The Island of Sea Women

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More food than in fifty jars at my grandmother’s house,” a woman, who’d been widowed too young, joined in, “if she’d had fifty jars.” 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.

If you're interested in modern Asian history this makes for an engrossing read. Not only does it tell of the fascinating lives of the traditional haenyeo, or diving women who harvested fish and seafood on the Korean island of Jeju, but it also describes the political eruptions that affected their lives during Japanese occupation and later the Korean war, ultimately leading to the violent Jeju Uprising in 1948 where anywhere up to 60,000 people were killed and another 40,000 fled to Japan. Learning of Korean culture, Haenyeo culture and Jeju history through the fictional tales of these two women was compelling. I loved all the knowledge that Lisa See was able to compact into this book. This was a much needed and capturing read, both vivid and empathetic. It has alighted a curiosity in me to learn more about Haenyeo culture. The whole time, Yu-ri continued talking, talking, talking. “My brother is very smart, and he works hard in school.” My mother may have been the head of the collective, but Do-saeng had a son who was the pride of every family in Hado. “Everyone says Jun-bu will go to Japan to study one day.”

This is the story of empowered women in an incredibly unempowering time. It spans decades of life on the Korean island of Jeju, during occupancy during WWII and the Korean war. The island that wants to live its life when the world won't leave it alone. We edged closer to the flames and stripped off our clothes. No one showed any inhibitions. This was like being together in the communal bath. Some of the younger women were big with babies growing in their bellies. Older women had stretch marks. Even older women had breasts that sagged from too much living and giving. Mi-ja’s and my bodies showed our age too. We were fifteen years old, but the harshness of our environment—little food, hard physical work, and cold weather—meant that we were as skinny as eels, our breasts had not yet begun to grow, and just a few wisps of hair showed between our legs. We stood there, shivering, as Yu-ri, Gu-ja, and Gu-sun helped us put on our three-piece water clothes made from plain white cotton. The white color would make us more visible underwater, and it was said to repel sharks and dolphins, but, I realized, the thinness of the fabric would do little to keep us warm. In many ways, the novel is about blame, guilt, and forgiveness. In the first full chapter, Yu-ri has her encounter with the octopus. What effect does this incident have on various characters moving forward: Mother, Young-sook, Mi-ja, Do-seang, Gu-ja, Gu-sun, and Jun-bu? Young-sook is also involved in the tragic death of her mother. To what extent is she responsible for these sad events? Is her sense of guilt justified?

What is life like for men married to haenyeo? Compare Young-sook’s father, Mi-ja’s husband, and Young-sook’s husband. As they grow to form partnerships, they experience sorrow and sadness. For not only are they under the duress of their diving but they as living on Jeju island where they are undergoing the realities of the times. From the Japanese control through World War 2 and the Korean War, their lives are hanging in the balance of conflict and hardship. The two fast friends experience so much sadness and through circumstances of the times, they grow apart and become estranged from each other. Their friendship breaks apart as each girl experiences her own personal hell. Yet, each one survives to see change, to see a world so different from the one they knew, to see that life and friendship often go on to an end that is blessed with a final understanding as a place for peace of the heart, mind, and soul. 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 was completely drawn into the setting here to the remote Jeju Island in South Korea that is home to haenyeo “sea woman” who all are female free drivers. I was fascinated by these strong, proud women who took risks and made sacrifices to feed their families and their passion for the sea This book spans decades, following Japanese colonialism of Korea in the 1930s and 40s, World War II, the Korean War, and the present day. Consider reading Lisa See’s Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, which follows a lifelong friendship between two women in 19th century China. Compare this friendship to the friendship between Young-sook and Mi-ja.

Mother placed a blanket over Yu-ri and another over Do-saeng’s shoulders. Do-saeng wiped her face with a corner of the rough cloth. She spoke, but her words were carried away by the wind. First one woman then another stopped singing, each of us needing to hear Do-saeng. Yu-ri’s future mother-in-law kept our rowing rhythm going by beating the wooden handle of a diving tool on the edge of the boat. Here is my father when he was young,” Janet says, thrusting a blurry image before Young-sook’s eyes. “Do you remember him? Here’s another photo of my grandmother. It was taken on her wedding day. I was told the girl beside her is you. Won’t you please take a few minutes to talk to us?” When you go into the sea, you dive among the underwater ripples of her skirt. She is the great volcano at the center of our island. Some people call it Mount Halla, the Peak That Pulls Down the Milky Way, or the Mountain of the Blessed Isle. To us, she isour island. Anywhere we go, we can call to her and weep out our woes, and she will listen.” A stupendous multigenerational family saga, See’s latest also provides an enthralling cultural anthropology highlighting the soon-to-be-lost, matriarchal haenyeo phenomenon and an engrossing history of violently tumultuous twentieth-century Korea. A mesmerizing achievement. See’s accomplishment, acclaim, and readership continue to rise with each book, and interest in this stellar novel will be well stoked.” Since this book spans so many years we are audience to the many atrocities that accompany wars and demonstrations of control. Many people lost loved one to brutal killings by the Japanese. An uprising, later known as the 4.3 incident, caused the massacre of thousands of the islanders including women and children. Young-sook reached out to Mi-ja to help save them but she turned to her husband and left. What happens tears them apart forever.

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! Update March 3, 2019. My wife just finished reading this book, 1/3 rd of the way in she was hoping that a certain man would die.. He was a wife beater. If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other." (Mother Teresa)