Review: The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See
Reading is an excellent way to become educated. Before picking up my copy of The Island of Sea Woman I was scarcely aware of the Korean island of Jeju and the proud tradition of the haenyeo. This book changed all of that for me. The novel opens in 2008 with an old woman going about her work on the beach. It soon becomes obvious that Young-sook and her companions are something of a tourist attraction--something that she does not welcome. Even less welcome is the family of tourist who soon begin to pester her with questions. When Janet an American woman of Korean heritage insists that Young-sook must have known her grandmother, a diver named Mi-ja, Young-sook knows that she must leave--and fast. Moving back in time to 1938, the novel reveals that Young-sook and Mi-ja did indeed know one another. One was the daughter of a well-respected haenyeo, the other the daughter of a man who had helped the Island's enemy--the Japanese. Despite her tainted past, Mi-ja is accepted and...