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nicoleava's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Our protagonist designs vacation package itineraries for a unique subset of destination - places struck by disaster. This book struck an immense chord with me. I am reminded of my unfortunate brushes with people who engage in voluntourism, and it's uglier cousin "mission trips". Being southern comes with many cultural quirks, good and bad, and the proliferation of "missionaries" is one of the bad. Cultural imperialism and conditional aid serve none but the proselytizer.
This novel, however, stretches beyond that which I find immediately personal and recognizable. It is unflinching look at gawkers.
"On a disaster trip, travellers’ reactions to their surroundings usually went through the following stages: shock → sympathy and compassion, and maybe discomfort → gratefulness for their own lives → a sense of responsibility and the feeling that they’d learned a lesson, and maybe an inkling of superiority for having survived. [...] Even though I came close to disaster, I escaped unscathed: those were the selfish words of solace you told yourself after returning home."
Jungle, the travel company our protagonist works for, has categories of trip for basically every type of natural disaster - but also things like murder, violence, and other human-initiated disaster. It is a disturbing concept, idly referenced at times, including Nagasaki.
My father has actually been to Hiroshima, in the midst of a month long trip he was sent on by work. He visited many places, due to the convenience of bullet train. Going to see a site where disaster struck isn't inherently distasteful. A trip like that is juxtaposed with the description of a trip to Japan in this novel - with the sole intention of touring the post-nuclear horrors of Nagasaki.
Essentially, I mean that travel is complicated. There's nothing wrong with, say, taking a murder or ghost tour in a large city you may be visiting. But perhaps there is something distasteful about travel designed for rubbernecking.
This novel also has a lot to say about the stifling grasp of capitalism:
"Man 20 had volunteered because, like so many others, he needed money more than he needed life."
This is an undeniable reality. A disgusting reality that is as hard to look at as some of Jungle's destinations. And yet, the disaster tourists don't appear to be interested in that facet of cataclysm, that shadow that follows forever after.
"Small actions like looking for your coat or grabbing your bag, like saving the data on your laptop or pressing buttons on your phone: they divided the living and the dead."
As of writing this review, footage of a police officer looking at his phone while lives were lost is in the news. I lost my breath when I read this sentence. I will think about it for a very long time.
I feel inclined, after a comment by my husband, to check out Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. This book fits hand in hand with the concept.
This novel, however, stretches beyond that which I find immediately personal and recognizable. It is unflinching look at gawkers.
"On a disaster trip, travellers’ reactions to their surroundings usually went through the following stages: shock → sympathy and compassion, and maybe discomfort → gratefulness for their own lives → a sense of responsibility and the feeling that they’d learned a lesson, and maybe an inkling of superiority for having survived. [...] Even though I came close to disaster, I escaped unscathed: those were the selfish words of solace you told yourself after returning home."
Jungle, the travel company our protagonist works for, has categories of trip for basically every type of natural disaster - but also things like murder, violence, and other human-initiated disaster. It is a disturbing concept, idly referenced at times, including Nagasaki.
My father has actually been to Hiroshima, in the midst of a month long trip he was sent on by work. He visited many places, due to the convenience of bullet train. Going to see a site where disaster struck isn't inherently distasteful. A trip like that is juxtaposed with the description of a trip to Japan in this novel - with the sole intention of touring the post-nuclear horrors of Nagasaki.
Essentially, I mean that travel is complicated. There's nothing wrong with, say, taking a murder or ghost tour in a large city you may be visiting. But perhaps there is something distasteful about travel designed for rubbernecking.
This novel also has a lot to say about the stifling grasp of capitalism:
"Man 20 had volunteered because, like so many others, he needed money more than he needed life."
This is an undeniable reality. A disgusting reality that is as hard to look at as some of Jungle's destinations. And yet, the disaster tourists don't appear to be interested in that facet of cataclysm, that shadow that follows forever after.
"Small actions like looking for your coat or grabbing your bag, like saving the data on your laptop or pressing buttons on your phone: they divided the living and the dead."
As of writing this review, footage of a police officer looking at his phone while lives were lost is in the news. I lost my breath when I read this sentence. I will think about it for a very long time.
