The Island of Sea Women: A Novel
(Libby/OverDrive eAudiobook)

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Average Rating
Author
Contributors
See, Lisa Author
Lim, Jennifer Narrator
Published
Simon & Schuster Audio , 2019.
Status
Checked Out

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Description

"A new novel from Lisa See, the New York Times bestselling author of The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, about female friendship and family secrets on a small Korean island. Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living on the Korean island of Jeju, are best friends that come from very different backgrounds. When they are old enough, they begin working in the sea with their village's all-female diving collective, led by Young-sook's mother. As the girls take up their positions as baby divers, they know they are beginning a life of excitement and responsibility but also danger. Despite their love for each other, Mi-ja and Young-sook's differences are impossible to ignore. The Island of Sea Women is an epoch set over many decades, beginning during a period of Japanese colonialism in the 1930s and 1940s, followed by World War II, the Korean War and its aftermath, through the era of cell phones and wet suits for the women divers. Throughout this time, the residents of Jeju find themselves caught between warring empires. Mi-ja is the daughter of a Japanese collaborator, and she will forever be marked by this association. Young-sook was born into a long line of haenyeo and will inherit her mother's position leading the divers in their village. Little do the two friends know that after surviving hundreds of dives and developing the closest of bonds, forces outside their control will push their friendship to the breaking point. This beautiful, thoughtful novel illuminates a world turned upside down, one where the women are in charge, engaging in dangerous physical work, and the men take care of the children. A classic Lisa See story--one of women's friendships and the larger forces that shape them--The Island of Sea Women introduces readers to the fierce and unforgettable female divers of Jeju Island and the dramatic history that shaped their lives"--nds that come from very different backgrounds. When they are old enough, they begin working in the sea with their village's all-female diving collective, led by Young-sook's mother. As the girls take up their positions as baby divers, they know they are beginning a life of excitement and responsibility but also danger. Despite their love for each other, Mi-ja and Young-sook's differences are impossible to ignore. The Island of Sea Women is an epoch set over many decades, beginning during a period of Japanese colonialism in the 1930s and 1940s, followed by World War II, the Korean War and its aftermath, through the era of cell phones and wet suits for the women divers. Throughout this time, the residents of Jeju find themselves caught between warring empires. Mi-ja is the daughter of a Japanese collaborator, and she will forever be marked by this association. Young-sook was born into a long line of haenyeo and will inherit her mother's position leading the divers in their village. Little do the two friends know that after surviving hundreds of dives and developing the closest of bonds, forces outside their control will push their friendship to the breaking point. This beautiful, thoughtful novel illuminates a world turned upside down, one where the women are in charge, engaging in dangerous physical work, and the men take care of the children. A classic Lisa See story--one of women's friendships and the larger forces that shape them--The Island of Sea Women introduces readers to the fierce and unforgettable female divers of Jeju Island and the dramatic history that shaped their lives"--

More Details

Format
eAudiobook
Edition
Unabridged
Street Date
03/05/2019
Language
English
ISBN
9781508266877

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These books have the appeal factors haunting, lyrical, and sweeping, and they have the subject "insurgency"; and characters that are "complex characters" and "authentic characters."
These sweeping historical fiction books focus on the lives of a disparate group of citizens (Beasts of a Little Land) or a skilled group of women (Island of Sea Women) caught in political and cultural upheaval in 20th century Korea. -- Andrienne Cruz
These novels movingly portray generational complications and pitfalls of life through the experiences of pairs of Korean women. The Island of Sea Women features close-as-sisters friends; The Kinship of Secrets stars sisters. -- Katherine Johnson
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Similar Authors From NoveList

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Both Lisa See and Kathryn Stockett have written thought-provoking novels about women who use what little freedom they have to subvert the oppressive system in which they are forced to live. Readers count on See and Stockett's compelling, layered, and character-centered novels to "teach them something." -- Becky Spratford
Gail Tsukiyama and Lisa See write compelling historical fiction. Their lyrically written and vividly descriptive stories often feature strong, complex female characters and intimate personal dramas that reflect the broader political issues of their time. -- Derek Keyser
Bharati Mukherjee's fiction about India and Indian-American immigrants and Lisa See's fiction about China and Chinese-American immigrants feature strong, complex female protagonists who are determined to take control of their lives. Though Mukherjee is wittier and faintly satirical, both writers are lyrical, richly detailed, and haunting. -- Mike Nilsson
Chinese-American Lisa See and Chilean-born novelist and memoirist Isabel Allende have made their careers out of exploring the history of women. -- Becky Spratford
Ping Wang and Lisa See write fiction and nonfiction detailing the experiences of strong Chinese women who refuse to submit to cultural, political, or economic oppression. Haunting and lyrical, their works are filled with rich detail and complex characters, the product of both research and their family histories. -- Mike Nilsson
Both Lisa See and Anchee Min write historical fiction set in China and have published memoirs about their lives. Their character-centered novels focus on strong and unconventional young women who dare to try to break free of their social constraints. -- Becky Spratford
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These authors' works have the appeal factors haunting and lyrical, and they have the genres "psychological fiction" and "literary fiction"; and the subjects "female friendship," "married women," and "arranged marriage."
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Published Reviews

