Reviews with content warning for Torture - The Island of Sea Women

This was a slow burn but also a really interesting read. This is the second book I have read about the haenyeo women and I find them fascinating. This strong, independent matriarchal society in the 1900s. This book was a slow burn and it took a little bit for the story to fully develop but I found Mi-ja and Young-Sook's relationship to be so interesting and tumultuous.

This book helped me learn more about the Japanese colonization of Korea and what happened to Korean before and after World War II. This book brought to light to atrocities that happened in Korea and Jeju and I really appreciated the perspective. I definitely want to keep learning more. This book spanned a large timeframe and did jump back and forth which is one thing I love about historical fiction.

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greymalkin's review against another edition

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

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

5.0

Evocative and immersive, with characters that feel like real people. The story itself is a hard one though, with many difficult and brutal events that made me keep reading compulsively- not so much because I lost track of time but because they were so stressful and upsetting that I had to keep reading to know that all hope was not lost. I learned so much about that area and historical incidents that I wasn't aware of, and a deeply fascinating tradition.

The reason for the fracture in their friendship was legitimate and seeing the way that the war atrocities of others poisoned them for so long was heartbreaking. I really felt for the characters and I was pleased that there was no "magical solution", just the everyday grace of people trying to live their lives under unspeakably difficult conditions.

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anna_dunn's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is absolutely heart wrenching. But also beautiful. It covers some very heavy material and I learned so much about jeju and the haenyeo. I love the sisterhood and matriarchal values. I would absolutely recommend this book, but just make sure you’re in the right headspace before getting into it because it is incredibly sad.

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