I really loved my last Lisa See book and was looking forward to this one but the story just didn't engage me in the same way. I struggled to relate and feel connected to the characters. I've read several previous books on the diving women of Korea so that might contribute to my feelings. I would still recommend this book to anyone who loves historical fiction as few compare to Lisa See in the depth of research she puts into creating an accurate experience of historical events.

Every so often I am astounded that history classes neglect entire chapters of important world history while repeating the same course material over and over at every grade level. I hold advanced college degrees, I read a lot, I am a professional teacher yet I never heard of events covered in this book. As I was reading I was checking history to see if it was all fiction or to confirm what I suspected...gaps in my knowledge. I never heard of a haenyeo or the April 3 incident (don't look it up until reading the book). Lisa See masterfully weaves a story of friendship and judgments, love and acceptance, political unrest and survival just to cite a few of the themes. The characters are rich and developed with motivations and scars that are complex and consistent to the characters as they move through life. This is a novel that makes the reader think and creates empathy for the characters. Lisa See has described and brought to life a part of the world many will never visit and certainly she brings the sea divers way of life to life. I found this a fascinating read, well worth my time as I have found most of her novels. This is a good book club choice as well as an independent read.

This book was emotionally exhausting and compelling in equal measure. It’s a chapter of history that’s missing from American textbooks, and it’s one we all should have read. The violence during that era has been documented elsewhere but when it’s fleshed out in the historical fiction format, it’s just a lot harder to digest. I cried several times and had to set the book aside to take breaks on a couple of occasions.

I don’t have an ear for Asian names so wrote out a character tree in the beginning which saved me over and over again. I know next to nothing about Korea and certainly didn’t know that the island Jeju stuck out there in the East China Sea, dangling between Korea and Japan and a plumb right for the picking, desired by all. This book centers around those island people who were innocents and plunder at the same time.

Young-sook and Mi-Ja come from different backgrounds but are sisters and best friends through the cultural experience of women divers, until the wars drive a wedge between them. World War II, the Korean Conflict and the American occupation are told through these two women and their families. This is Lisa See’s strongest book yet and it’s an important one.

The Island of Sea Women is a beautiful work of fiction that tells of haenyeo (women sea divers) and their lives during World War Two thru present dat. The novel skips back and forth between the two time periods, weaving a tale that is both heartbreaking and heartwarming. Some parts are difficult to read because it is set during wartime. I had to step away at a couple points in the novel to have a mental break. It is written that well. The characters are richly written, and it makes an interesting read to watch as family and friend relationships grow and change. I love when a book inspires me to gain more information on a topic, and I definitely did so in this case. It is fascinating to learn more about the real haenyeo and I recommend that readers of this book go further to find out more about them. Searching for images of haenyeo while reading this story really put a face on the novel and was simply neat to see actual photos of women doing this work. Lisa See does not disappoint with this one!

This book was great!! The story of friendship and sacrifice between Young-Sook and Mi-ja was amazing! I could not stop reading!

<em>The Island of Sea Women</em> is a gorgeous, though-provoking, emotionally powerful read. We first meet Young-sook as an old woman on the beach in Jeju in 2008, thinking back on her life and feeling somewhat amused by the tourists who now flock to her island, viewing the elders of the haenyeo diving women as a living piece of history and a novelty. When she is approached by a visiting family who seem to know who she is, Young-sook is thrust back into her long-ago memories.

We're reintroduced to Young-sook as a 15-year-old in 1938, about to embark on her first real dive with the haenyeo collective led by her mother. In Jeju, women support their families through their diving, while the men tend the children and the home. It's an unusual matriarchy that suits the lives of the islanders. The women are strong physically and mentally, worrying about providing for their families, and gossiping about needing to care for their men and children. The diving offers sustenance and independence, but also presents very real dangers to the women, as Young-sook learns on her very first day.

Danger also comes from the Japanese colonial presence and the constant threat that hangs over the Korean population. The end of the war brings new sorts of danger, as the division of Korea results in danger from the military rulers and right-wing government.

Meanwhile, Young-sook and her best friend Mi-ja grow up together, close as sisters, until their adult lives as married women and mothers starts forcing them apart. Something terrible happens to cause a permanent rift, but we don't discover the awful events until about midway through the book.

