The Disaster Tourist

by Yun Ko-Eun | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 178816315X Global Overview for this book
Registered by wingshnedwardswing of Birmingham, West Midlands United Kingdom on 12/15/2021
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This book is in the wild! This Book is Currently in the Wild!
3 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by wingshnedwardswing from Birmingham, West Midlands United Kingdom on Wednesday, December 15, 2021
Blurb:
Yona is nearing burnout working for Jungle, a sinister Seoul-based company that specialises in tours to ecological disaster zones. When one of Yona's bosses sexually harasses her, the company tries to bribe Yona with a free tour to Mui, an island off the coast of Vietnam known for its giant sinkhole. But she becomes trapped on the island and stumbles upon a discovery that puts her in grave danger.
My review:
A discomfiting book, both for its creeping sense of unease and for its representation of the negative effects of tourism.

Journal Entry 2 by wingshnedwardswing at RABCK, A Bookcrossing member -- Controlled Releases on Thursday, February 3, 2022

Released 2 yrs ago (2/3/2022 UTC) at RABCK, A Bookcrossing member -- Controlled Releases

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

On its way to echode by Economy Mail.

Journal Entry 3 by wingechodewing at Seattle, Washington USA on Friday, February 18, 2022
Arrived safely. Yay, thank you shnedwards for offering this up! You had me at discomfiting and unease. lol
(and the book featured on the included postcard is now on my wishlist)

Journal Entry 4 by wingechodewing at Seattle, Washington USA on Tuesday, April 5, 2022
A quick & darkly fun read, which slowly lost its fun as it went. It's the disaster of tourists that makes the wacky plot almost believable. Definitely making me rethink my all-inclusive trip to the Maldives this year (not my usual style).

Will be sending this to a fellow Bookcrosser as it's on her wishlist...

Journal Entry 5 by wingGoryDetailswing at Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Monday, April 11, 2022
The books arrived safely today, along with the postcard and the cute little bookmark sticky-tabs (I love those things and use a LOT of them!). Thanks so much for this wishlist book!

Later: Given that I do like to read about disasters, I was perhaps a bit more intrigued by the descriptions of the disaster tours than I should have been {wry grin} - though the idea of a "Theme Park Chernobyl" is certainly not a new idea. Ancient disasters seem a bit less fraught; I would love to visit Pompeii and Herculaneum, for example, but not the site of the Phuket tsunami. But the book does offer hints of "tourism as a source of money for disaster relief," which would certainly be more helpful to the survivors of recent disasters - though probably best to donate without requiring the locals to re-enact the nightmare.

Anyway, that was the setup. But once Yona started getting harrassed by her boss and then forced into what she expected to be her last mission before being fired, the story had more of the real-world-nightmare quality than any major disaster. Few of us will lose our homes to sinkholes or volcanoes, but most of us might face abusive bosses, disappearing jobs, and stolen identification and money. Oh, and when she winds up separated from her tour group by a randomly-dividing train - that's one of my personal nightmares, missing a connection and being stuck with no way to get back.

From there the rest of the story, as increasingly weird and dystopian as it got, didn't seem as frightening to me as what led up to it. Indeed, it was so over-the-top that it felt more like something Yona might have imagined while recovering from prolonged stress and dehydration.

So: points for concept, and for some truly unnerving incidents leading up to our heroine's being trapped in Disaster-ville, but for me it faded at the finish.

Journal Entry 6 by wingGoryDetailswing at Little Free Library, Calla St. in Providence, Rhode Island USA on Thursday, April 28, 2022

Released 1 yr ago (4/28/2022 UTC) at Little Free Library, Calla St. in Providence, Rhode Island USA

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Guidelines for safely visiting and stocking Little Free Libraries during the COVID-19 pandemic, from the LFL site here.

I left this book in this new-to-me Little Free Library on this bright, windy day, while on a day trip to Providence with a friend. Hope someone enjoys the book!

[See other recent releases in RI here.]

** Released for the 2022 April Showers/May Flowers challenge. **

** Released for the Keep Them Moving challenge. **

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