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5.19k reviews for:

The Island of Sea Women

Lisa See

4.32 AVERAGE


Brutal. Beautiful. I learned a lot about Korean culture, society and history, circa 1939 to 2008—from a woman’s point of view.
Warning: There are many violent scenes, so this is not a story for the faint-hearted!
challenging emotional reflective sad
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective 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: Complicated
challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

An outstanding novel telling of a world & culture that is quite outside the experience of readers, but the then of friendship, betrayal & forgiveness is universal. The complex story woven around the incredible diving women of Korea has deep cultural, historical & social resonances through the story of the friendship of Young-Sook & Mi-Ja. The story details the culture and commerce of the Koreans who live on Jeju Island, namely the women who make up the collective of haenyeo, women divers who harvest undersea gardens of conch, seaweed, octopus, sea urchins, abalone and more. Diving in frigid waters throughout most of the year, without air tanks, they support their community while the men tend to the babies and children, cook and laze around the village center.

Beautiful. I've recommended this book a dozen times.

This information in this historical novel is well researched and fascinating but it took me a long time to finish this book. I just didn't love the characters. But I learned a lot.

This book explains a lot of how Korean culture is shaped, even today, by the sorrows of WWII, and other colonizations and military actions. It talks about the diaspora that surrounded the Bukchon massacre and the 4.3 incident. ( That reminded me of the killing fields in Cambodia). There is way more to this book, than a friendship between two women who are divers.
“ Haenyeo (also spelled haenyo) (Hangul: 해녀; lit. "sea women") are female divers in the South Korean province of Jeju, whose livelihood consists of harvesting a variety of mollusks, seaweed, and other sea life from the ocean. Known for their independent spirit, iron will and determination, haenyeo are representative of the semi-matriarchal family structure of Jeju”

Amazing. Incredible piece of history. The cruelty and horror for those people after the incident on JeJu island is awful. The strength of these women and their collectives is absolutely astonishing! I really enjoyed learning about the haenyao.