I feel inclined, after a comment by my husband, to check out Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. This book fits hand in hand with the concept.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Car accident, and Sexual harassment
xx_coco's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Violence, and Gaslighting
Minor: Animal death, Child death, Cannibalism, Car accident, and Sexual harassment
kieranyes's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, and Car accident
Moderate: Genocide and Abandonment
heypretty52's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny and Gaslighting
Moderate: Death, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Violence, Car accident, and Murder
hauntedvamphotel's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Death and Car accident
writtenontheflyleaves's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
The Disaster Tourist by Yun Ko-eun 💣
🌟🌟🌟✨
🏖️ The plot: Yona Ko is a programme designer at Jungle, a tourism agency for people who want to visit disaster sites. Every day she sifts through the worst news the world has to offer to put together travel packages. Burnt out by her job and by sexual harassment from her boss, she accepts the chance to go on a trip herself to Mui, a small island that was the site of a massacre in the 1960s. But when a minor disaster of her own causes her to overstay her original itinerary, Yona realises there could be a bigger one on the horizon...
The Disaster Tourist is a novel that is very interested in the idea of responsibility and the individual versus the collective. Yona is an isolated character at the beginning, committed to the collective security of the company she works for and unable to break rank, even when it appears that her employer is turning on her. This only intensifies as she gets stranded in Mui, but eventually Yona realises how dangerous following orders can be, how little safety it earns you from a higher authority that sees you only as a resource. I really felt the bind Yona was in throughout, how scary it is to strike out individually or take responsibility for your actions when so much of your life relies on the system you're rejecting.
That said, I found this a really odd read! The first half of the novel felt like a report of a pretty crap holiday, and it wasn't until things started to unravel halfway through that I was really hooked. I think this must have been a tough one to translate, so I wonder if the matter-of-fact prose was partly the issue? Overall I found this very thought-provoking and quite well-crafted by the end, but not super readable!
🏖️ Read it if you like novels that explore the way work culture affects the broader themes of our lives, and novels that definitely don't romanticise travel. This is a pretty cynical book!
🚫 Avoid it if you're not feeling in the mood for a nihilistic novel! This book does not have a happy ending!!
🌟🌟🌟✨
🏖️ The plot: Yona Ko is a programme designer at Jungle, a tourism agency for people who want to visit disaster sites. Every day she sifts through the worst news the world has to offer to put together travel packages. Burnt out by her job and by sexual harassment from her boss, she accepts the chance to go on a trip herself to Mui, a small island that was the site of a massacre in the 1960s. But when a minor disaster of her own causes her to overstay her original itinerary, Yona realises there could be a bigger one on the horizon...
The Disaster Tourist is a novel that is very interested in the idea of responsibility and the individual versus the collective. Yona is an isolated character at the beginning, committed to the collective security of the company she works for and unable to break rank, even when it appears that her employer is turning on her. This only intensifies as she gets stranded in Mui, but eventually Yona realises how dangerous following orders can be, how little safety it earns you from a higher authority that sees you only as a resource. I really felt the bind Yona was in throughout, how scary it is to strike out individually or take responsibility for your actions when so much of your life relies on the system you're rejecting.
That said, I found this a really odd read! The first half of the novel felt like a report of a pretty crap holiday, and it wasn't until things started to unravel halfway through that I was really hooked. I think this must have been a tough one to translate, so I wonder if the matter-of-fact prose was partly the issue? Overall I found this very thought-provoking and quite well-crafted by the end, but not super readable!
🏖️ Read it if you like novels that explore the way work culture affects the broader themes of our lives, and novels that definitely don't romanticise travel. This is a pretty cynical book!
🚫 Avoid it if you're not feeling in the mood for a nihilistic novel! This book does not have a happy ending!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Car accident, and Murder
Minor: Child death and Death of parent
julseygirl's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
80 pages in and I thought I was never going to make it to the end of this book. It was very mundane. The last half of this book punched me in the face and I’m still reeling. And the punches just kept coming, twist after twist after twist. I could have never told you how this book was going to end, but I enjoyed it immensely. It was thought-provoking, it was engaging, and it shocked me to my core. Please pick this book up!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Car accident, and Classism
Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
reimrichter's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Car accident
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment
rain_bellin's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Car accident, Murder, and Sexual harassment
secrethistory's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This was a really fascinating book that on its surface level is very much about tourism and its impact on the people who live in these destinations, but is really so much more. I would highly recommend it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Car accident
Moderate: Sexual harassment