Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

27 reviews

leweylibrary's review

challenging emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I feel like I need to mention first and foremost that there are some hardcore trigger warnings that hit hard and fast in the middle. I was listening to that part on audiobook so I could get this book done in time to take the physical version back to the library, and I had to pause it and just sit there like damn. And then the next chapter hit hard with the drama. I was personally fine with those parts, I just wasn't expecting them at all from the description or anything.

Those parts hit at just the right time though because I had been getting a bit bored. There's not a ton of dialogue, and the pace is really slow, but when those parts hit, I was reinvested lol.

One thing that helped keep my attention was Young-sook's friendship with Mi-Ja. You learn right off the bat that they had a serious falling out, but you don't know why. You watch their friendship grow stronger and stronger, all the while thinking what could possibly be bad enough that tears them apart?? Aaaand then it happens, and you're like ah. Right yeah no that makes sense. But then Young-sook just holds such a hella grudge and can't move past it which is frustrating. The ending to this conflict felt a bit rushed, so it wasn't as satisfying to me as it could've been.

All that said, I did learn a LOT and am glad I read it!

Quotes:

• Her house is the nest where she hides the joy, laughter, sorrows, and regrets of her life. (3)
• How different it is with friendship. No one picks a friend for us; we come together by choice. We are not tied together through ceremony or the responsibility to create a son; we tie ourselves together through moments. The spark when we first meet. Laughter and tears shared. Secrets packed away to be treasured, hoarded, and protected. The wonder that someone can be so different from you and yet still understand your heart in a way no one else ever will. (36)
• Young-sook's mother used to say that the sea was like a mother while Young-sook's grandmother said that the sea was better than a mother. After all these years, Young-sook knows her grandmother to be the most right. The sea is better than a mother. You can love your mother, and she still might leave you. You can love or hate the sea, but it will always be there. Forever. The sea has been the center of her life. It has nurtured her and stolen from her, but it has never left. (79)
• I loved her. I would always love her. That was far more important than the men we were to marry. (126)
• Oh, I understood life and death, but I didn't yet have a true comprehension of all that could happen between your first and last breaths. This was a mistake I would live with for the rest of my life. (138)
• I'd watched my mother die in the sea. I'd seen Yu-ri go into the sea one person and come out another. I understood the sea to be dangerous, but what was happening on dry land confused and scared me. In the last few months, I'd witnessed several people get shot in front of me. I'd seen people on both sides beaten. Those who'd been killed or injured were all Korean--whether from the mainland or Jeju--and the perpetrators had all been our countrymen. This was unfathomable to me, and I couldn't stop shaking from fear, not even when my husband held me tight and told me he would keep us safe. (197)
• I stopped breathing, holding in air longer than could be possible, as if I were in the deepest part of the sea. When I couldn't hold it any longer, I sucked in not the quick death of seawater but instead unforgetting, unrelenting, life-giving air. (231)
• To understand everything is to forgive. (363)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Child death, Death, Gore, War, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

puppyjungoo's review against another edition

emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

i learned so much from this book. it's told from such an unique perspective, and chock-full of information regarding japanese colonialism in korea, american colonialism in korea, and how that trauma travels through generations. i love love love anything with a multi-generational structure, but this just changed the game for me. it's absolutely devastating to the point of it making me ill at some parts, but i think that just speaks to the power of the story. i don't know if i would necessarily recommend this to anyone given how upsetting it is, but it's definitely a new favourite for me! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Violence, War, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Child death, Child abuse, Colonisation, and Grief

leoniethespacewayfarer's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

its so good it follows this woman young-sook who was born in like the 20’s and follows her life and friendship with Mi-ja on Jeju throughout the world war, colonisation and the north/south korea fight and it is beautiful and wrecks your heart and i cried so many times. It is beautifully written and haunting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Sexism, Death, War, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, and Grief

Minor: Alcoholism

astonecdp's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Beautifully written historical fiction. I learned so much about the time, place and people (especially women) of Jeju, Korea.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Violence

Moderate: Torture, Genocide, Death of parent, Mass/school shootings, War, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Sexual violence

julesmcf's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

This was the most captivating book I've read in a long time, covering  a range of topics: friendship,

betrayal and forgiveness

, the strength and endurance of women, their spiritual connection to the island and sea, and a changing time and world. I've learned so much about Korean history and the hanyeo. This is an extremely well- researched and written book. I highly recommend you to read it!

However, it is not a light read as it deals in detail with the cruelties that were committed in the  end of the 1940s and 50s on Jeju.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and War

Moderate: Murder, Rape, Domestic abuse, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Fire/Fire injury

camillemelaleuca's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

heartbreaking

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Grief

Moderate: Child death and Death of parent

Minor: War, Torture, Sexual assault, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts

rieviolet's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

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

3.0

I started this book with very high expectations and maybe that wasn't a good idea because it just added to my disappointment. 

The sections with historical, social and cultural informations were very interesting (at least for me) but I don't think that they were very well integrated into the narration and I can see how someone might find them a bit too much didactic and dry.

The historical events that are the basis for this story were brutal and certainly they cannot be brushed aside, but I still think that an author can approach the portraying of violence in a way that does not feel gratuitous (as it did for me in this case). I don't think that such a violence was well transposed on the page, at times it just felt like a list of atrocities, just for shock value. 

In general, I just didn't get along much with the writing style, I found it eithera bit plain or a bit too much overdone, without much subtlety in terms of both narration and characterization. 

Speaking of characters, I have to say that I struggled to connect with them, even when it came to the main character, Youngsook, there were very few moments when I felt really engrossed in her story and her feelings. I think that the characters' emotions were not so well portrayed, they were either too much melodramatic for my taste or kept hidden or just vaguely hinted at, so that I struggled as a reader to actually understand their depth and to be interested in the unfolding of the various relationships.

I wasn't so keen on the big final reveal, the events of the last chapters
just felt like too much for me, too over dramatic, too out of nowhere, just too much. The ending itself was also very abrupt. 

I really liked the setting and the historical/cultural background but the story, the characters and the writing style quite dampened my enjoyment of the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Violence, Gun violence, War, Colonisation, Police brutality, Torture, Death, Child death, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexism, and Grief

Moderate: Rape, Ableism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Excrement, Vomit, Blood, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Child abuse

Minor: Cancer, Body shaming, and Alcoholism

amandas_bookshelf's review

adventurous emotional informative reflective sad 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death of parent, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Violence, War, Blood, Child death, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Religious bigotry, Torture, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Excrement, Vomit, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Cancer

zombiezami's review against another edition

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? Yes

4.0

I always learn so much about history from Lisa See's novels, and this book was no exception. There was clearly a lot of research and care that went into producing this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Gun violence, Violence, War, Death, Murder, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Child death, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Blood, Gore, Animal death, and Genocide

Moderate: Vomit, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Sexism, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual harassment, Excrement, Ableism, Alcoholism, and Medical content

Minor: Cancer, Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Kidnapping, Drug use, and Infidelity

Starvation

corriejn's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Xenophobia, War, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Genocide, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Grief, Murder, Violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Ableism, Classism, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Vomit, Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, Infertility, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, and Infidelity

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Cancer, Chronic illness, Medical content, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexism, and Suicidal thoughts