The Dark Tourist: Sightseeing in the World's Most Unlikely Holiday Destinations

This is an interesting ideas for a book. Dom Joly goes to 6 different countries across the world that have "dark" connotations. In some it is to go to a place where something terrible happened (assassination in the US, Chernobyl, the Killing Fields in Cambodia). In others it is to travel to a country that is under an oppressive regime (Iran & North Korea fit here) in order to explore a country that is closed or restricted in some way. All of which is to take a trip off the package holiday tour destinations.
I'm aware of Dom Joly, but have not watched any of his work and so came into this with no expectations of a style that this would be presented in. There are some wry asides and comic moments, but it is not a comedic book, and I feel show more that is intentional. At times he gets himself into a mess of his own making. The dual passport intrigued me, but taking the "wrong one" and then having to explain to US immigration why he had an Iranian stamp was a lack of care. That they didn't believe he had been there to go skiing doesn't really surprise me - it does sound rather outlandish.
At times he irritated me, spending only 10 minutes in a monastery before becoming bored. He writes of himself as a current affairs junkie, but I think there is something in you can only understand the present with an understanding of the past. And it seemed to be a superficial and selective boredom, Roman remains in Lebanon - great, It felt a little immature and self contradictory.
I have no desire to go to North Korea, but I can see the draw of the Cambodia trip. It leaves me with the same mixed feeling you get when walking a battlefield. Looking at the ground and the plans of the location of the forces is all very interesting, and the way the battle played out. But at some point it stops being in the abstract and you are looking at where someone was killed. Stalin's line "the death of one is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic" makes an appearance and it is true. At times we struggle to comprehend the large numbers of deaths, it is more overwhelming to focus on the individuals. In the Cambodian example, it needs to be kept in memory as the country needs to move on from that period. But it is more difficult while the perpetrators are still alive. He meets one and then can;t understand how that man is not incarcerated - and the outrage and bewilderment are perfectly understandable. Will it be easier once it is beyond living memory? Difficult to know. It will be different. He references Auschwitz as a similar site to the Killing Fields. It feels like an odd place to go "on holiday" but at the same time it needs to be preserved to maintain the memory.
The last chapter describes his visit to Lebanon. This is where he grew up and so it is the most personal and where he is the most engaged with the situation. Several chapters would have benefited from a map, this one most of all. It is a complicated country, at the cross roads of history and he visits ancient sites as well as the modern city and countryside. He visits family (also complicated) in the area as well as his memories of his parents & growing up. The reaction of a boarding school friend who visited to a battle going on in the valley below illustrate quite neatly how you get used to a situation, he didn't think growing up in a war zone was particularly odd until you realise that not everyone else did grow up in a war zone. He expresses hope that the country can move from the dark and put the war-torn past behind it - current events would suggest that a step back has been taken in that regard.
For a whistlestop tour of a number of places I doubt I would ever go, this is certainly entertaining. He makes for an engaging tour guide if one with a slightly odd selectivity. It raises some intriguing questions about the value of memory and commemoration, what we do and how we do it and how that remains valid for the future. show less

This book wasn't as hilarious as I expected, but that's ok. Instead it offered a candid, personal look into strange destinations (Iran, North Korea, etc.) through Dom Joly's eyes. And at times Joly's candid bluntness was quite funny. I got a better sense of what it is like to live in places that show up on the world news for civil wars, genocide, and dictatorial reigns. "Life finds a way..."

Favorite quote from the book: "If nothing else I hope that by writing about these places people will get another perspective on them, an appreciation that normal life exists under any circumstances...except maybe in North Korea, where it really is tough."

Joly has made some decent TV but here his smugness outweighs any humour and insight. Not always a smooth read, either.