I really don't want to disclose too many of the plot points, so I'll leave my remarks pretty brief. This book was fascinating. I knew very little about Korean history before reading <em>The Island of Sea Women</em>, and I certainly had never heard about the haenyeo. The culture of the haenyeo is so amazing to learn about -- even without the captivating characters and their stories, the story of the divers and their lives kept me completely engrossed.

Add to that a powerful story of friendship, family, love, obligation, and betrayal, as well as sharply drawn depictions of people who feel real, and you have a book that's absolutely worth reading, and very, very memorable.

I highly recommend <em>The Island of Sea Women</em>, both for fans of historical fiction as well as anyone who enjoys poignant, emotionally rich stories about remarkable people.

This was fascinating historical fiction. I love books where I learn something I had never known before, and the haenyeo of Korea were definitely a new topic for me. Amazing story of resilience.

Island of Sea Women is the story of the haenyeo of Jeju: the community of deep sea divers in Korea. See's book focuses on the lives of two of this young female divers Young-sook (our protagonist) Mi-ja, her childhood best friend. The story is set against the background of World War II, the American occupation of Korea and the beginning of an independent Korea.

The story is gutting in the same way that Min Jin Lee's Pachinko is: characters that you grow to care about set against brutal moments in Korean history that the country is still grappling with.

Although the story itself is fiction and deals with friendship, family, trauma and forgiveness, the history of the community is the real draw. I loved this book because I'd never heard of the haenyeo before reading it and now I want to read biographies and autobiographies about them because it's so interesting.

Review on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2688729982



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When you open a Lisa See novel, you never know where her historically correct story will take you this time. Strong women and the paths their lives take are central to her well researched documentation of life in Korea and surrounds. The Island of Sea Women qualifies as a history lesson as well as an outstanding look into the lives of her characters.
The main characters are members of an all women diving co-op who harvest from the sea for their livelihood. Their "jobs" provide income for their families and villages. While the divers experiences are the main focus, no Lisa See novel would be complete with out the back story of their place in history. You'll follow this co-op through several decades of history and see how the turbulence of the time affects even those who lived outside the political channels.
This book will leave you thinking and reflective for many days after you finish. I've already recommended it to many of my reading family and friends. The story it tells should be read by all.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a free ARC in exchange for my review. My opinion has in no way been influenced.

I've read several (if not all) of Lisa See's books, and, while I have really enjoyed all of her books, this is definitely one of my favorites.

I learn so much about different cultures and world history when I read Lisa See's books, and I'm embarrassed of how little I really know about Korea and it's own history and the U.S.'s unforgiveable influence/actions there.

I also found the idea of Jeju being a matrifocal society really interesting, especially the power so many women seemed to have. However, it was just as interesting that there didn't seem to be any real system of governance over the men, either. There was no obvious punishment for men who beat their wives, although it was mentioned that divorce was allowed.

Perhaps more importantly for a review of a piece of fiction, I really enjoyed the story and the characters. I liked how the story was primarily focused on our narrator's history but occasionally jumped to.the present helping her connect the dots to some of the worst moments of her life.

This book absolutely had difficult parts. Torture. Rape. Murder. But it isn't gratuitous; it's a fictional representation of what actually happened, and it should make us uncomfortable that it happened. And if you can get through it, this was a wonderful book, and I can't wait to see what Lisa See writes next.

Having read all of Lisa See's books, the Island of Sea Woman left the biggest impact on me because of the obstacles the Haenyeo overcame. Each of her novels are about strong Asian women navigating their time in history and, overcoming the obstacles. The main characters- best friends Mi-ja and Young-sook “Haenyeo" in this novel are members of a matriarchal free diving collective of women on Jeju Island in Korea. The Haenyeo free dive in frigid waters of Jeju Island, Korea and islands off of Russia, harvesting abalone, octopus and other Asian delicacies to support their families since the 17th century.

The story is set over many decades, beginning during a period of Japanese control in the 1930s and 1940s, followed by World War II, the Korean War by American’s, and the aftermath. The atrocity’s carried out by occupying forces towards the villages were horrendous. After surviving the wars and occupation and the dangers of free diving, the bonds that held Mi-ja and Young-sook together break. The book takes us into contemporary era and what the Haenyeo become.

