The Island of Sea Women

Lisa See tackles the free-diving women of the South Korean island of Jeju. It's been a matrifocal society since a 17th century king conscripted most of the island men to his army but still required his tribute of abalone. The remaining women had no choice but to take to the sea and they've been doing it ever since.

Young-Sook is 85 in 2008 when the book opens. She's managed to survive the seas as a haenyeo but living on the island has exacted a heavy toll. Jumping back to 1938 we're introduced to who will be her best friend, Mi-ja. This is their story growing up.

The haenyeo have a saying: “Every woman who enters the sea carries a coffin on her back” and we're quickly introduced to the many dangers they face underwater. This alone would have made for a compelling story, the girls growing in their underwater abilities, travelling to the frigid waters of Vladivostok, the petty jealousies and familial hardships their friendship would endure. But their lives are set on a horribly different path in the aftermath of the 4.3 incident.

April 3, 1948 saw an island uprising against the US installed government that was violently suppressed with some estimates seeing 1 in 10 islanders eventually killed while others put the number closer to 1 in 4. It's a brief, jarring and incredibly violent episode in the novel that sets the girls on separate paths.

So I came for the story and stayed for Lisa See introducing me to this heretofore unknown aspect of Korean history that sent me down a rabbit hole. Requisite booktubing in cars review here: https://youtu.be/o5jwCqucmOo