Booklist Review

*Starred Review* They meet at age seven. Young-sook and her mother are working their garden; Mi-ja crouches among the sweet-potato plants, desperate to eat. They are on Korea's Jeju Island, known for its Three Abundances of wind, stones, and women, it was also acknowledged for lacking three other things: beggars, thieves, and locked gates. Mi-ja is a city transplant living with relatives, who consider her a servant. She is also the village pariah because her late father was a collaborator with the brutal Japanese colonizers. Ironically, this becomes Mi-ja's best day since being orphaned because she leaves Young-sook's with a full belly, a surrogate mother, and a best friend. Trained together as haenyeo Jeju's renowned sea women who free dive for sea life Young-sook and Mi-ja share intimate joys and survive debilitating hardships into adulthood, wifehood, and motherhood, until an unfathomable tragedy sunders their closer-than-sisters bond. Sixty years later, Young-sook is a national treasure, a world-traveled octogenarian haenyeo. On her shoreline appear Mi-ja's granddaughter and her American family; Young-sook's initial denials acquiesce to reveal a past driven by love, loss, betrayal, perhaps even forgiveness. A stupendous multigenerational family saga, See's (The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, 2017) latest also provides an enthralling cultural anthropology highlighting the soon-to-be-lost, matriarchal haenyeo phenomenon and an engrossing history of violently tumultuous twentieth-century Korea. A mesmerizing achievement. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: See's accomplishment, acclaim, and readership continue to rise with each book, and interest in this stellar novel will be well stoked.--Terry Hong Copyright 2019 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
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Publisher's Weekly Review

See (The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane) once again explores how culture survives and morphs in this story of a real-life Korean female diving collective. Young-Sook and Mi-Ja meet as young girls in 1939 in Hado, a village on the island of Jeju, where traditionally the women earn a living while their husbands care for the children and home. The two girls begin training as haenyeo, divers who harvest oysters, sea slugs, and octopi from the sea. But after WWII when American occupation of southern Korea begins, the two grow apart. While Young-Sook struggles to make ends meet for her family, Mi-Ja's husband's role in the government spares her the economic suffering endured by most of the country. But after Mi-Ja's family betrays Young-Sook, Young-Sook struggles for decades to reconcile her anger with fond memories of her friend, even after their families cross paths again. Jumping between the WWII era and 2008, See perceptively depicts challenges faced by Koreans over the course of the 20th century, particularly homing in on the ways the haenyeo have struggled to maintain their way of life. Exposing the depths of human cruelty and resilience, See's lush tale is a wonderful ode to a truly singular group of women. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
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Library Journal Review

The voice of Jennifer Lim brings a subtle, down-to-earth realism to See's (The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane) new novel which explores the matrifocal society of the haenyeo, female divers of Jeju, an island off the coast of present-day South Korea. Listeners experience events through the eyes of diver Young-sook as she learns her craft during the Japanese occupation of Korea, through World War II, and into the present era. Her friend Mi-ja, an orphan and child of a Japanese collaborator, is taken in by Young-Sook's mother and taught to dive, but the friendship is sorely tested shortly after World War II during a time of mass murder. Known as the 4.3 Incident, this was an actual event covered up by the South Korean government for decades. VERDICT Recommended for loyal See fans, for those with an interest in Korea, and historical fiction fans in general. ["Superbly written, this fast-paced read not only encourages readers to reflect on the notion of friendship and family, it also educates on the complex history of the region": Xpress Reviews 2/15/19 review of the Scribner hc.]--David Faucheux, Lafayette, LA

