The Disaster Tourist, Yun Koeun
The Disaster Tourist, Yun Koeun
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The Disaster Tourist
A Novel

Author: Yun Ko-eun, Lizzie Buehler

Narrator: Natalie Naudus

Unabridged: 5 hr 2 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/19/2020

Synopsis

An eco-thriller with a fierce feminist sensibility, The Disaster Tourist engages with the global dialog around climate activism, dark tourism, and the #MeToo movement.For ten years, Yona has been stuck behind a desk as a coordinator for Jungle, a travel company specializing in vacation packages to destinations devastated by disaster and climate change. Her work life is uneventful until trouble arises in the form of a predatory colleague.To forestall any disruption of business as usual, Jungle makes Yona a proposition: a paid “vacation” to the desert island of Mui. But Yona must pose as a tourist and assess whether Jungle should continue their partnership with the unprofitable destination.Yona travels to the remote island, whose major attraction is an underwhelming sinkhole, a huge disappointment to the customers who’ve paid a premium. Soon Yona discovers the resort’s plan to fabricate a catastrophe in the interest of regaining their good standing with Jungle—and the manager enlists Yona’s help. Yona must choose between the callous company to whom she’s dedicated her life or the possibility of a fresh start in a powerful new position. As she begins to understand the cost of the manufactured disaster, Yona realizes that the lives of Mui’s citizens are in danger—and so is she.

About Yun Ko-eun

Yun Ko-eun is the author of several novels and short story collections published in South Korea. She is a recipient of the Hankyoreh Literary Award, the Lee Hyo-seok Literary Award, and the Kim Yong-ik Literary Award. The Disaster Tourist is her second book to be published in English. She lives in Seoul, South Korea.

About Lizzie Buehler

Lizzie Buehler is a freelance Korean translator and editor at Asymptote, based in New York City. She grew up in Texas and studied comparative literature at Princeton University.

About Natalie Naudus

Natalie Naudus is one of the most beloved audiobook narrators working today and now author of her debut novel, Gay the Pray Away.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Cindy

Interesting concept that critiques the tourism industry and human damage to the environment, though I wish we got a deeper exploration.......more

Goodreads review by JimZ

Wow, I have to give Yun Ko-Eun at A+ for cleverness. Maybe somebody has thought this up, but I don’t think so: a tourist agency that centers itself on disasters. Mostly natural disasters like volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsuanamis. And you go there afterwards and survey the damage, talk to the locals......more

Goodreads review by Bionic Jean

“Disaster Tourism”. What do these two words mean to you? Perhaps you have not put them together in your mind before. But disaster tourism is not a new phenomenon. People have always been interested in gazing at post-disaster spaces, for a variety of motives, and the act of deliberately setting out to......more

Goodreads review by Emily

Despite it’s short length I didn’t fly through it as I would usually which means I probably didn’t enjoy it as much as other books. However it’s definitely a unique and original read. It’s also pretty though provoking, in regards to tourism and the environment.......more

Goodreads review by luce (cry baby)

| | blog | tumblr | ko-fi | | The Disaster Tourist doesn't tell a very memorable or engrossing story. If you've read the summary you know exactly what to expect from this book. We are introduced to Yona who is thirty-three and works as trip coordinator at Jungle, a travel company that specialises i......more

Quotes

"[An] entertaining eco-satire.” Asian Review of Books

“Lays bare the inherent inauthenticity of the tourist experience—especially those that purport to be beneficial, even humanitarian, for the local community.” Los Angeles Review of Books

“In this phenomenal book, Yun demonstrates how disaster tourism is a kind of theatre: people are ‘merchandise’, the reality tourists just ‘a shadow of reality.’" The Spectator (London)

“Yun’s late-capitalist satire makes the case that the identity we find through work is almost always shaped by how we have been exploited—or how we have exploited others.” The Atlantic

“This is an entertaining eco-thriller that sets out to illuminate the way climate change is inextricably bound up with the pressures of global capitalism.” The Guardian (London)

“This propulsive novel reads like a highly literary, ultra-incisive thriller.” Refinery29

“A witty, unsentimental, grimly believable story that neatly weaves together sharp critiques of capitalism, the heartlessness it rewards, and the poverty, environmental disasters, and misogyny it engenders.” BuzzFeed

“South Korean author Yun’s spare but provocative novel…cleverly combines absurdity with legitimate horror and mounting dread. With its arresting, nightmarish island scenario, this work speaks volumes about the human cost of tourism in developing countries.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A sharp sendup of society’s obsession with the next hot thing―and the steep toll it extracts on very real lives.” Kirkus Reviews

“Ko-Eun’s ecothriller skillfully explores the intertwined themes of tourism, livelihood, greed, and the value of human life. Booklist

Awards

  • Time Magazine Pick
  • InsideHook Pick
  • Publishers Weekly Pick
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