I first learned about the Korean island of Jeju and the Haenyeo, the female divers, the fisher women who were the major providers of food and income for their families, when I read [book:White Chrysanthemum|34701167]. It was a story of the Japanese occupation of Korea and the horrors of young women being taken by the Japanese to be a “comfort workers” and a young haenyeo is taken. See’s novel focuses specifically on the lives of the Haenyeo spanning decades and is a much more in depth look. She gives wonderful descriptions, at times a lot of detail, about the culture of the collective of women, the rituals and rules, spoken and unspoken, how they dive with no equipment and harvest food from the sea.

There are several layers to this story, though. It’s a story of a friendship that becomes fractured, of grief, of a culture, the broader story of a country’s history told through the lives of two women. I was interested early on when we meet Young-sook, near eighty perhaps, as we discover that there has been a rift between her and her best friend Mi-ja for many years. I was interested in knowing what caused it. The story unfolds, moving through time telling of the bond they formed as children, as haenyeoIt tells of events in their lives, both happy and heartbreaking as they grow up during the Japanese occupation, through their childhood, their marriages, their children. Initially, it lacked an emotional connection for me, but further on in the story, I felt for these women and their deep sadness and loss portrayed here. There is one brutal scene in particular that is just gut wrenching.

I really didn’t know much about the history of Korea leading up to North and South Korea . I didn’t know what the Bukchon massacre was or the strategic importance of Jeju, or the political significance that resulted in some horrific things that happened here. The strength of the book for me was the depiction of this history, learning things I never knew of, about a culture and I country I didn’t know a lot about. I found it to be a very worth while read, as I have found with all of the books by Lisa See that I have read.


This was a regular monthly read with Diane and Esil. Thanks as always for reading with me.


I received an advanced copy of this book from Scribner through both Edelweiss and NetGalley.

A wonderfully written story of two friends growing up on the Korean island of Jeju. The woman in Young-sook's family are haenyeo, part of a matrifocal society, where the women work to provide for their families while the men do the cooking and child-rearing. Haenyeo provide for their families by diving off the shores of Jeju collecting food for their families and to sell. Mi-ja began life in Jeju City, where her father was a Japanese collaborator. After Mi-ja is caught one day stealing sweet potatoes from the garden, Young-sook and Mi-ja become best friends. Young-sook's mother teaches them how to be haenyeo, and soon they are diving with the collective of woman. Young-sook and Mi-ja are inseparable, and as they grow old enough they even begin doing "leave the island water work" together. Once they become married they see less of each other, as Mi-ja lives once again in Jeju City. A tragic event rips them apart, and Young-sook cannot find a place in her heart to forgive Mi-ja.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book in return for a fair and honest review!

As always, Lisa See writes a compelling story, with interesting characters. Even though the context here is certainly remote from anything in my experience, the characters are universal, and it's easy to understand and relate to them.

I was obsessed by the story, and this was another book that kept me reading much too late - "just one more chapter"! I have to admit that I was completely ignorant of the history of Jeju Island and the haenyeo, so was both fascinated and appalled by the events of the book - a quick Wikipedia visit was required to see that, yes, this really happened.

Despite this being historically based, the world building was almost as necessary for me as in a fantasy novel - the women are the ocean divers and bring in most of the family incomes. The men care for the children and do the dinner preparation and such. It took me a little while to be sure that I WASN'T reading a fantasy novel!

Excellent historical fiction, with a compelling story line and solid characters!

Lisa See builds a beautiful story of a tradition slowly dieing. The Sea women told in modern day with flashbacks. I loved the rich history. Several times while reading I stopped to Google what words meant or to see where Juru was on the map. Any story that makes you want to search out the truth are my favorite.

Taken captive by Lisa See's Haenyeo saga!

