Reviews with content warning for War - La isla de las mujeres del mar

Reviews tagging 'War'

La isla de las mujeres del mar by Lisa See

129 reviews

caedycon's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

I would absolutely recommend this book. It's my 2nd book by Lisa See, and she's 2/2 for fantastic stories for me. I loved learning about the haenyeo, as well as life in Korea in general. Such a unique, fascinating culture. I thought it was going to be about a matriarchal society, but it was a matrifocal society - the women do all the work and earn the money, but they still don't have the power. Men own land, men get educated, men are still the heads of the family. The women are so inspiring - the fact that they have all the weight of their family's well-being on their shoulders, and yet are also still oppressed, and how they handle that - seriously badass women in this story. This is a book that was easy to talk about - a unique story, with fictional characters but a real, little-known setting that was fascinating to learn about. I loved learning about the political side of what was going on at that time as well - the Japanese occupation of Korea (and the US's involvement) Mostly, this book is sad. These characters live through some incredible horrors, and there were moments where I had a hard time continuing on through the brutality they suffered. Lisa See writes her characters with such depth - I felt what Young-sook felt when Mi-ja betrayed her, and was convinced I would never forgive her, and yet, by the end, I had. That was impressive to me, to be fully taken up in that emotional journey.

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alisonw's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Just realised I never reviewed this, it’s been a few months so I can’t be as clear with the review but I highly highly recommend this book.

Firstly a TW: It deals with extremely heavy subjects of loss, war, corruption, all kinds of abuse, murder including all ages, all very graphically so please be warned if you think you can’t handle that.

But if you’re unsure, don’t let that put you off. This book tells the true story of the people of Jeju and all they have gone through in the last century through a fictional narrative and the graphic elements are there because they happened, reading them feels similar to the sobering feeling of going to a concentration camp has, it’s horribly sad but feels like a necessity to be able to respect and remember - in my case as a European who was taught nothing about Korea’s history, it felt so important to acknowledge and learn about these events for the first time.

The author is masterful at weaving history and fiction together, none of the fictitious story line feels forced to bring in a historical event, while at the same time the story does not steal from the history, I would actually say it helps give it more blood and feel more tangible rather than cold facts on a page about somewhere far away.

Highly highly recommend.

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emissaryorca's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

On an Island of World Peace, shouldn't those who inflicted terrible harm on others be forced to confess and atone, and not make widows and mothers pay for stone monuments?

Brutal prose, and by brutal I mean matter-of-fact; no beating around the bush here. Mixed feelings on the ending, but I don't think "rushed" is the right word. Maybe "convenient"? We would all be so lucky to be reminded of how we can move on, of what "home" or "true friendship" could have looked like and be at peace. There's something to be said about the power of a story of people, passing through time.

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fannylaine's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative sad slow-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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alexis_baldwin92's review against another edition

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_lain_'s review against another edition

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dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Absolute favourite

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jedore's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

“You should be more careful out there,” the doctor says. “You have a dangerous job. I mean, do you see men doing it?”

“Of course not!” Young-sook exclaims. “The world knows that the cold water will cause their penises to shrivel and die.”

This is my fourth Lisa See book...and the second one that made my all-time favorite list (Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is the first). Lisa is an amazing author, goddess of research, and master of character development.

I've gotten a glimpse of the horrific treatment of Koreans by the Japanese (Pachinko) and the U.S. (The Peoples' History of the United States), but this story was an intimate and personal journey into the lives of those living on the island of Jeju. Wow, just wow...as I close the cover of what feels like every book I read these days, my faith in humanity lessens. The ability of one "tribe's" ability to completely disassociate and commit horrors against "outsiders" is mind boggling.

The story also cemented a personal opinion that I've been pondering for some time now, one based both on my own life experiences and the thousands of books I've read.

Women are, in general and by far, the stronger sex.

In the face of poverty, war, and other intense hardships, I've observed (personally or literally) many a man fall apart and their women carry them (as well as their children). The haenyo divers of Jeju took this to a whole other level as they were not only capable of carrying their men emotionally, but physically as well.

A week after closing the back cover of this book and I still find myself thinking about the perfectly imperfect heroines of this story and replaying many of the scenes in my mind. Add this to the fact that I have a more complete knowledge about history (so I can do what I can to stop it from repeating) and it's no wonder it's an all-time favorite.

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