Set on the Island of Jeju, a small island off the coast of South Korea, the story follows Mi-ja and Young-sook. These two girls are from very different backgrounds, they begin working in the sea with their village's all-female diving collective. Over many decades -- through Japanese colonialism in the 1930-1940's, WWII, the Korean War, to modern day -- the two girls develop the closest of bonds. After years of friendship, hundreds of dives, circumstances push their relationship to the breaking point. I had a very hard time getting into this book at first and actually stopped for several months. I will say that the description of some of the atroscities left me having a hard time falling asleep. I am glad I stuck with it nonetheless. Powerful ending.

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