The Island of Sea Women

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In a role reversal uncommon for the times, the women provided for their families while the men stayed home to take care of the home and children. It was a hard life with a level of subsistence poverty unknown to most of us. Mi-ja’s rubbings are critical to the novel. How do they illustrate the friendship between Mi-ja and Young-sook? How do they help Young-sook in her process of healing?

I’ll need to work extra hard to help pay for Jun-bu’s tuition andhelp my new family.” Yu-ri called across the room to her mother and future mother-in-law. “I’m a good worker, eh?” Yu-ri was known throughout our village as a chatterbox. She seemed worry free, and she was a good worker, which was why it had been easy to find a match for her.These women divers are living legends. How novelist Lisa See captured their story". LA times. January 8, 2021.

Mi-ja carries the burden of being the daughter of a Japanese collaborator. Is there an inevitability to her destiny just as there’s an inevitability to Young-sook’s destiny? Another way of considering this aspect of the story is, are we responsible for the sins of our fathers (or mothers)? Later in the novel, Young-sook will reflect on all the times Mi-ja showed she was the daughter of a collaborator. She also blames Yo-chan for being Mi-ja’s son, as well as the grandson of a Japanese collaborator. Was Young-sook being fair, or had her eyes and heart been too clouded? The heart of this story is about the friendship between Young-sook, a daughter of the chief of one of the haenyeo collectives, and an orphan girl, Mi-ja, taken in by her aunt and uncle, who bear her no great love and are often cruel and neglectful. Jeju is colonized by the Japanese as Part 1 begins in 1938. Mi-ja is marked by the community because her father was a Japanese collaborator, so when Young-sook’s mother takes Mi-ja under her wing, it allows Mi-ja to assimilate into the village. Later, as teenagers, the two girls will become diving partners. Despite their love for each other, Mi-ja and Young-sook find it impossible to ignore their differences. The Island of Sea Women takes place over many decades, beginning during a period of Japanese colonialism in the 1930s and 1940s, followed by World War II, the Korean War, through the era of cell phones and wet suits for the women divers. Throughout this time, the residents of Jeju find themselves caught between warring empires. Mi-ja is the daughter of a Japanese collaborator. Young-sook was born into a long line of haenyeo and will inherit her mother’s position leading the divers in their village. Little do the two friends know that forces outside their control will push their friendship to the breaking point.Threaded through the novel are chapters set in 2008 when Young-sook is an old woman, retired from diving and although living a comfortable life with successful children and grandchildren, still likes to go to the beach daily to collect seaweed. She is approached by an American family with news of Mi-ja and what they tell her will lead her to some understanding and forgiveness for Mi-ja. A deeply moving tale, 'The Island Of Sea Women' follows the life of Young-sook from when she's an inexperienced baby diver, through to being chief haenyeo, through to her eighties. Tragic, because there was always some government somewhere wanting to take control of the Island due to its strategic military location. Decades of living in fear, of poverty, restrictions, and wars would surely wear down any group of people. Triumphant because, like the inspiring haenyeo with their amazing abilities, again and again these Island people propelled themselves from the depths and to the surface. Korea's IMTV Hatches Multi-Season Series Based on Lisa See Novel 'The Island of Sea Women' About Matriarchal Society of Free Divers (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. October 8, 2022. The threads of time, commitment, connection, and honor run deeply through this latest offering by the highly talented Lisa See. We follow her to the Korean volcanic island of Jeju in the Korean Strait. Jeju is filled with jutting cliffs, white sandy beaches, and the deafening roar of the sea. But the beauty of these surroundings is far outmatched by the resilience of its people.....and in particular, its women.

You know going into a Lisa See novel that the depth of research into her subject is remarkable. When reading a historical fiction book, I need to trust that the author has his or her facts correct and doesn’t play loose with the truth. And that is exactly what we get with this author. Abuse of male power is indeed as much a through line in See’s fiction as are female bonds — by bosses, fathers, brothers, husbands, lovers. See’s heroines are uniformly resilient in facing these misdeeds, although she does allow rare periods of marital bliss between Young-sook and Jun-bu: “Sometimes we went to the water’s edge. Sometimes we strolled through the olles. Other times we’d climb an oreum, stare out at the view, talk, and sometimes do nighttime activities in the broad daylight.” But—” Do-saeng didn’t finish her thought. Instead, she smoothed strings of wet hair away from her daughter’s face.Father ladled the thin millet soup that he’d prepared into bowls. I loved him. He had Grandmother’s narrow face. His long, tapered hands were soft. His eyes were deep and warm. His callused feet were almost always bare. He wore his favorite dog-fur hat pulled down over his ears and many layers of clothes, which helped to disguise how he sacrificed food, so his children could eat more. Mother, never wasting a moment, joined us on the floor and nursed my baby brother, who was barely a month old, as she ate. As soon as she was done with her soup and the feeding, she handed the baby to my father. Like all haenyeo husbands, he would spend the rest of the day under the village tree in Hado’s central square with other fathers. Together, they’d look after babies and young children. Satisfied that Fourth Brother was content in Father’s arms, Mother motioned for me to hurry. Anxiety rattled through me. I so hoped to prove myself today. Young-sook is the daughter of the head of the collective which dives to support their family. Her family has lived on the island for generations and don’t know anything much about the “outside” world. At this time they are under Japanese control and they are very fearful of the Japanese soldiers who are known for their brutal treatment of women and corrupt governing. I also have to mention one of my GR friend's Jenna who summed it up perfectly. It was hard to connect emotionally, to know what certain characters were feeling. I never really understood Mi'ja and what she was feeling and why she was feeling it. I felt pity for her, I did, at her terrible fate and terrible husband. But I do not understand why she asked Young-sook to choose between her children, knowing, as she later said, that she could not take even one. I can never thank you enough.” Mi-ja’s voice was as delicate as flower petals. “You have been a mother to me, and I will always be grateful.”