I had not heard of Yun Ko-eun, a Korean writer, and possibly would never have done so, had her book ‘The Disaster Tourist’ not been scheduled for this month’s local reading group. Thankfully there is an English version, and I was quite looking forward to reading it. The front cover makes it look fairly light-hearted, the book has won some prizes, and there are several good endorsements on the cover and first pages. It’s quoted as being a dark, satirical ‘comic caper’, with some ‘horror comedy’ (which seems like an oxymoron). So I was intrigued.
It starts well, introducing a young woman called Yona who works for a travel agency. She’s clearly good at what she does, but the holidays she and her colleagues plan are not typical get-aways in the sunshine. Instead they specialise in ‘disaster tourism’ - sending people to see places where disasters have struck.
There are hundreds of these breaks available, to areas hit by tsunamis, or earthquakes or worse… all rather morbid but it’s a clever idea. And apparently people flock to these places, finding an odd kind of enjoyment in other people’s disasters. It’s explained that they experience shock, sympathy and eventually a kind of relief that they can return to their nice homes, newly thankful for what they have. And some of them have, built into the schedules, opportunities to do something to help those who are suffering.
The book takes an unpleasant turn when Yona’s boss starts assaulting her, and becomes worse when she finds that reporting it will do nothing other than, potentially, make her lose her job. So she decides to quit, but instead is offered a free break at one of the company’s locations, to do a kind of review and see if it’s worth continuing.
All of which, while bizarre, is fine as a premise for the book, as are Yona’s impressions of the place she goes to, and the people’s she’s travelling with. It’s clear that the place she’s visiting isn’t as popular as it once was.. It’s not until later in the book that she starts to discover why, and is then inveigled into helping with a horrendous plot to create new disasters that will attract a fresh load of tourists.
About half way through the book ceases being light-hearted - I never did discover any humour. Yona witnesses something appalling - I actually read it through twice as I thought I must have misunderstood at first, it was so horrendous. And from then on, it gets worse. I have no idea why anyone would find anything remotely amusing in the latter part of the book. Suspense rises, reality is suspended, and it becomes more and more horrific.
As a novel to raise awareness of disaster-ridden areas, it didn’t really help as it was shown that most of the supposedly suffering people were actually just fine when there were no tourists watching them. Some reviews say that the whole book is an attack on capitalism, and the way wealthy people exploit the poor, and that’s certainly shown in the cold-blooded companies that run the holidays and the ‘resort’. But I don’t even understand the mindset of people who would want to go to scenes of disasters for a holiday - the idea made me quite uncomfortable.
It will be interesting to see what other members of the reading group think - I see there are many positive reviews of this book on several sites. But personally I thought it disturbing and depressing, and would not recommend it at all.
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