I very much enjoy Lisa See's books, especially Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, and I enjoyed this one also, but it's not her typical story. Who doesn't love reading about something new that they've never heard of before? I'd never heard of the haeneyo women of Jeju Island in S. Korea and their remarkable diving prowess. That and their matrifocal culture were interesting enough, but See also throws in the '4.3. Incident', which of course none of us learned about in school history because it was a criminal act to even speak of it until 2003. This book is chok full of new information that had me turning pages into the wee hours. (warning: about 2/3 of the way into the book are very graphic scenes of torture inflicted upon the Jeju people by the government. You can page through them without really missing anything of the story, as the events are summarized in subsequent chapters.) ( )

This book was the choice of my book club. It is probably not a book I would have picked up on my own, but it turned out to be a good one. It tells the story of the women divers of Jeju, a Korean island. It starts in the 1930's when Korea was occupied by Japanese colonizers and continues to 2008. The culture of Jeju island was unique and "matrifocal," where the mother was considered the head of the household. Due to unusual historical circumstances, the women were the ones who went diving for seafood, the work that supported their families. It was difficult and dangerous work.

At the heart of the story is the friendship between two of the women, and the events that happened to break the friendship. We also see the progress of history and the world events that affected the island. It begins with the hated Japanese colonizers who are eventually replaced by mainland Korean and American occupiers after WWII. As much as the Japanese were despised, the post-war era is worse, with much unrest, fears of communism, and persecution of opposition leading to a massacre, known as the 4.3 Incident, which is a turning point for the story. We see how modernization impacts the unique culture of the island and how a way of life is lost. This story of lost culture is different from what we usually see, where colonizing Europeans disrupt native American/Eskimo culture or, as in the case of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, Africa. In this case, it is their countrymen, Koreans from the mainland, who are the primary agents of the change.

Lisa See does a beautiful job of showing us the way of life on Jeju and the relationships between the women and their families. There are a number of tragedies that befall the inhabitants of Jeju, and some of this is difficult to read. But the story was very engrossing, and I learned about a place and way of life that I had no idea existed. ( )

I borrowed this book from my local library. It's a book club read for April 2024.

Haenyeo are the sea women of Jeju Island, a large isle off the coast of South Korea and near Japan. They are deep sea divers, a role traditionally given to women in the matrifocal society: the women are seen as physically superior in the water and therefore earn the family income, while men tend to the children and do housework (and often seem to become alcoholics). This book follows two best friends in a small village as they grow up in the 1930s and 1940s. Marriage and the Korean War bring devastating events to their families, tearing the two women apart, but the narrative continues up to the present day, when the haenyeo numbers are greatly diminished and regulated.

The subject matter of this book was absolutely new to me, and fascinating. I'm not so fond of books about drama between people who just aren't paying attention, so I found that frustrating. The book goes quite dark as it addresses atrocities during the Korean War--it truly depicts the horrors of war. I was disgusted, but unsurprised, to discover America's role in it.

I wouldn't have picked this up if not for the book club, and I feel like I learned a lot. ( )

Lisa See consistently writes stories about women and their family struggles while also providing a history lesson about events I was not aware of. This heartbreaking novel not only tells about strong, independent women divers in Jeju Island but also how history can drastically affect both families and friendship. I definitely recommend it; be forewarned that it is a tear-jerker. ( )

Set on the Korean island of Jeju, this multi-generational story spans a period of approximately 70 years, from the late 1930s to 2008. The novel follows the lives of two women in a fascinating matrifocal society who are haenyeo, elite women divers who can hold their breath for long periods and withstand cold water temperatures, and become caught up in the 4.3 Uprising against the Japanese occupiers in the late 1940s (another genocidal massacre largely unknown to the world) and the Korean War. The events strain the once-close relationship of the central characters, and the book explores betrayals and the difficulty of forgiveness both on the personal level and the political. Beautifully written, as all of Lisa See's works are. ( )