thought I'd read this is because over lockdown, with so much time on my hands, I've been having something of a 90s revival. Mostly music. I went through some of my fave albums from the 90s, some of which I hadn't heard in more than a decade, and compiled a huge playlist that had me thinking of such great times for me back then. I thought, why not read some British novels from the 90s too. Ones I never got to read back then. The likes of Trainspotting & High Fidelity were two. Now The Beach. I wasn't really a fan of Richard in the movie and here I disliked him even more. The best parts of the novel for me were when the island commune of international drifters came into it, their nutcase of a leader, and the rivalries and chaos that occurred thereafter. As first novels go I've read worse, and Garland does capture the late-90s zeitgeist really well, but I won't be dreaming about that beach tonight, or any other night for that matter. Françoise, or all that weed, maybe, but not that beach.
by
Not to sound like someone who doesn't like the sun, or appreciate jaw dropping scenery, but I'd rather spend my time in Oslo in the middle of winter than sweat myself to death in the sticky heat of Thailand. I'm not one of those people who so wanted to be Richard after reading the novel or watching the movie. My idea of paradise isn't anywhere near that beach. I don't even like beaches. Not that I want to find myself in that part of the world again, but I'd be more enthusiastic about exploring a cave system and fighting off bats that I would be sitting or lying on sand. Anything to stop me having to rub sun lotion in every five minutes. The reason I thought I'd read this is because over lockdown, with so much time on my hands, I've been having something of a 90s revival. Mostly music. I went through some of my fave albums from the 90s, some of which I hadn't heard in more than a decade, and compiled a huge playlist that had me thinking of such great times for me back then. I thought, why not read some British novels from the 90s too. Ones I never got to read back then. The likes of Trainspotting & High Fidelity were two. Now The Beach. I wasn't really a fan of Richard in the movie and here I disliked him even more. The best parts of the novel for me were when the island commune of international drifters came into it, their nutcase of a leader, and the rivalries and chaos that occurred thereafter. As first novels go I've read worse, and Garland does capture the late-90s zeitgeist really well, but I won't be dreaming about that beach tonight, or any other night for that matter. Françoise, or all that weed, maybe, but not that beach.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
December 26, 2020
– Shelved
December 26, 2020
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Finished Reading
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To be honest, your nineties play list sounds far more exciting than whatever beach, Steven, wonderful you took so much pleasure from listening to your albums and making the list. I somehow keep mixing this one up with 'Are you experienced' from William Sutcliffe but that probably was published much later.
Ilse wrote: "To be honest, your nineties play list sounds far more exciting than whatever beach, Steven, wonderful you took so much pleasure from listening to your albums and making the list. I somehow keep mix..."My play lists has kept me busy over these hard times, Ilse. Books too, of course. And I don't know where I would have been without Muriel Spark this last few months. She's great!
Fede wrote: "I read this in my late teens and didn't enjoy it very much, either. There's something sleepy about the protagonists, a comatose passivity that isn't even deliberate, as opposed to B.E.Ellis' charac..."I wish Catherine Tramell had been on the island, seduced Richard, and pulled out that ice pick! With all that heat it also would have been the perfect excuse to go commando!
Yes, that was sad news. Again it takes me back to the 90s. My favourite decade when it comes to fashion and models.
Steven wrote: "Fede wrote: "I read this in my late teens and didn't enjoy it very much, either. There's something sleepy about the protagonists, a comatose passivity that isn't even deliberate, as opposed to B.E...."Ha! Catherine would have turned that bunch of zombies into cat food.
Ditto. Aesthetically speaking, I'll always be in love with the oh so infamous 90s H chic of Davide Sorrenti and Corinne Day. Moss, Tennant, Jaime King and Amber Valletta weren't simply models: they were the visual representations of their time, whereas the 'healthy' faces of Schiffer or Crawford were totally self-referential.
By the way, the death of Stella Tennant left me speechless. She was my third favourite model, after Moss and Turlington.