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Kirkus Book Review

On an island off the South Korean coast, an ancient guild of women divers reckons with the depredations of modernity from 1938 to 2008 in See's (The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, 2017, etc.) latest novel.The women divers of Jeju Island, known as haenyeo, don't display the usual female subservience. Empowered by the income they derive from their diving, harvesting seafood to consume and sell, haenyeo are heads of households; their husbands mind the children and do menial chores. Young-sook, See's first-person narrator and protagonist, tells of her family and her ill-fated friendship with Mi-ja, who, rescued from neglectful relatives by Sun-sil, Young-sook's mother, is initiated into the diving collective headed by Sun-sil. The girls grow up together, dive together, and go on lucrative assignments in the freezing waters near Vladivostok, Russia. They are also married off together, Mi-ja to Sang-mun, who, as World War II progresses, is enriched by collaborating with the Japanese, and Young-sook to Jun-bu, a neighbor and childhood playmate. The novel's first half is anecdotal and a little tedious as the minutiae of the haenyeo craft are explored: free diving, pre-wetsuit diving garb, and sumbisori, the art of held breath. As two tragedies prove, the most prized catches are the riskiest: octopus and abalone. See did extensive research with primary sources to detail not only the haenyeo traditions, but the mass murders on Jeju beginning in 1948, which were covered up for decades by the South Korean government. As Jeju villages are decimated, Young-sook loses half her family and also, due to a terrible betrayal, her friendship with Mi-ja. The tangled web of politics and tyranny, not to mention the inaction of U.N. and American occupiers leading up to the massacres, deserves its own work, perhaps nonfiction. In the context of such horrors, the novel's main source of suspense, whether Young-sook can forgive Mi-ja, seems beside the point.Although this novel's reach exceeds its grasp, it is a necessary book. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
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Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* They meet at age seven. Young-sook and her mother are working their garden; Mi-ja crouches among the sweet-potato plants, desperate to eat. They are on Korea's Jeju Island, "known for its Three Abundances of wind, stones, and women, it was also acknowledged for lacking three other things: beggars, thieves, and locked gates." Mi-ja is a city transplant living with relatives, who consider her a servant. She is also the village pariah because her late father was a collaborator with the brutal Japanese colonizers. Ironically, this becomes Mi-ja's "best day" since being orphaned because she leaves Young-sook's with a full belly, a surrogate mother, and a best friend. Trained together as haenyeo—Jeju's renowned sea women who free dive for sea life—Young-sook and Mi-ja share intimate joys and survive debilitating hardships into adulthood, wifehood, and motherhood, until an unfathomable tragedy sunders their closer-than-sisters bond. Sixty years later, Young-sook is a national treasure, a world-traveled octogenarian haenyeo. On her shoreline appear Mi-ja's granddaughter and her American family; Young-sook's initial denials acquiesce to reveal a past driven by love, loss, betrayal, perhaps even forgiveness. A stupendous multigenerational family saga, See's (The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, 2017) latest also provides an enthralling cultural anthropology highlighting the soon-to-be-lost, matriarchal haenyeo phenomenon and an engrossing history of violently tumultuous twentieth-century Korea. A mesmerizing achievement. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: See's accomplishment, acclaim, and readership continue to rise with each book, and interest in this stellar novel will be well stoked. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.

Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.
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Library Journal Reviews

This latest work by New York Times best-selling See after The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane takes place on Korea's Jeju Island, known for women divers called the Haenyeo, who risk their lives doing hard physical labor while the men stay home and tend the children. Here, two fledgling divers become fast friends despite obvious contrasts—Young-sook's mother is the lead diver, while Mi-ja is diminished in others' eyes because her father collaborated with the Japanese. But then something big happens to test their friendship. With a 200,000-copy first printing and a ten-city tour.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal.
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LJ Express Reviews

The haenyeo of Korea's Jeju Island make their living free-diving into the chilly waters of the Korean Strait to gather abalone, crabs, and other delicacies. This is an honor reserved for women owing to their superior physical and mental shape, while the husbands stay home and raise the children. See's (Shanghai Girls; Snow Flower and the Secret Fan) latest saga tells the story of two budding haenyeo, Mi-ja and Young-sook and how their uneasy friendship is shaped by undercurrents of war and jealousy. Spanning the 1930s through 2018, the story of each woman's life reflects the tragedy and grief of the historical events of the time. See's writing brings the horrors caused by Japanese, South Korean, and American forces during and after World War II to life as the women navigate marriage, motherhood, and more deaths than anyone should endure. VERDICT Superbly written, this fast-paced read not only encourages readers to reflect on the notion of friendship and family, it also educates on the complex history of the region. [See Prepub Alert, 9/17/18.]—Chelsie Harris, San Diego Cty. Lib. (c) Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Publishers Weekly Reviews

See (The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane) once again explores how culture survives and morphs in this story of a real-life Korean female diving collective. Young-Sook and Mi-Ja meet as young girls in 1939 in Hado, a village on the island of Jeju, where traditionally the women earn a living while their husbands care for the children and home. The two girls begin training as haenyeo, divers who harvest oysters, sea slugs, and octopi from the sea. But after WWII when American occupation of southern Korea begins, the two grow apart. While Young-Sook struggles to make ends meet for her family, Mi-Ja's husband's role in the government spares her the economic suffering endured by most of the country. But after Mi-Ja's family betrays Young-Sook, Young-Sook struggles for decades to reconcile her anger with fond memories of her friend, even after their families cross paths again. Jumping between the WWII era and 2008, See perceptively depicts challenges faced by Koreans over the course of the 20th century, particularly homing in on the ways the haenyeo have struggled to maintain their way of life. Exposing the depths of human cruelty and resilience, See's lush tale is a wonderful ode to a truly singular group of women. (Mar.)

Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly.

Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly.
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Citations

APA Citation, 7th Edition (style guide)

See, L., & Lim, J. (2019). The Island of Sea Women: A Novel (Unabridged). Simon & Schuster Audio.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

See, Lisa and Jennifer Lim. 2019. The Island of Sea Women: A Novel. Simon & Schuster Audio.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities (Notes and Bibliography) Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

See, Lisa and Jennifer Lim. The Island of Sea Women: A Novel Simon & Schuster Audio, 2019.

Harvard Citation (style guide)

See, L. and Lim, J. (2019). The island of sea women: a novel. Unabridged Simon & Schuster Audio.

MLA Citation, 9th Edition (style guide)

See, Lisa, and Jennifer Lim. The Island of Sea Women: A Novel Unabridged, Simon & Schuster Audio, 2019.

Note! Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy. Citation formats are based on standards as of August 2021.

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