“As the Korean saying goes, *Haenyos* do the work of the dead in the land of the living”.
“Every woman who enters the sea carries a coffin on her back. In this world, the undersea world, we tow the burdens of a hard life”.

Women harvest together, sort together, and sell together. The sea itself is communal.

With no breathing equipment, the deep-sea diving Korean women (*Haenyos*), hold their breath for two minutes, diving 65 feet deep to harvest seafood: abalone, shellfish, sea urchins, octopus, conches, sea slugs, sea cucumbers, oysters, and squid.

Years ago, Haenyos officially retired at age 55. Today, it’s hard to find Haenyos under the age off 55.
In recent years, their numbers are decreasing dramatically. It’s estimated that the haenyo will be gone in twenty years unless more women step forward.

Diving as these women do can be very dangerous. Strokes are common with years of diving.
Dr Shin, ( a minor character), says: “You Haenyo learn from your mothers and grandmothers, but what they taught you is the worst thing you can do. All those short breaths, followed by a deep dive, where you hold your breath the entire time, and then the quick rise to the surface. And then you do it again and again and again? It’s terrible and very dangerous”.
Air-Bubbles can get into the women’s veins and lungs and cause brain damage.

One of the characters, *Yu-ri* - did have an accident. “Yu-ri went into the sea one person, and came out another”.
Another character died in the sea. Two tragedies early in the storytelling....
Yet...Haenyeo - female divers in the Korean Province of *Jeju*, are known for their strength, their independent spirit, their iron will and determination. Their identity was strongly associated with diving. The dangers didn’t influence their thinking. The sea was their life!

Originally, diving was an exclusively male profession. By the 18th century, women divers outnumbered the male divers.
Gender roles were reversed. Since women divers were the primary breadwinners - their husbands took care of the domestic needs: he looked after children, did the shopping, and cooked the meals.

Ritual foods....
“Soup with titlefish, White radish, and seaweed, a bowl of seasoned bracken, turnip and green onion buckwheat pancakes”.
Or....Black pig grilled with soy paste and cabbage kimchi.
Or.....Sea urchin soup. .....etc.

The HISTORICAL ‘FACTS’ were FASCINATING to me. I was naturally curious about the extraordinary diving women - ( their culture, their relationships with their mother’s, grandmothers, husbands, and their respect for the sea), the island itself: *Jetju* - the history between the Japanese and Koreans - and the horrific Bukchon Massacre.
Lisa Sea brought awareness to devastating historical events that were essentially kept secret for years - Japanese rule, resistance, and retaliation. A riot spread like a forest fire.....
In the same way author Tatiana de Rosnay - in “Sara’s Key”, exposed secrets that the French had hidden ( tried to keep secret), - that France participated in roundups - French police knowingly sent Jews to the gas chambers to Auschwitz. .....
Lisa Sea exposed a very dark time in Jeju’s history - (tried to keep secret).
American soldiers discovered 97 bodies that were killed and buried by the government. They also encountered police who were executing 76 villagers. Between 14,000, and 30,000, people died as a result of the rebellion.

The FICTIONAL STORY .....centered around a friendship between two girls ....both Haenyo divers - their coming of age together - with their trials and tribulations started out interesting. ( both from very different backgrounds: both independently interesting females), but didn’t always hold my interest. I felt ‘their’ story was was ‘literary-ordinary’. It wasn’t awful....but ‘common’ storytelling.

I have no idea - how history and fiction work together. I read a great quote from another book reviewer not long ago: she enjoyed the facts of the story - the fiction - and not knowing the difference between either.
I thought that was GREAT insight.... with an overall great reading experience.

For me - I ‘was’ aware of what was FACT and what was FICTION.
I often don’t care if the history is perfect. If I’m enjoying the story and the characters, I’m simply enjoying the book.... but this time the HISTORY was my favorite.

I found the history fascinating, and interesting, .....
The Haenyos are BEAUTIFUL WOMEN - inside and out......with AMAZING PHOTOS that can be found online. The older women are women, I would enjoy sitting with sharing tea.....( get to know them more).
The women’s languages interested me - their dispositions - work ethics- etc.
“ The Villiage of Widows”.....was a fascinating chapter in this book.

