Book Review: “The Island of Sea Women” by Lisa See

Jul 22

Håfa adai! Welcome to my review of The Island of Sea Women, by Lisa See; a historical novel about sisterly love within female friendship, trust, betrayal, pain, forgiveness, and the importance of tradition.

This book review consists of two parts: a spoiler-free plot summary and my thoughts on the story. In the second part, I give my personal rating and break down the setting and worldbuilding, storytelling, cast of characters, and themes. There may be some lightweight spoilers—such as how characters interact with each other and the world around them—but I will not give away any major plot twists or endings. I want to share my opinions of the book and maybe encourage you to purchase a copy of your own.

Click on the tags at the bottom of this post to see all reviews with the same tags in the Fiction bookshelf.

Spoiler-Free Plot Summary

Young-sook is the first daughter of a haenyeo—a proud line of female divers on the Korean island of Jeju—and is set to be the future leader of her village’s diving collective, like her mother before her. Mi-ja is the daughter of a Japanese collaborator—Koreans who work for or alongside the Imperial Japanese—and is ostracized and mistrusted by almost everyone on Jeju Island. They meet as young girls when Young-sook and her mother catch Mi-ja stealing food from their garden. Instead of punishing the starving little girl, Young-sook’s mother treats her with compassion. The girls become friends when Mi-ja’s quick thinking saves them from the wrath of a group of Imperial Japanese soldiers. Young-sook and Mi-ja become sisters as they train and become haenyeo together.

Young-sook and Mi-ja belong to a generation of Koreans born into a time of Imperial Japanese control. By the time they reach adulthood and start families of their own in the 1940s, the political landscape of Korea moves from the Japanese colonial period to the Division of Korea into north and south. The end of WWII should have opened the path for a time of peace. But that is not what was in store for the people of Jeju Island. And Young-sook and Mi-ja’s friendship and trust in each other is put to a heartbreaking and devastating test in 1948 in what would become known as the Jeju Uprising, or the Bukchon Massacre.

The Island of Sea Women follows the path of Young-sook and Mi-ja’s friendship from the 1930s to 2008, decades of Korea being witness to the Japanese colonial period (ending with Imperial Japan’s surrender to Allied Forces in 1945, ending WWII), the Division of Korea along the 38th parallel (with territories north of the parallel placed under USSR administration and territories to the south placed under administration of the United States Army), the Korean War (1950-1953), and into modern times. It is a simultaneously mesmerizing and devastating piece of historical fiction that brings to the surface the lived experiences of a community not talked about often enough.

Important Trigger Warning for The Island of Sea Women

The Island of Sea Women contains a couple scenes of near drownings and complete drownings as well as many scenes detailing wartime violence, domestic violence, and sexual assault. These themes are essential to the plot. If these are themes that cause you distress or discomfort in any way, then please make sure to take necessary steps to prepare and protect yourself before and after reading this book.

My Thoughts on The Island of Sea Women: 5 stars!

The Island of Sea Women takes place on the Korean island of Jeju, following two timelines: the modern-day interactions of Young-sook and a teenager named Clara over a few day’s time in 2008; and the chronological retelling of events from the 1930s to modern times. The reader dives into the life, beliefs, and traditions of the haenyeo of Jeju Island in a way that does not overload the senses with information. How the haenyeo interact with each other and their dangerous, ever-turbulent world over the years is presented to the reader with respect to the source material.

The Island of Sea Women is told from two perspective’s: a third-person narrator in the 2008 timeline and the first-person perspective of Young-sook during the historical timeline. It seems as if this difference in narrative perspective reflects how Young-sook views herself as belonging to the past as opposed to being a part of the present/modern Korea. In holding on to the pain of the past, she only hears her voice, her recollection, and her reasoning. But in gradually becoming open to the perspectives of the present, she allows herself—in her own sort of way—to become part of the present.

Young-sook and Mi-ja’s relationship started with a violation of trust: Young-sook and her mother caught Mi-ja stealing food from their garden. Through trials of trust, from the encounter with the group of Imperial Japanese soldiers to years training as haenyeo, their relationship grows into a friendship and blossoms into a seemingly unbreakable sisterly bond. But the narration in the 2008 timeline hints to Young-sook not knowing what became Mi-ja after she moved to the United States. Young-sook’s retelling of history and of her best friend do not prepare the reader for the emotional devastation in 1948 that would cause this rift.

