Reviews

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

caroline_hutchison's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative fast-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? Yes

4.75

landroid55's review against another edition

• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

This book movef me to tears so frequesntly.  I really felt the two main characters emotions and pain.  I even found myself choosing sides and yet still completely understanding both woekn.   I learned so much about the island and it's people.  The first half of the book is dedicated to two friends growing and up and learning the island ways... It was beautifully written and I never felt bored.  But somehow when reading the description of this book, I missed that a portion of it is set during war.   This part of the book was also well written but horrific. 

The ending was also amazing.  Highly recommend this book but warning... This is not a light read. 

I recently read another war time novel that was equally horrific but I connected so much better to the characters in this story.  Perhaps because we learn about their lives from young children through to the end of their lives.  

robynjhip's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

supaspace's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

h4nnah_graham's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

shelbydong's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.0

4/5 stars for this one! I listened to this on audiobook and really enjoyed the narrator. I liked this historical fiction book. The story was heartbreaking and engaging. I think it helped listening to it, I could see some parts being slower. 

lovelyday2day's review against another edition

4.0

Took a bit to get into it, but overall highly recommend. Deep exploration of friendship and learned so much about Jeju and the 4.3 massacre.

jholland's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.25

laura_mikasa's review against another edition

3.0

It's a great book from the History point of view. I learned a ton about the Jeju culture, and the Haenyeo women. It is so interesting that it made search more about them on Internet. The book is descriptive enough that you can see yourself in the hard situations. It takes a good time to develop the main characters, and their friendship. But I think the Author gets so excited with explaining the past that she forgets to continue the initial story. It's like somebody else reminded the author about the main story, and then, the author rushes so much to "close" it that you cannot believe it's the last page. I was so disappointed with how the ending was written. I wish the author had taken more time with Yoon-shook feelings at the very end.

lucybennett29's review against another edition

challenging emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, War, Death of parent, Death, and Child death