The Island of Sea Women

Told in part in first person in the past and in third during 2008, The Island of Sea Women follows the stories of Mija and Youngsook as as their lives unfurl as hanyeo on the Korean island of Jeju. This book starts during the Japanese colonization of Korea and follows through World War II, the Korean War, up to 2008. This is a story about friendship, about family– both the ones we are born into and the ones that we create– tradition, one of love.. and of loss.

This book... I want to start off by saying that I was incredibly excited to read this book for the Barnes and Noble book club. I run it every month, so of course I was going to read it anyway, but I was really motivated to read it because of my own studies of Korea and Korean history. I felt like this book was well researched and definitely well written. There are moments where I laughed, and definitely quite a few where I cried. I made the mistake of reading one of the most heartbreaking scenes in the book while I was out in a public park on my vacation and oh how the tears wanted to flow. You don't have to have a knowledge of Korean history to read this book and to enjoy it. I think that the stories of Mija and Youngsook are so powerful and important on their own that anyone could read it and enjoy it.