The Disaster Tourist

The Disaster Tourist by Yun Ko-eun was written in South Korea and recently translated into English. The story is about Yona Ko, an employee at Jungle, a travel agency. Jungle provides travel combined with service to places with disasters such as floods, earthquakes, war, disease, or fires. I have known people who have gone on mission trips to Mexico or Israel or India to work and to see the country. Many people travel to Pompeii to see a city ruined by a volcano. Yona Ko has worked at the Jungle for ten years planning trips, researching new trips and handling customer service calls. When her supervisor starts to sexually harass her she resigns. Her supervisor doesn't accept her resignation but instead sends her on an all expense paid trip to Mui to determine of Jungle should continue to plan trips there. Mui is an island off the coast of Vietnam. The disaster Mui is known for is a sink hole in the desert. Tourists come to see the sinkhole and to dig a well for the village. Yona sees the sinkhole and is less than impressed. Her opinion is that Jungle should cancel all future trips to Mui. From here the novel takes a thrilling turn and I don't want to spoil it for you. Since I can't travel due to Covid, I find pleasure in reading about travel. This book makes me think twice about my past travels. Have I ever traveled to witness a disaster? I guess I did go to the ghetto in Poland and some war museums in London, Warsaw, Pensacola, and Athens. This book has provoked me to think more about why I want to travel.