Reviews with content warning for Racism - The Island of Sea Women

I loved the beginning of this book. I didn't understand how brutal the story it had to tell would become, and I can't say I was quite ready for it.
Also, I couldn't quite relate to the perfect friendship/turned so completely to trauma of a level so deep...I couldn't relate to either of them by then, Mi-ja and her seeming instantaneous change of heart, Young-Sook and her complete unwillingness to listen or interact with her, even if she felt betrayed.

She had to know that Mi-ja didn't cause the massacre, and that no matter Mi-ja's failure to act, it wasn't all her fault. And on the other side, what friend asks you to choose one of your children to save? What was that?

The book explicitly and implicitly favoured a "forgiveness" pathway that felt more like passivity than forgiveness. The ending really pushed toward a particular interpretation, which felt imposed by non-survivors (the author? Or the cultural stereotype of the passive Asian woman?). The character of Young-Sook felt like she wanted to shatter those expectations, and for the better, but she wasn't allowed her free reign.

. Originally, when Mi-ja comes to the ceremony with Shaman Kim, what happened there was wide open for interpretation. I thought that Shaman Kim was chastising Mi-ja by reminding her of the trauma of the day of the massacre. She was saying the family members forgave, but they were speaking to Young-sook: they were easing her pain. To Mi-ja, outside of it all, it seemed to me that they were showing her separateness from the massacre: she was there but not there, she walked away and washed her hands of it, they had nothing to say to her and they were showing their connection to the community, but not to her. Mi-ja, who could not accept forgiveness anyway, would not have felt herself absolved of guilt by this. She would have trebled in guilt, for thinking she didn't deserve their forgiveness.
When Shaman Kim reinterprets this at the end of the book, she chastises Young-Sook, she pushes her to forgive Mi-ja, and by extension their Korean attackers, but that is not what was necessarily meant by the family's statements or by Shaman Kim's words to a community member. I thought Shaman Kim was originally enjoining Young-Sook to forgive herself, as a survivor. This was much more interesting to me than anything about Mi-ja at that point... Mi-ja's husband could not help them, even if he wanted to, that kind of heroics is for Hollywood...he had chosen his side and Jun-Bu wasn't on it, even had they been friends, which they weren't. Massacres don't tend well to exceptions, it's unlikely he could have saved his wife, at that point.

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alisonw's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Just realised I never reviewed this, it’s been a few months so I can’t be as clear with the review but I highly highly recommend this book.

Firstly a TW: It deals with extremely heavy subjects of loss, war, corruption, all kinds of abuse, murder including all ages, all very graphically so please be warned if you think you can’t handle that.

But if you’re unsure, don’t let that put you off. This book tells the true story of the people of Jeju and all they have gone through in the last century through a fictional narrative and the graphic elements are there because they happened, reading them feels similar to the sobering feeling of going to a concentration camp has, it’s horribly sad but feels like a necessity to be able to respect and remember - in my case as a European who was taught nothing about Korea’s history, it felt so important to acknowledge and learn about these events for the first time.

The author is masterful at weaving history and fiction together, none of the fictitious story line feels forced to bring in a historical event, while at the same time the story does not steal from the history, I would actually say it helps give it more blood and feel more tangible rather than cold facts on a page about somewhere far away.

Highly highly recommend.

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alexis_baldwin92's review against another edition

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annaclaire18's review

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

This book… is so dark… There are not enough trigger warnings in the world to cover this novel, but it is such an important story. I learned so much from this book about Korea, the Korean War, and a hidden genocide I knew nothing about.

The characters are convincing and complex, and the plot drags you under and doesn’t let you up for air.

I was less fond of the modern timeline that wove in and out of the story, but it did serve to help break up the heavy topic of the novel.

Warning: this is not a light read. Prepare for graphic descriptions of violence.

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abrdoodle's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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raaahella's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This book was one that left a huge piece till the end. I find this a regular plot device, but also feel the authors never get to truly rustle with the decisions the main characters will feel over this "brand new information," revealed on the second last page. She is not the only author who does this, so I will not fault her for it.

It was a good book at understanding our expectations of others and how we expect or think they will view us. It also showed why holding onto hate just leaves you with regret. Great life lesson book. And a beautiful historical story about a matriarchal society.

I would highly recommend anyone to read, if only for the Korean historical part.

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biblioghoul's review against another edition

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challenging emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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corriejn's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes

4.75

I checked out this book based on a recommendation, and because I'd heard of the haenyeo before and was interested in learning more. Clearly I didn't look much into the details of the book beforehand, as I started it expecting nonfiction-- when it was apparent it was a novel, that was fine and I just adjusted that expectation. The story is still very informative about the lives and traditions of the Korean women sea-divers. What I wish I had realized beforehand, though, is that the book covers much of mid-19th-century Korean history and includes some really graphic and traumatic descriptions of atrocities committed during occupation and wartime (such content is mainly in the latter half of the book). It is still a powerful and artfully told story, but do be aware of that going in, and don't pick this one up if you're looking for a light read.

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