The Disaster Tourist: A Novel

A very unusual story, an interesting concept, holiday to a disaster area. What happens when the disaster becomes old news? Perhaps someone can ‘plan’ a ‘natural’ disaster to get tourists to come.....exploiting vulnerable and poor in remote areas, island etc....a scary thought!

not what i expected, but very good!

I liked the premise of this novel, but I wasn't crazy about the execution -- the book had some trouble getting out of its own way. The first half was a lot better than the second, for me, and that was also when some typographical errors entered the picture. Not so long that it was a complete waste of time, but not all that great, either.

A bright and horrifying reflection of this modern society's values. Reads like science fiction with a love story for redemption.

I really liked this book. I was expecting something more USA-style, like a thriller. Instead, I got a slow, thoughtful treatise on the loneliness and alienation of defining yourself by your career. A piece on the morality of the worth of a human life.If it had been longer, I think it may have bored me (and that's on me). By all rights, it should have been boring, but it wasn't. I'm very glad this book was translated into English.

I bought this book as a result of a stellar prepublication review. It promised a lot - it delivered very little. The novel is set in some unidentified future in Korea, where disaster tourism is the latest fashion. Yona is working in such a tourist company, where she plans new itineraries in recent disaster zones. She is overworked, sexually abused by her supervisor and expects to be fired soon. Instead, she is sent on an organized trip to review a disaster destination - an island in the vicinity of Vietnam.On the way back, Yona gets separated from her group and ends up back on the island only to realize that disaster tourism can have disastrous consequences for the chosen destination and its inhabitants.The idea of the book is not bad - but, it is really badly written, or maybe translated, I could not say. The sentence structure is just horrible. The plot is not great either. A lot of time is spent at the beginning to describe the (evil) company Yona works for, but afterwards the company fades into non-existence and its relevance for the future development is completely unclear. Instead, a new (evil) company ressurges, but its role remains unclear as well.It remains unclear whether Yona's return to the island was a mishap, or a planned event (by the first or second evil company). Her love relation on the island is completely undeveloped. We never learn much about any of the local people she meets there, except for some morsels. People appear for half a page, only to be killed several pages later. The ending is underwhelming - the final catastrophe is announced in advance and one is left asking oneself "so what?"Finally, Yona's character is rather static and passive. At no point does she show any particular initiative. She bears the sexual harassment, because she is told to. She writes a disaster itinerary as instructed. Yes, she explores the island, but nothing much comes of it. She does not inform anyone of the strange things she sees. She does not protest or revolt against the monstrosities. The only ray of light is when she realizes that her lover might be in danger - even then, she cares for him and not for the local population in general. She is completely unremarkable both in life an in death.All this being said, I finished the book, so I am giving it 2 stars.

I liked the initial premise but thought the book fell flat. While I like the idea of suspending reality, too much of this didn’t connect in a way I could get into it. The relationships for instance were too far off, and not sufficiently developed to make sense. Also hated the ending as there was no sense of what would have happened next. It would have been good to have tied this back to the tour company in some way.

THE DISASTER TOURIST revolves around Yona, a top programming coordinator who works at Jungle, a travel company specialized in vacation packages to disaster zones, molding them into attractive travel destinations. After being sexually assaulted by her boss, she is forced to take a month's break from her job and she goes on a paid trip to one of the company's destination as a customer to evaluate their in-transition travel program.This story was both refreshing and infuriating. Going beneath the superficial level, it was very eye-opening to learn about the dark side of tourism. While in Mui island after a series of unfortunate events, Yona witnesses all the manipulation of media and disaster in order to achieve the results required. Ko-eun leads us to meditate on our concept of tourism - our incessant demand for exotic and adventures, often at the expense of people and region's safety. One is intuitively drawn to disasters as though one needed a minimum of drama to stay out of boredom and be empathized with. Beyond the beautiful appearance, there are local residents whose living standard doesn't improve and in addition, have to live with certain restrictions. I found the ending surprisingly smart and poignant.With compelling prose and satirical take, THE DISASTER TOURIST is a thought-provoking novel that, in spite of its short length, allows us to have critical lens about tourism and the unpleasant side of capitalism, as well as a deep look into the environment. The themes explored are unlike anything I have ever read and I do recommend this unique read![ I received a complimentary copy from the publisher - Counterpoint press - in exchange for an honest review ]

The premise was very enticing, but I found the characters flat and unappealing.The humour was dark satire but the writing was choppy - with the prose heavy in some sections and light in another. Not sure if it was the translation or the original that was so uneven.

Der Roman hat einige interessante Ideen, aber man merkt, das die Autorin zuvor nur Kurzgeschichten geschrieben hat. Der Roman ist selbst ziemlich kurz und ich finde, er versprüht nicht das gleiche Gefühl wie sonstige Weltliteratur.Es werden einige Themen angesprochen, die wohl auch der Grund sind, für dessen Auszeichnungen. Es wird auch viel Interpretationsspielraum gelassen. Aber ich finde, die Figuren sind nicht so greifbar.

This is a clever tale, a parable of the effects of modern tourism.Yona Ko works as for an organization called Jungle who specialize in trips to disaster zones. Sent to review a holiday package in Mui, Vietnam, she finds herself in the middle of her own disaster.Mui does exist and many of the features of the resort can be found extolled on Trip Advisor. The concept of adventure holidays to dangerous places is also well established, though Mui is not like that and quite different from the island in this novel.On the fictional Mui Yoko is pulled into a dark world. The reader wonders with Yoko what exactly is happening. The strangeness of the place and situation is emphasised by the anonymity of characters – the writer, the teacher, the manager, man 27, woman 63. The author uses other neat tricks to make this a holiday from hell or perhaps to hell. Yona getting away from it all cannot escape.The Disaster Tourist is not going to have a wide appeal – it is not an airport novel! But as a critical look at modern tourism its dystopian imaginings have point and relevance. Especially at a time when the skies are eerily quiet and the cruise liners float emply.

This book had good pedigree in terms of awards & reviews. Nothing especially wrong with it but a bit boring, not a lot happened and just drifted along. A very forgettable read.

It was not as exciting as I’d hoped.