BootsnAll Travel Community

Hi, gangs!

Like LondonCard said to me, I'm a real beach fanatic. It seems to be, everytime I quote anything from "The Beach," (either the movie or the book), a lot of folks seem to love it. So I thought I'll throw out the collection of my favorites from the book, movie, and the soundtrack. If you've got anything else you'd like to add, please do so.

When Richard was smuggling dope into India:

quote:

I don't know why I did it. I knew it was a fantastically stupid thing to do, but I went right ahead and did it anyway. I simply needed to tell someone what I was doing.

I shared this quote in another thread before:

quote:

A few years ago, I was going through the process of splitting up with my first serious girlfriend. She went away to Greece for the summer and when she came back she'd had a holiday romance with some Belgian guy. As if that wasn't bad enough, it seemed that the guy in question was going to show up in London sometime over the next few weeks. After three hellish days and nights, I realized that I was dangerously close to losing my head. I biked over to my dad's flat and emotionally blackmailed him into lending me enough cash to leave the country. On that trip I learned something very important. Escape through travel works. Almost from the moment I boarded my flight, life in England became meaningless. Seat belt signs lit up, problems switched off. Broken armrets took precedence over broken hearts. By the time the plane was airborne I'd forgotten England even existed.

quote:

I don't keep a travel diary. I did keep a travel diary once, and it was a big mistake. All I remember of that trip is what I bothered to write down. Everything else slipped away, as if my mind flet jilted by my reliance on pen and paper. For exactly the same reason, I don't travel with my camera. My holiday becomes the snapshots, and anything I forget to record is lost. Apart from that, photographs never see to be very evocative. When I look through the albums of old traveling companions I'm always surprized by how little I'm reminded of the trip. If only there was a camera that captured smell. Smells are far more vivid than images. I've often been walking in London on a hot day, caught the smell of hot refuse or melting tarmac, and suddenly been trasorted to a Delhi side street. Likewise, if I'm walking past a fishmonger I think instantly of Unhygienix, and if I smell sweat and cut grass (the lawn kind) I think of Keaty.

quote:

"It's a beach resort."
I frowned. "A beach resort?"
"A place to come to for vacations."
I frowned harder. By the look in Sal's eyes, I could see she found my expression amusing.
"Holidays?" I tried to say, but the word caught in my throat. It seemed so belitting. I had ambiguous feelings about the differences between tourist and travelers--the problem being that the more I travelled, the smaller the differences became. But the one difference I could still latch onto was that tourists went on holidays while travelers did something else. They traveled.

I also shared this quote from the movie:

quote:

So I never refuse an invitation, never be afraid of the unfamiliar, never fail to be polite, and never outstay the welcome. Just leave your mind open and suck in the experience. And if it hurts, you know what...? ...It's probably worth it.

From the soundtrack, the song called "Brutal" by new order:

quote:

I'm a shallow man in an hollow land
On a beaten track under your command
And the sound in my head goes round and round
Like a drunk on the stairs who just fell down
But now it seems like a distant dream
When it all lived long
Wrong with our love supreme
And the sound in my head goes round and round
Like a drunk on the stairs who just fell down

...Can anybody tell Richard is my hero?

Thank you for your patience if you've read this to the end!

Nic

P.S. Richard was born in 1974. The same year I was born...

It wasn't me, honest! Actually, maybe it was!

There's certainly some great quotes from both mnovie and book. For me they are two different stories, almost two entirely different texts and personally I dont think you should approach the film thinking its based on the book. They are two different entities, each with its own gems!

I know you were looking for that traveller/tourist quote for quite some time...I'm glad you found it! the more I read it the more honest it sounds and the more the meaning seems to change. I guess sometimes it can feel the way he describes in that quote, yet at other times you can see glaring differences (I know there are a hundred different thrads on the traveller/toursi subject so i'll levae it there).

Its defiantely one of those books that you want to read again and again and the moreI read it the more I see little things I didnt note first tiem round - Or maybe its because I've been to a few more places and done a few more things?

Maybe when I turn up in Thailand next year I'll understand even more! I'll have my own experiences, highs and lows and my own story to tell. Where my story begins or ends is yet unwritten but one thing is for vcertain.... I'm looking forward to writing it!

I just picked up "The Beach" and am about to read it to escape from this blustery, snowy Virginia day. Any themes or symbols I should look out for and remember? (Yes, yes, this is an English major posting.)
I can't wait to dive in.

Not sure what to tell you, Tadhoo, since there were so much I could "relate," rather than trying to figure out "which means what." Perhaps you can find it out yourself and let us know? 'Cuz I'd love to hear.

Nic

Nic,
I will certainly follow up.
***daydreaming of the beach right now***

Picked up The Beach last week and started in on it, on a trip over the weekend. So far, it's cool...please don't anybody give away what happens . Thanks for pointing me to this!

I finished the book in one evening. Now I feel a little silly because now I finally know what "Backpacking at the 'Beach' " means. Engaging book. I have not seen the movie, but I don't see how such a cast of characters and interaction can be simplified to 2 hours.

well goddamit. ive wanted to see this movie a 2nd time sicne i first saw it last summer and i keep putting it off but i think tonights the night kids.
zopa

It's a great book, one of my favourites in fact and in a lot of ways it inspired me to travel to Thailand.

I just finished reading The Beach for a second time last week (first time was back in '96) and I thoroughly enjoyed it this time too. It's funny but although it's the same book it felt like a completely different story, I guess being a little older and a little wiser does that to you.

Just wondered if anyone else felt the same way?

Smuggs

I know I really want to go to Thailand now. Really.

I'm barely into it..maybe 100 pages or so, they're about to make the first rice run (the first one we read about in the story). Can I ask a favor of the readers of this post? Can we PLEEEEEZ not divulge the contents of the story---I'd love to get thru the rest of this without knowing what's around the next bend, what's on the next page . Thanks in advance! So, when are we going to Thailand???

OK...just finished reading it. Wow. I don't think I'll rent the DVD...I'm just not seeing how they could condense and capture it all in a 2 hour movie...am I being too pessimistic? It does seem like the kind of thing I could pick up again in a couple of years and feel like I'm reading it again for the first time.
Are all of Alex Garland's reads this good?

Well, I still recommend you to watch the movie. It's modified a lot but still worth it I think.

Nic

The movie was enjoyable I thought... but I felt that Richard in the movie was more of a smarmy spoiled brat than in the book.