My hearts breaks for both Young-sook and Mi-ja during the scene of that night in 1948. I do not mean that figuratively. I had to stop reading for a few hours so that I could cry my eyes out because of what happens in this scene. From Young-sook’s perspective, she cannot understand why Mi-ja will not help her. From Mi-ja’s perspective, she does not know what will happen if she says “no,” but she knows exactly what will happen if she says “yes.” But Mi-ja cannot and simply does not have the time to explain that Young-sook

The mistrust that Young-sook holds towards Mi-ja—and towards a few others by association—in the decades after 1948 may be absolutely infuriating to many. But it is absolutely believable to some of us. For those of us whose islands were occupied by Imperial Japan and grew up with elders who experienced the same types of betrayal, we witnessed our elders hold on to similar and seemingly permanent feelings of mistrust towards members of our own community. It is one thing when an occupying force commits horrific atrocities against your friends, family, and neighbors. But it is a completely different kind of pain when the ones you believed in and trusted the most either directly inflict harm or—even worse—are silent when harm is inflicted on you. How does one take that first step towards forgiveness after a betrayal so great? I do not know.

That does not mean I agree with Young-sook’s resistance to forgiveness! I can have empathy for her (for a situation I hope to never be able to relate to) while also hoping her pain does not spread beyond Mi-ja to others. Young-sook’s resistance to forgiveness cost her so much in the decades of her life before she meets Clara in 2008. She lost the chance for her and Mi-ja to be part of the same family again. She lost the chance to take back what those traumatic years of war and conflict took from her and her best friend. That does not mean that I believe Young-sook and Mi-ja could be best friends again. But the trench between them could have closed, and the family they once dreamed of could have still existed in some form.

This is not to say that Mi-ja did not do her best to rebuild the bridge back to Young-sook. She and others tried so hard for so many years to let Young-sook know that they did not stop thinking about her and never wanted to stop including her in their lives. I could not think of additional ways that Mi-ja could have tried to mend things between her and Young-sook. The yearning of one sister for another spanned many decades and miles.

Tragically, Young-sook and Mi-ja’s friendship ends the same way it began, with a violation of trust. The circumstances of Mi-ja’s life made it so that she had almost no choice but to commit those violations, directly or indirectly. Young-sook’s refusal to forgive made sure that the present was forever informed by the past.

Lisa See’s The Island of Sea Women was the August 2024 title selected by the book club I am a member of. I was not familiar with Lisa See’s work before seeing TIOSW in major or independent bookstores; at least I do not recall hearing about her work beforehand. This was another one of those titles I made mental notes to buy and read later. Thankfully for my friends in the book club, it was brought to the head of the line.

My overall rating for Lisa See’s The Island of Sea Women is 5 out of 5 stars! Book club or no, I truly recommend as many people as possible read this book. Lisa See’s The Island of Sea Women is a powerful and beautifully written story that left me in awe, in tears, and breathless. It is an important but intense story. Those who are especially distressed by depictions of physical violence and sexual assault should take care before and after reading, should they choose to read this book. I can see myself revisiting TIOSW again in the future, but will not have the audiobook playing in the background for ambient sound. I highly recommend this book to others, but not at the expense of their own mental health. If depictions of the aforementioned types of violence are too much for someone, then they should not read The Island of Sea Women.

Dångkulo' na' saina ma'åse'! Thank you so much for reading my review of The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See.

Rating Cheat Sheet

4.75 - 5.00 stars: Everyone should read this book! (If you’re into that sort of thing.)
4.00 - 4.50 stars: I appreciated many aspects of this book. I recommend it!
3.00 - 3.75 stars: I liked some aspects of this book. I won’t revisit it, but someone else might really like it.
2.00 - 2.75 stars: There were some things I appreciated about this book, but I do not recommend it.
0.25 - 1.75 stars: I do not recommend this book. I did not enjoy or appreciate the experience of it.

Post Date: 26 August 2024