karenika - books - the beach

The Beach

Unusually for me, I kept my eyes shut as I swam, feeling my way along the cave roof with outstretched hands and only using my legs for propulsion. I guessed that each kick made a meter and carefully counted my strokes to give me a sense of distance. After I'd counter ten I began to feel worried. An ache was building in my lungs and Jed had been adamant that the underwater passage was no more than a forty-second swim. At fifteen, I realized I had to make a decision about whether to turn back. I gave myself a limit of three more kicks; then my fingertips broke surface.

I knew there was something wrong as soon as I took a breath. The air was foul. So bad that even though I was bursting for oxygen, I could only manage short breaths before I started gagging. Instinctively, pointlessly, I looked around me, but the absence of light was so absolute that I couldn't see my fingers an inch from my face.

"Jed!" I called.

Not even an echo.

I reached up and my hand sank deep into something wet, with freezing tendrils that clung to my skin. A jolt of adrenaline rushed through my body and I snatched my hand back.

'It's seaweed,' I whispered after my heart had stopped smashing into my eardrums. Seaweed, coating the rock, absorbing the noise.
I gagged again. Then I retched, pushing up a mouthful of vomit.

'Jed...'"

Another weird thing about this book is that when I was in Japan, I ran into another version of the same book in English but when I flipped though it, there were many changes in the book. For example, the name they call each night before they go to bed had been changed. I think it's so odd that between the English and the American editions of a book, the publishers decide to change details, even titles. "Otherwise Engaged" had a totally different title in the British version. So did, "Smilla's Sense of Snow". That one was called "Miss Smilla's Feeling of the Snow." So very odd.

I grabbed this book way before the famous Leonardo DiCaprio got cast to act in the movie. Even without his acting, The Beach was bad. The story has such promise but the writer does nothing with it, especially the ending. It seems to me that he didn't know how to end the story, so he just finished it off in the most stupid possible manner. And while the movie had some nice shots, it also was pointless. Anyhow, here's a passage from the book.