The Island of Sea Women

Lisa See's latest book was just published in March, 2019. The story takes place on a Korean island called Jeju and is about two women who are haenyeo, female divers for food. Young-sook and Mi-ja have been best friends since early childhood. Mi-ja is the orphan daughter of a Japanese collaborator and Young-sook is the daughter of the leader of the haenyeo collective. The story covers a period of time from the 1930s through the end of the Korean War with a subplot from 2008.

The haenyeo culture is unique as the women are in charge of providing the family finances and the men stay home and care for the children. Their job of harvesting fish from the sea for sale or to feed their families can be unsafe. One haenyeo in the story was almost killed by an octopus and Young-sook's mother died while helping her gather her first abalone. The women continue this work because they feel freedom from the cares of the world when they are underwater.

Our two heroines remain close friends until they marry and discover their husbands have different political views. They are also separated by living in different villages but their distance is primarily created by their husbands being on opposite political sides of Japanese colonialism in Korea and the Korean War. Each woman takes her husband's side and one betrays another during a period known in history as the Jeju Uprising. Between 14,000 and 30,000 people were murdered by American controlled South Korean government officials in 1948 and 1949. The author wove this event, covered up for decades by the South Korean government, into the story.  Most of the people killed were men as Young-sook remarks in the story that she lived on the Island of Widows.

This story reminded me of Mary Lynn Bracht's White Chrysanthemum which I read last year. It, too, was about a family of haenyeo on Jeju Island during World War II.  However, the See book reads rather slowly and had less poignancy than her books usually have. The characters were not as compelling as those in White Chrysanthemum. It is hard not to compare the two books as they are both about the haenyeo during the World War II era on Jeju Island and they were published one year apart. They are quite similar but White Chrysanthemum is a more interesting read and it was my top book for 2018.

I was surprised by the slow pace. A Lisa See book usually has a good pace. The plot was good and it could have been an exciting read. It wasn't. The book was OK, just not up to par with all of the author's earlier books. My expectations may have been unfairly high due to the similarities with Chrysanthemum but it was hard not to compare the books. While the characters in The Island of Sea Women were compelling, I felt that Young-sook was really the only character that made you want to keep reading. In a book that is supposed to be about the relationship between two women, having one woman not that strong of a character was a problem for me.

I am still glad that I read this book. I never want to pass up a Lisa See novel. It just wasn't the blockbuster I was expecting.

3 out of 5 stars.