Spanning the decades from 1930 to 2010, The Island of Sea Women is a fascinating story of the women sea divers living on the Korean island of Jeju-- women who are now rightfully considered a cultural heritage treasure. On Jeju, these divers (haenyeo) are the heads of their households. Their men take care of the children, cook, and sit under trees and gossip while the haenyeo are the breadwinners. I couldn't get enough of the depiction of their culture. What they ate. What they believed. (For example, the word for grandmother in their language also means goddess.) What they wore. And--most importantly-- their diving. These women had no modern diving equipment. They braved incredibly cold temperatures; their hearing would become damaged from the water pressure during their dives. Possibly the two most profound things I learned is how they looked out for each other and how they carefully farmed both land (dry fields) and sea (wet fields), ensuring that neither would ever be stripped of its bounty and destroyed.
Where The Island of Sea Women fell slightly--ever so slightly-- flat for me was in the story of the friendship between Young-sook and Mi-ja. It was a bit soap-opera-ish because it was clear from the beginning that the friendship between the two was not as magical as it was advertised. When something truly horrific occurs on Jeju, Young-sook holds Mi-ja responsible and refuses to have anything else to do with her. She closes her eyes and ears to any attempts Mi-ja or her family members make to try to tell her the truth. Honestly, I wanted to shake a little sense into her.
But regardless of how I felt about Young-sook, nothing could keep me from reading this book to the very last word. The haenyeo culture of Korea is incredible, and Lisa See enriched my world by telling me about it.
Where The Island of Sea Women fell slightly--ever so slightly-- flat for me was in the story of the friendship between Young-sook and Mi-ja. It was a bit soap-opera-ish because it was clear from the beginning that the friendship between the two was not as magical as it was advertised. When something truly horrific occurs on Jeju, Young-sook holds Mi-ja responsible and refuses to have anything else to do with her. She closes her eyes and ears to any attempts Mi-ja or her family members make to try to tell her the truth. Honestly, I wanted to shake a little sense into her.
But regardless of how I felt about Young-sook, nothing could keep me from reading this book to the very last word. The haenyeo culture of Korea is incredible, and Lisa See enriched my world by telling me about it.
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