From the Bookshelf of Around the World in 80 Books…

The Island of Sea Women

Lisa See

Find A Copy At

Group Discussions About This Book

No group discussions for this book yet.

What Members Thought

Jun 10, 2022 Linda Martin rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2022, war, historical-fiction, fiction, geo-korea

I am so disappointed in this novel. I loved reading The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by the same author... one of my favorite reading experiences in 2020. I looked forward to reading The Island of Sea Women with great anticipation so it was a big let down, sorry to say.

(view spoiler) I am so disappointed in this novel. I loved reading The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by the same author... one of my favorite reading experiences in 2020. I looked forward to reading The Island of Sea Women with great anticipation so it was a big let down, sorry to say.

(view spoiler)

The theme of the novel, forgiveness, is worthy of contemplation. But how we arrive at that important message does matter.

The culture of Jeju Island was interesting to learn about, especially the diving women and their collectives. Before I started reading this I thought it might be magical realism, but no, this book is straight historical fiction. It is fascinating, but the violence in the novel is heart numbing and I can't recommend this novel to anyone.

I listened to an audiobook version and the table of contents was the most confusing I've ever seen. There was no organization that made sense to me and there were time jumps from the war years to 2008 and back again. I checked a physical copy of the book and there was no table of contents at all which was probably a good idea.

Anyhow - the main point of my review is to say that the culture was interesting to learn about but there were cringe-worthy elements of this story I would rather not have read about. ...more

4 likes · Like · see review