I wanted to know more about role of the village leaders, their resistance to traditional education, ( and why THE SEA trumped everything else in their lives).....when often they were left with physical pain from decades of the water pressure....to their ears, joints - headaches and even painful hips from the “Tewak” That carry.

A Tewak is a flotation device about the size of a basketball that sits at the surface of the water with a net hanging beneath it to catch the harvest. Its HUGE ....( see photos online)
I liked learning about a vocal practice the women did called “Sumbisori”. It’s a breathing technique used by whales and seals. The diving women practiced too as it allowed them to dive deeper below sea level.
I was also interested in political upheavals. They were gut wrenching: I learned a lot.

My only - ‘slight’ - criticism was the fictional story. It was ‘fair’ for me. Good...just not over-the-top extraordinary. Doesn’t really matter - as I got what I wanted from this book - An awakening to new history .... which I’ll still be interested in - years from now. Lisa Sea gave me ( and I believed), other readers a great gift with “The Island of Sea Women”.

I also agree with the reader who said.....”I’d read the phone book if Lisa Sea wrote it”.
ME TOO!

Sincere thanks to Scriber Publishing, Netgalley, and Lisa Sea

This novel is set on the island of Jeju, off the southern coast of Korea. It follows best friends from very different backgrounds, Young-sook and Mi-Ja, and the group of women who dive with them. On Jeju women divers are the breadwinners, and the men take care of children. Mi-ja and Young-sook’s friendship seems unbreakable until a horrifying experience changes everything. Lisa See is a phenomenal writer, and the research she does is unequaled. (I’d never even heard of this island, the divers, and the disturbing history; reading this book prompted me to read more about the events described.) There were two quotes I particularly liked: When Young-Sook consults with the village shaman, she is told,” You are not being punished for your anger. You’re being punished by your anger,” and when Young-sook thinks of cautionary advice she has given to her children, she realizes that “sometimes everything you do is pointless and as ineffective as shouting into the wind.” Lisa See has created unforgettable, nuanced characters who perfectly personify the novel’s themes of friendship, loss, forgiveness, and love.

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See is the story of a girlhood friendship crushed and buckled by shifting political and cultural sands.

Set on a small volcanic island in Korea, and spanning from colonialism under the Japanese through the post-WWII division of the country and the resulting purge of Communist sympathizers in the South, the novel is a dazzling exploration of a little-known culture.

And it is also a testament to the strength of women.

In the 1930s, orphaned Mi-ja, daughter of a Korean who collaborated with the Japanese under colonialism, was sent to live with her aunt and uncle on the island of Jeju. Young-sook, a daughter descended from generations of haenyeo women who support their families by free diving to harvest the seas, befriends Mi-ja. Young-sook's mother teaches Mi-ja and Young-sook the traditional skills to become a haenyeo.

The women led hard lives of toil, but were proud of their work and contribution. While the sea women culled their "ocean fields" and tended their "dry fields" of sweet potatoes, the menfolk watched the kids and prepared the evening meal, spending their free time in talk. Life was a simple cycle. The girls embrace this life and future.

But the life the girls hope for is under duress. During WWII the resources of Jeju are confiscated for the Japanese war effort, resulting in starvation. Mi-ja is forced into marriage with a collaborator with the Japanese, while Young-sook remains in her village, married to a childhood friend. The women drift apart as truths remain unspoken and assumptions lead to prejudice and bitterness that lasts Young-sook's lifetime--until Mi-ja's granddaughter arrives, determined to tell Mi-ja's story to Young-sook.

What I loved about this novel is what I love about the best Historical Fiction: through sympathetic characters and an engaging storyline, history comes alive and I gain insight into the past.

But I didn't realize that after WWII, with Korea divided against its will, the Soviets in the North, and America in the South, each led by puppet presidents, resulted in such horrible violence that was unchecked by America. There are scenes in the book that rivals any horrors I have read in history.

The statistics, presented in the Acknowledgments, are staggering.

See informs us that Jeju's population of 300,000 was decimated by about 10%, with another 80,000 become refugees. Hundreds of villages disappeared. Talk about this dark time was banned for fifty years.

Under See's capable hands, the story is not weighed down by her research into her subject. She weaves the facts and history through the action.

See has a huge following and I expect The Island of Sea Women to become as popular as her earlier novels. It would be an excellent book club pick.

