The Island of Sea Women

by Lisa See | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 1501154850 Global Overview for this book
Registered by wingRach260wing of East Maitland, New South Wales Australia on 12/7/2022
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5 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by wingRach260wing from East Maitland, New South Wales Australia on Wednesday, December 7, 2022
Picked up today at the Edgewater Estate street library in Mackay. This has been on my list to read for a while so very happy to find it.

Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living on the Korean island of Jeju, are best friends that come from very different backgrounds. When they are old enough, they begin working in the sea with their village’s all-female diving collective, led by Young-sook’s mother. As the girls take up their positions as baby divers, they know they are beginning a life of excitement and responsibility but also danger.

Despite their love for each other, Mi-ja and Young-sook’s differences are impossible to ignore. The Island of Sea Women is an epoch set over many decades, beginning during a period of Japanese colonialism in the 1930s and 1940s, followed by World War II, the Korean War and its aftermath, through the era of cell phones and wet suits for the women divers. Throughout this time, the residents of Jeju find themselves caught between warring empires. Mi-ja is the daughter of a Japanese collaborator, and she will forever be marked by this association. Young-sook was born into a long line of haenyeo and will inherit her mother’s position leading the divers in their village. Little do the two friends know that after surviving hundreds of dives and developing the closest of bonds, forces outside their control will push their friendship to the breaking point.

This beautiful, thoughtful novel illuminates a world turned upside down, one where the women are in charge, engaging in dangerous physical work, and the men take care of the children. A classic Lisa See story—one of women’s friendships and the larger forces that shape them—The Island of Sea Women introduces readers to the fierce and unforgettable female divers of Jeju Island and the dramatic history that shaped their lives.

Journal Entry 2 by wingRach260wing at Blackheath, New South Wales Australia on Wednesday, January 11, 2023

Released 1 yr ago (1/11/2023 UTC) at Blackheath, New South Wales Australia

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

On it’s way to a wishlist tagger. I had high expectations for this book and it didn’t quite deliver in the narrative. Although the insights into the culture and history of Jeju, Korea were fascinating. I hope you enjoy it.

Journal Entry 3 by wingmeganhwing at Preston, Victoria Australia on Sunday, January 15, 2023
Arrived in the mail this morning. Thank you so much for this Wishlist book Rach260, a lovely hard cover copy too. This may be a good book to add to my 666 reading challenge for the year.

Journal Entry 4 by wingmeganhwing at Preston, Victoria Australia on Saturday, June 3, 2023
I loved this book!
It was so well researched with lots of insight into the recent history of Korea, and in particular the island of Jeju and it’s haenyeo or sea women.
Simply written in the voice of illiterate Young-sook, we to and fro’d backwards and forwards through her life as we learned about her deep friendship with Mi-ja which broke down irretrievably and suddenly after the 3rd April murders.
Lisa See sensitively portrayed the tough life the people of Jeju lived, the hard but fulfilling lives of the haenyeo, the constant poverty and the occupation of their island by the Japanese and the Americans.
The telling of this fractured friendship and the lifelong affects it had on both women was indescribably sad, and did bring me to tears in the last few pages.

Journal Entry 5 by bronwyna at Fitzroy North, Victoria Australia on Saturday, June 17, 2023
Placing in my NSS gift for Poodlesister, on your wishlist, I hope you enjoy it.

Journal Entry 6 by wingPoodlesisterwing at Walthamstow, Greater London United Kingdom on Sunday, June 18, 2023
Thanks for the books and all the other goodies. It’s been great to see you again.

Journal Entry 7 by wingPoodlesisterwing at Care package , -- By post or by hand/ in person -- United Kingdom on Saturday, September 16, 2023

Released 6 mos ago (9/16/2023 UTC) at Care package , -- By post or by hand/ in person -- United Kingdom

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Going to Yogiberri who's very keen to read it. She will return it to me to read.

Journal Entry 8 by Yogiberri at Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex United Kingdom on Wednesday, September 20, 2023
This one is defo on my wishlist... Great choice which arrived in a fabulous goodie package. Thank you 😘😘😘

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