WHO HAS NEVER DREAMED OF ...
... living on an island with sandy beaches, undiscovered nature and incomparable beauty?
An island like the one of Robinson Crusoe, but with all the achievements of modern society.
This dream is what takes Richard - the hero of this novel - to Thailand. There the legend of an island exists on which a selected community lives in blissful innocence. In Bangkok, he checks in at a backpackers' hotel, where he meets Etienne and Francoise, a French couple.
During his first night, he has a conversation with the skinny drug addict from the room above his own. He seems to know THE BEACH, but to Richard he looks just crazy and stoned. The next day Richard finds a hand-drawn map of the Gulf of Thailand taped to his bedroom door. A black X marks one of the many islands and there the map says "beach". So he found what he was looking for?
He is not sure and there are other questions to be answered. Where did this map come from? Who taped it to his door? And why? The only person Richard can think of is the drug addict he talked to the night before. But as he goes to visit him, he finds his door unlocked and gets no answer. As he steps in, he finds the guy covered from head to toe in his own blood. The knife in his hand and his open wrists prove that he committed suicide.
During the interrogation by the police he does not mention the map because he does not want to get involved in a police investigation in a foreign country. Together with Etienne and Francoise he decides to search for the beach. On their way to one of the islands near the beach, they meet two Americans who also know the legend.
They decide not to tell them about their map, but on the day they leave this island Richard gives them a copy. Which is a very dangerous move for Richard and many others ...
I think this book really expresses man's search for adventure in our modern civilisation. It is well written and just the right book for whoever likes Robinson Crusoe or similar stories about voyages.
Maximilian Frötschl / LK Englisch 2001