I received a free ebook from the publisher in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

The Korean island of Jeju is known for haenyeo – all-female diving collective. And that’s what this story brings. It is immersed in rich culture, where roles of men and women are reversed: women being providers and men taking care of the children and household.

The story begins in early 1930s with two young girls.

Young-sook with her mother and grandmother support the family, while the father takes care of the younger siblings.

Mi-ja loses both her parents and lives with her aunt and uncle, who mistreat her. To mollify her hunger, she steals potatoes on the fields of Young-sook’s family. She gets caught by the mother, who realizes girl’s hunger. The mother lets Mi-ja work along them in order to earn her share of food.

Thus, begins the friendship of both girls. One has rich imagination; the other is skillful in knitting and tending work required for livelihood.

Mi-ja used to live in the Jeju City. So she is familiar with electricity, lights, radio, cars, roads, which Young-sook is unfamiliar with. She can’t even comprehend playtime. “Who had interest in games that weren’t teaching you something practical…”

When girls are nine years old, there is an anti-Japanese demonstration against unfair labor practices planned island-wide. Grandmother tells the girls the stories of her grandmother and her grandmother and so on. They are told that the outside represents danger. They’ve been struggling with Japanese for centuries. Then, the girls are involved in the march.

After a few years of learning how to dive, at the age of twelve, the girls are taught how to reap underwater plants without damaging their roots, just as they have been doing in the dry fields. Thus, begins their journey of becoming haenyeo.

At the age of sixteen, they sign up for summer jobs as haenyeo, taking them to China, Japan, and mainland Korea.

At the age of twenty-one, they go to Vladivostok in Soviet Union, where the pay is the best.

When they come back from Vladivostok, they find out about their prearranged marriages. Mi-ja’s marriage takes her back to the city of Jeju and Young-sook stays in her village.

Right after WWII and Japanese colonization, Koreans have great hopes for independence. But Jeju people are suspicious of American’s who take place of Japanese and try to bring American democracy. Jeju people don’t want two countries of north and south. They want one country without interference or influence from a foreign power. This leads to Jeju uprising known as 4.3 Incident (April 3rd Incident), also known as Jeju massacre.

The story is very engaging (the first two chapters might be confusing, but it all starts with the third chapter). It is rich in traditions characterizing specifically the island of Jeju. The time period involves Japanese colonialism, the Korean War and 4.3 Incident.

You guys may know that The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane was one of my favorite books of 2017. So I was so excited to get this book approved on #netgalley!
🌊
Wow did this book open up my eyes to historical events that I did not know about. See uses a dual timeline, flashing back following Yong-Sook’s life being a sea diver on the matrifocal island of Jeju off of Korea. Yong-Sook also has a very close friend Mi-ja, who is like a sister to her growing up. But things change quickly as they approach marriageable ages and America gains control of Jeju after a Japanese occupation of the island. This book broke my heart a few times but I’m so glad that I read it.

Lisa See has written a moving novel detailing the lives of Young-sook and Mi-ja on the island of Jeju in Korea. Part of a matrifocal tradition, the women work as divers called Haenyeo, while the men stay back with the babies. The women form tight bonds, as the bond between Mi-ja and Young-sook until historical forces as well as deep misunderstandings test their friendship. Details about the Japanese control of the island,independence after WWII,then the American occupation during the terrible 4.3 incident, killing over 30,000 from Jeju, illuminates the troubled history of this island. I highly recommend this novel, particularly if you like reading about other cultures and their traditions.

Lisa See doesn't disappoint her fans with this saga of two young girls who form a friendship. The story takes place on an island which is a province of South Korea. I enjoyed reading and learning about the Province of Jeju, its history and politics that I knew nothing about. The book takes place in the 1930s, 1940s, and threw the Korean war. I was not aware of the hatred the Japanese have for the Koreans and vice versa. Of course, young girls don't care that one is Japanese and one is Korean, but the differences in their backgrounds lead them in different directions and force them apart despite their love for each other. It is their stories that Lisa See describes so wonderfully that is sure to make this book a favorite for historical fiction lovers in 2019. #theislandofseawomen #netgalley

I usually love See's books, but I didn't get very far with this one. It was so didactic at the beginning.

A beautifully ambitious novel which delves deep into the lives of its characters, exploring feminist themes with poignancy and intelligence.