What can I say? I am once more blown away by a Lisa See novel.
See exceeded my expectations with this epic narrative centered around the female divers of Jeju Island, Korea. Set from the 1930's on at the time of the Japanese Occupation and later under the United States care-taking forces.
Told across time from the viewpoint of an older woman, Young-sook as she grapples with the twists her life has taken over these years, confronting her successes, failings and betrayals.
Her friendship with Mi-ja, the daughter of a collaborator and the breakdown of that closeness, leaves us with Young-Sook's anger which is hard bitten and understandable. Her inability to forgive is tangible.
Amongst the brightest moments are the scenes of the haenyeo (the women divers) collective as they commence diving accompanied by their rituals, patter and traditional comments.
The picture of Young-Sook and Mi-ja making rubbings of things to remember is just delightful, with moments of humor, joy and sorrow.
Another funny side is the popularity of the story of Heidi amongst the Jeju Islanders. The dark side is the massacres of the islanders by both Japanese and US troops. Both atrocious and both shameful.
A magnificent heartfelt story that begins with two young girls who become friends, whose lives are entwined for years, who face the worst, causing them to cease any comminication and then finally redemption that comes from a surprising quarter in an unexpected way. The treatment of the Haenyeo by various occupying governments and the Korean government, putting men in charge of them is a travesty against their culture and traditions. And the struggle to keep those teams and the culture of the Haenyeo alive in face of an ever changing and encroaching dispirit worldview is the challenge all indigenous populations face, and the answers are few.
The author's notes are extensive and well worth a read, demonstrating See's attention to the historical and traditional aspects surrounding the Island of Jeju and in particular the culture of the Haenyo.

A NetGalley ARC

This was another great read by Lisa See. The book had me hooked on the first page. “Her house is the nest where she hides the joy, laughter, sorrows, and regrets of her life.” The characters were vivid and the history of Jeju and the haenyos was fascinating. Thank you NetGalley for my copy.

My Rating: 5 stars

Lisa See is now officially on my favorite authors list, despite the fact that I have not yet read every single one of her novels (which I intend to rectify one of these days). Ever since reading her previous work The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane (a book that I absolutely adored), I had been anxiously awaiting the release of See’s next novel — even though it took 2 years, the wait was definitely worth it! With her newest work, The Island of Sea Women, Lisa See delivers yet another richly detailed, emotional tale that explores female friendships, family relationships, and the bond between mother and daughter, all against the historical backdrop of political unrest in Korea during the 1930s and 1940s (and beyond that), as well as spanning multiple wars.

As the story opens, we are introduced to Kim Young-sook as an old woman in her 80s, one of the few remaining haenyeo (female diver) still living on the small Korean island of Jeju. Though long-retired from the work of diving and harvesting from the ocean that had been a way of life for her family since childhood and later in her adult life, helped her raise her own family, Young-sook continues to have a special relationship with the sea, which is like a second home to her. As she sits on the shore sorting algae, she encounters a Korean-American family — a couple and their two children — who ask her specifically if she knows Han Mi-ja, to which she answers that she does not know her. It turns out that Mi-ja also used to be a haenyeo, but not only that, she and Young-sook were childhood friends, once as close as sisters — but that was several decades ago. What caused Young-sook and Mi-Ja’s once tight-knit friendship to break apart to the point of no return? The family’s visit stirs up memories of a long ago past and a time period marked by pain, suffering, as well as tragedy, but most significantly, it leads Young-sook on a personal journey of self-reflection that unearths long-buried secrets about the two women’s relationship.

As we’ve come to expect with all of Lisa See’s novels, this story was well-researched and masterfully told in a way that gave us as readers an authentically-felt rendering of history told through richly developed fictional characters who always manage to make their way into our hearts. One of the things I love about See’s novels is her focus on strong women characters and this story was certainly no exception — as See writes in her Author’s Note, Jeju women were held in high regard for their “strength, independence, and persistence” and all the haenyeo characters in the story, from the older generation of Sun-sil and Do-saeng to the later generation in Young-sook, Mi-ja, the Kang sisters, etc. all personified these traits and more. I loved all of the characters, but Young-sook especially made an impact on me, even with her stubbornness and other flaws that made her difficult at times. I also appreciated the historical elements that See was able to weave so seamlessly into the context of the story. From Japanese colonialism to World War II to American occupation and the establishment of the Korean republic, through the Korean War all the way to modern day, each time period had an impact on the plot, but it is the April Third Incident in 1949 that plays the most significant role in Yoon-sook and Mi-ja’s story. Prior to reading this book, I had actually never heard about the April Third Incident and was floored to find out the extent of the horrors — the burning of 70% of the island’s villages, the massacre of close to 80,000 people, the displacement of several hundred thousand residents, and then to add insult to injury, for over 50 years, survivors were forced to keep quiet about what had happened due to the threat of death or retaliation under the guilt-by-association policy. As always, See did a tremendous amount of research for this novel and it shows.

