Annotated: The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

 

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

Author: Lisa See

Title: The Island of Sea Women

Original Publication Date: March 5, 2019

Number of Pages: 374

Geographical Settings: Jeju (island), Korea. Mainland Korea. China Sea. Vladivostok, Soviet Union.

Time Period: 1930’s to early 2000’s.

Subject Headings:

-       Haenyeo Koren female divers

-       Japanese—Colonization—History

-       Modernization, Globalization, and Social Transformation

Plot Summary: On Jeju Island in Korea, every day before dawn the women of the villages boat out to the churning waves of the sea, to the tunes of songs dedicated to the goddesses of the island. They pray for safety, for bounty and for their husbands back on shore to stop gambling away their money. Spitting on their knives in ceremony, they dive into the depths of the sea, for the food and prosperity their catches will bring.

            Young-sook and Mi-ja are young friends on Jeju, during the Japanese colonization of Korea. They, like their mothers and grandmothers, learn the trade and traditions of these haenyeo divers. Chapter by chapter, from the modern day back in time, we follow the lives of these friends as the world around them changes rapidly. Though Young-sook loves her friend more than any other in the world, Mi-ja’s family history of “collaborating” with the Japanese invaders brings Mi-ja ire from the entire island as they grow.

            Facing worries of finding husbands, the threats of the sea each day, and the dangerous political climate, their friendship is strengthened and strained, tested and forged, through the passage of time through WWII and the Korean War to modern day.

Appeals:

“We have many sayings on Jeju island. One of them is Wherever you are on Jeju, you can see Grandmother Seolmundae. But we also say Grandmother Seolmundae watches over all of us. No matter where Mi-ja and I went- we could see her reaching for the sky. Her peak was covered with snow and winter” (p. 42) – The living transforming friendship of two women is a dramatic, empathetic, bittersweet lens to watch the changing world of Jeju through pre-war Japanese colonization through modern day.

“As she walks to the shore, Young-sook sees the remnants of the old stone bulteok… where these days young people go to meet in secret, listen to music, and smoke cigarettes. Such a waste. She veers left and joins other older women as they enter the new bulteok… It doesn’t have a fire pit, but it has a roof, and area heaters…” (p. 76) – Stark contrasts of what once was and what now is, the dying of a culture on the island of Jeju, from a rural village of shamanism and tradition to the modern day of tourists and cell phones.

“I made a personal offering to the Dragon Sea God, as I did every time I left the hard earth for the watery realm… We didn’t mind dolphins, but sharks were another matter, especially when I was bleeding into the sea” (p.89) – The culture of the haenyeo, the female divers of Korea, is a unique and fascinating perspective into a different life and culture, which may be threatened by the march of time.

3 Terms to Describe the Book:

-       Diving and aquaculture

-       Passage of Time

-       Changing Friendship

Similar Authors and Works (Fiction):

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store (2023) by James McBride – A similar look of a community changing through the passage of time, following here an immigrant and African American neighborhood in Pennsylvania.

The Mermaid from Jeju (2020) by Sumi Hahn – For those interested in more tales of the haenyeo, and the traditional cultures of Korea in the times of rapid change and harrowing political climate during and following WWII.

If You Leave Me (2018) by Crystal Hana Kim – A harrowing and love story, following two lovers in Korea during the north/south civil war.

Similar Authors and Works (Non-Fiction):

Haenyeo: Women Divers of Korea (2017) by Y. Zin – The way the novel emphasizes the way that the hard lives of the divers are written on their bodies, this photographic collection of the divers allows the reader to see with their own eyes the stories written on these women.

The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag (2000) by Kang Chol-Hwan and Pierre Rigoulot – As Island follows the horrific impacts of the civil war, this novel follows the first survivor of the North Korean concentration “re-education” camps to escape to South Korea

Shadow Divers (2004) by Robert Kurson – A Western perspective on diving, this book follows two deep sea ship wreck divers in 1991, when they discover a mysterious sunken German U-Boat off the coast of New Jersey.