The Island of Sea Women

✍️ The island of sea women (2019) by Lisa See is a powerful novel that, as a female scuba diver (and after seeing so many recommendations) felt like a must-read. 📖 Set on Jeju Island, south of Korea, the story follows the haenyeo: women who free dive into cold seas to provide for their families in a matrifocal society, where women are the providers and decision-makers. On Jeju, “Halmang” means both “grandmother” and“goddess” - how fabulous is that? 📘At the heart of the novel is the friendship between Young-sook and Mi-ja, spanning the Japanese occupation and the Korean War. 📗 I loved this book. A beautiful, powerful reminder of female strength, community, and endurance in a time and place I knew almost nothing about.

Un libro muy bello pero duro a la vez

um dos melhores livros que li nos últimos anos.

A very worthwhile read for many reasons….

Book reviewers tend to make full use of the vernacular of the day; they want their review to highlight the things that are most important to the reader. So used in abundance to describe Lisa See's Island of Sea Women are words like female friendship, historical novel, women's strengths, powerful women, multigenerational story, and so on. All these adjectives are accurate but don't do justice to See's book regarding its full scope. This is the story of Korea as told through the friendship of Young-sook, the daughter of the head haenyeo diver, and Mi-ja, the orphaned daughter of a Japanese collaborator. It is unique, beautiful, and sometimes brutal, but most of all, its historical context is authentic. I was fortunate enough to have once lived in South Korea, and while the book enabled me to revisit some familiar words and places, the story of the Island of Jeju and the haenyeo was sadly unknown to me. See's research and how she weaves it into the storyline is flawless. Her writing is clear and honest and never wavers towards unnecessary melodrama or superfluous emotions. To read this book is to immerse oneself in the best and worst of humanity. One cannot help but feel saddened that the lifestyle of the haenyeo is changing, ageing and performative for visiting tourists. South Korea has emerged from its often-dark history, now a vibrant and beautiful country, but to some degree, this has come at the cost of its spirituality and culture. I highly recommend this book because, like those fantastic female divers, it will gently take you down into its depths, from which you will slowly emerge a little richer and a little wiser.