The Disaster Tourist by Yun Ko-eun, translated from Korean into English by Lizzie Buehler - analysis and review

 

Disclaimer: Monsta Reader is affiliated with bookshop.org and Waterstones and, if you should make a purchase through any of the links in this blog, I may earn a commission from the sellers, but this does not affect the cost to the consumer, and it does not influence the content of this blog.

The Disaster Tourist is something different. It is a thriller that takes in themes such as environmental activism, capitalism, dark tourism, being a woman in the world today, and the human reaction to disaster and tragedy.

Yona works for Jungle, a Seoul-based company that specialises in tours to disaster zones. It is Yona's job to take people's fascination and intrigue with disaster and turn it into something that can be sold back to them. Something quantifiable.

The whole novel is an exploration of how human beings manage and manipulate pain and tragedy, especially in the interests of making money. The company for which our protagonist works is itself sinister. Corruption and toxic elements of the company are mostly quietly accepted or ignored. And when Yona suffers sexual harassment at the hands of her boss, the matter is not explored and investigated, but manipulated to protect the interests of the company and the status quo. Yona herself manipulates the situation in her own mind, tries to convince herself that the event isn't what it was.

'I'm sorry, there's been a misunderstanding,' Yona replied nervously. 'Something unsavoury did happen to me, but I don't know if I'd call it sexual harassment. I think I misunderstood Mr Kim's intentions.'

- Chapter 1, Jungle, The Disaster Tourist, Yun Ko-eun

I think that this is a novel about how people manage their fears. Fears of death, pain, tragedy, and failure. Sometimes the characters in this book seek to manage their own fears and tragedies, in the interests of self preservation. Sometimes they seek to manage the fears and tragedies of others, so that they can exploit those disasters for themselves or to make money. But the managing and manipulating of these pains, rather than real attempts to heal, only lead to further pains.

This is a novel about many of the problems our world is facing today, and how we face them. Or not.

You can purchase The Disaster Tourist by Yun Ko-eun here.

Thank you for reading. You can support this blog with a coffee from ko-fi.com - the caffeine keeps me reading and reviewing! Thank you to all supporters!