Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

58 reviews

elisamurillo's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and War

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: War and Domestic abuse

alisonw's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Colonisation, Grief, Pregnancy, Torture, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Violence, War, Child death, Death, Murder, Sexual violence, Mass/school shootings, and Rape

Moderate: Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Confinement, Racism, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual violence, and Slavery

entre_fanon_y_weil's review against another edition

emotional informative sad medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Sexual assault, Torture, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Genocide, and Violence

forza0930's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad slow-paced

5.0

Slow begining, horifying middle, great ending

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and War

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Sexual assault

msjacquip's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted tense medium-paced

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

4.0

TW: death; domestic violence; child death; suspected suicide; sexual assault

Young-sook & Mi-ja are two young women, living on the Korean Island of Jeju, who work as part of the island’s diving crew throughout the 1930s and 1940s. They come from very different backgrounds but they forge a fast friendship that appears to be inseparable. Unfortunately, throughout WWII and beyond, their differences (and forces beyond their control) push their relationship to breaking point…

Full disclosure, I would never have read this book but for it being the May book for bookclub. However, I am so glad that I did. It’s a dual timeline, part throughout the 1930s and 1940s and part over a 4 day period in 2008. 

I loved learning about the haenyeo and the traditions that keep this all women collective alive. Young-sook is a formidable woman and the reader is treated to her innermost thoughts and experiences her highs and lows alongside her throughout the book.

There is a lot of tragedy throughout but the book ends with an air of hope. I really loved this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Death

Minor: Suicide and Sexual assault

naomi_k's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Violence, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Blood, Child death, Death, Grief, and Torture

Moderate: Pregnancy, War, Classism, Colonisation, Medical content, Xenophobia, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Vomit, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Sexism

annaclaire18's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

This book… is so dark… There are not enough trigger warnings in the world to cover this novel, but it is such an important story. I learned so much from this book about Korea, the Korean War, and a hidden genocide I knew nothing about.

The characters are convincing and complex, and the plot drags you under and doesn’t let you up for air.

I was less fond of the modern timeline that wove in and out of the story, but it did serve to help break up the heavy topic of the novel.

Warning: this is not a light read. Prepare for graphic descriptions of violence.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Torture, Toxic friendship, Violence, War, Genocide, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Rape

gnat_moon's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Police brutality, and Genocide

rhijane's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Child death, Colonisation, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Violence, Death, Sexism, War, Murder, and Rape