Gorgeous, as every Lisa See novel is. I've been fascinated by this tribe of women for ages, so I was delighted to see Ms. See shared my obsession and brought it so eloquently to life. I can't wait for this title to become available so I can buy a copy for everyone I know.

I was beyond excited to read another book by Lisa See. I'm a big fan!

In a nutshell, this novel is about the lives of haenyeo, sea women in the Island of Jeju in Korea, who have the uncanny ability to dive into deep waters without any breathing apparatus to gather conch, sea urchins, octopus and abalone. The heart of the story focuses on two unlikely friends whose fate brought them together. Young-Sook a baby (beginner) diver and Mi-Ja, daughter of a Japanese collaborator. Although as different as chalk and cheese, Mi-Ja who was orphaned at a young age, was 'more like the sea - ever changing and occasionally tempestuous' while Young-Sook was 'practical and concerned always for her family,' their friendship blossomed through their experiences shared as haenyeo under the tutelage of Young-Sook's mother, and memories saved by Mi-Ja's picture-rubbings/etchings.

You can count on Lisa See to make history come to live. Reading her books is like sitting in a time machine, minus the worry of it malfunctioning! (Cue Back to the Future movie) And she makes you part of the story.

I enjoyed getting to know the strong, independent, wise and resilient haenyeo. I enjoyed the camaraderie of the haenyeo at the bulteok, bantering, talking about their families and men, basically just shooting the breeze, while cooking a meal, at the same time sharing tips on how to improve their diving skills. Any dissatisfaction and disagreement were solved in that gathering.

The hardest part for me to read was the Bukchon massacre, also known as “4:3” or April 3rd), the biggest, yet least known massacre, in which 10% of the islands population were brutally killed by their own government. The brutality and inhumanity of it all was incomprehensible. And how the media lied about the severity of it was unforgivable. This massacre was kept a secret until the late 1980's. It was also this incident that that Mi-Ja and Young-Sook's friendship was truly tested. Mi-Ja's action almost resulted in my kindle being thrown to the wall. Everything between them changed drastically ever since the massacre.

One of my favorite parts was when Joon-Lee interviewed the haenyeo for her sociology subject. The haenyeo were the breadwinners of their families and yet, as Joon-Lee herself had observed 'When husbands die, houses and fields pass to sons. Why is it that men own all the property?' Why have women always been treated so unfairly? They even lamented, 'It's better to be born a cow than a woman'.

Deeply anchored in the culture and tradition of the haenyeo are their ancestral rites and rituals. Shamans are constantly invited to perform blessings on special occasions, so as to please their gods and agoddesses. Aphorisms and wise sayings that get passed down from generation to generation also play a big part in their lives. They serve as great reminders in life.

I've always enjoyed Lisa See's writing and works, including this, for the simple fact that she makes history so interesting through her storytelling. I hope the sea women are here to stay, but that'll be too selfish of me. This job is risky, unpredictable and hazardous. But this won't stop the haenyeo from doing what gives them joy. It's their oxygen. A breath, a breath, a breath and then down...

Thank you Netgalley and Scribner for providing a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Lisa Sees books are always to be treasured to be shared with friends.This unique story centered on a small Korean Island will win her even more fans.A novel of women strong women Sea Women who dive for survival and the men who stay home taking care of the children.A novel of friendship betrayal a novel you will not forget,#netgalley#scribner

Thank You NetGalley for the free ARC.

I read many books and I always look forward to publications from certain authors because those books almost guarantee hours of escape and adventure and learning about new cultures in a pleasingly written style.

Lisa See is one of those authors. In this novel, See explores the Sea Women or haenyeo of the Korean Island of Jeju who for hundreds of years have had a free diving tradition to gather conch, sea urchin and abalone from the bottom of the sea. Because the women are the main source of income, they are regarded as the head of the household. This is the story of the friendship between Young - Sook, a baby diver and Mi -Ja her friend, the daughter of a Japanese collaborator.

It is also about the atrocities of the division of Korea and the subsequent take-over of the South Korean provisional government and other military organizations like the NYG to defeat communist insurgents, the most shocking being the massacre of Bukchon in which the military rounded up the whole village and razed it and its inhabitants to the ground. The massacre was kept a secret until the late 1980's. Over 10 % 0f the island population of Jeju was killed and many fled to Japan during those times.

Great read.