Another aspect I love about Lisa See’s novels is the emotional depth that she is able to bring out with her stories. I read much of the last third of this book with tears in my eyes and the ending actually tore me apart. Young-sook is another of See’s characters whom I know will stay with me for a long time to come (much like Li-yan from The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane still comes into my mind from time to time).

Beautifully written with wonderfully developed characters and a moving, unforgettable back story, The Island of Sea Women is yet another Lisa See masterpiece that absolutely deserves to be read. Highly recommended without a doubt!

Received ARC from Scribner / Simon & Schuster via both NetGalley and Edelweiss.

The Island of Sea Women is an interesting look at Jeju, an island off the coast of South Korea. Starting in the late 1930s and running through the mid-1970s, all bracketed by sections spanning the course of a few days in 2008, Lisa See tells the story of Young-Sook and Mi-ja, unlikely friends who spend years training for and then becoming haenyeo, female only divers who were taught how to harvest the sea using careful techniques that involved respecting the ocean's seasons, specialized breathing, and training in how to harvest abalone, squid, etc.

Young-Sook and Mi-ja's friendship and eventual estrangement is chronicled not just from the beginning of their time as divers to experienced veterans who travel as far off to what is now Russia to support their families (on Jeju, the haenyeo had a semi-matriarchal society, where women worked and were in charge of most financial decisions while men cared for the children. However, it should be noted that it wasn't until the 1960s or so that women began to be able to attend school...) but also through Jeju's turbulent history, first under occupation by Japan, then dragged into WW II,
and then through a series of terrifying purges as Korea was "divided" wherein many of the island's inhabitants were slaughtered, before finally becoming a tourist destination for mainland South Korea.

The Island of Sea Women is clearly carefully researched and information about the haenyeo, from the way they organized their diving groups, how they learned to dive and later trained their daughters, to the rites they practiced at sea and on land. It's also a carefully researched look at the grim history of Jeju in the 20th century, and how greatly its inhabitants suffered under the hands of the Japanese, Americans, and even their fellow Koreans.

What makes The Island of Sea Women an interesting read is how vividly Lisa See weaves so much culture and history together--I had never heard of Jeju or haenyeo before this book, but I came away awed by both the island and its inhabitants. And I wish I'd been taught more about Korea in school!

As for the story itself, it's about how friendships and families grow but can break, how much pain (emotional and physical) people can endure, and how love (and time) can heal. I won't lie, it's pretty standard but (but!) it's told through the eyes of a culture and a place that will be new to many readers (like me) and through a fascinating, haunting, and eye-opening period of the 20th century. And unlike many historical novels, there are no heavy-handed info dumps, only deft and graceful weaving together of many strands.

This kind of mastery is a fairly rare and definitely awesome thing, so if you're at all interested in historical novels and want to know about a fascinating culture in a fascinating place during a time that seems unbelievable (but was all too real), then you owe it to yourself to check this one out. (And book clubs? This would be a perfect pick!)

Lisa See is wonderful at writing scenes so descriptive that they transport the modern American reader to faraway times and places. She is deft at providing enough cultural context to orient her reader, without ever making one lose the escapist experience and feel as if she is lecturing.

In her latest work her setting is not China but the island of Jeju, off of Korea. I was so captivated by her description of the family roles that I HAD to know if she was inventing them. Off to google to investigate. It turns out that once again she has done careful research and the lives of her characters accurately reflect the unusual practices here. While being a highly traditional society, the women are in many ways the heads of household, and are the earners, by diving for edible sea life of all kinds. The men cook and clean and care for young children. This way of life is passing as the last practitioners are growing very old.

All of that is just context for a complex saga of the long lives of two women who are inseparable friends as children, but who go their separate ways in young adulthood. The plot moves quickly and covers career, marriage, children, war, occupation, and more,

This is a rich, evocative read that will stay with me for a long time. I think it will appeal to fans of Lisa See's previous work, as well as new readers who may be drawn to the unusual setting.