Reviews

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

Only show reviews with written explanations

cloudpine's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous informative inspiring sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

hannahboice's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

What a beautiful book about family connection and a world where it seems impossible to imagine a reality where women aren’t the head of the family. There’s subtle humor in the comments that hint at the role reversal.

birdiesreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

3.5 ⭐️’s- a good reminder that I might need to start reading trigger warnings for books. As integral as it was to the story I could have done without reading, in such vivid detail, of some of the horrors that took place during the 4.3 incident. I’m glad I read this book, I learned a lot and the story was powerful but it was also very depressing at times. I didn’t expect so much tragedy and I wish there was a little bit more joy to balance it out but I liked the lessons taught about forgiveness and how’s it’s harder for some than others.

literarykerry's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.0

egalindo's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional informative reflective sad

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

4.0

spikedscrubs's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.75

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I am left nearly speechless as I finish this book. It is so well written, powerfully told, and the characters are incredibly real. You forget youare reading. You are present in the world Lisa See is weaving. It tells a poignant story of strong women, the power of female friendships, the pain and passion of motherhood, and the often times brutal reality of being female at any point in time.

I would have given it five stars if not for the brutality of how the traumatic events are described. I understand they are true history and that the events actually happened but they were so graphic it pulled me out of the mastery of the story. I had to step aside for a moment, catch my breath, recalibrate that the world was still spinning outside of the story. It isn’t the type of book you can recommend to just anyone as they need to have a certain amount of fortitude to withstand falling in love with these characters and deeply wanting good things for them, while palpably experiencing that trauma follows trauma follows trauma in their life. Historical fiction in the truest sense, this book will sit with me for a very long time.