This changed rapidly for the rest of the book. The tumultuous years of the Japanese colonialism of the 30, and 40' provided a historical and brutal context. The brutality is just terrible, the inaction of the American troops who just stood by, the massacres that were covered up for decades. So much was happening politically that in the hands of a less gifted writer, this book could have been much longer. The friendship between the girls change due to circumstances that were so horrible. Each, though the other didn't know the full extent, go through some brutal challenges. It won't be until books end that we hear the full story.

Today you follow in my wake as I once followed in my mother’s wake,” Mother went on, “and as one day your daughters will follow in your wakes. You are baby-divers. Don’t reach beyond your abilities.” I have finished this and I still do not think I can write a proper review. I really do not know how I feel about this one.She recites the number, while Clara taps the buttons on the phone. Once she’s done, she unplugs the phone and extends it to Young-sook, who feels strangely paralyzed. On impulse—it has to be impulse, right?—the girl leans over and puts the phone to Young-sook’s ear. Her touch. . . Like lava. . . A small cross on a gold chain slips out from under the girl’s T-shirt and swings in front of Young-sook’s eyes. Now she notices that the mother, Janet, wears a cross too.

Forces external to these women will test their friendship. Will their forged bond be enough to keep them from splintering apart? Mi-ja finally gets up the courage to ask Young-sook’s mother if she could be taught how to dive and join the collective. The women feel sorry for her but she is still tainted as a Japanese collaborator, however they teach her the ways of the “Haenyeo” and she joins them.The Japanese say ifGrandmother Seolmundae existed and ifthat oreum was the water pathway to her underwater palace,” Shaman Kim went on, “then she abandoned us, as have all our goddesses and gods. I say she never left us.” Set on Jeju Island in the Korea Strait, Lisa See’s novel focuses on the matrifocal society of haenyeo, women sea divers. The women learn at early ages from their mothers and grandmothers to dive and harvest the ocean’s plants and sea creatures, coming up at frequent intervals to release their breath, called sumbisori. Mi-ja is an orphan who lives with her aunt and uncle. She was from the Jeju City so was used to living a different life. Her parents were financially well off and known to be Japanese collaborators. She was used to a lifestyle with pretty dresses, a nice home, etc. Her aunt and uncle treat her terribly, she is pretty much used as a slave to them, forcing her to do all of the household and field work and beat her. Breathing in, breathing out. Every beginning haenyeo worries about this,” Grandmother blurted before my mother could answer. She could be impatient with Mi-ja. Stand close to the fire,” Yu-ri told me. “The faster you get undressed and ready, the faster we’ll be in the water. The sooner we go into the water, the sooner we’ll return here. Now, follow what I do.”

As they grow to form partnerships, they experience sorrow and sadness. For not only are they under the duress of their diving but they as living on Jeju island where they are undergoing the realities of the times. From the Japanese control through World War 2 and the Korean War, their lives are hanging in the balance of conflict and hardship. The two fast friends experience so much sadness and through circumstances of the times, they grow apart and become estranged from each other. Their friendship breaks apart as each girl experiences her own personal hell. Yet, each one survives to see change, to see a world so different from the one they knew, to see that life and friendship often go on to an end that is blessed with a final understanding as a place for peace of the heart, mind, and soul. I know from reading the author’s note how much research was involved in this story. Before I even read how this book came about, the feeling I had was of Lisa See doing her always-exceptional historical and current research, and visiting the places she wrote about in person, but also listening to the stories of various people who remembered the period of time covered in this novel. Then, taking all of the history and the stories and stirring them with her imagination, Lisa See wove this fascinating, tragic, and utterly absorbing story. I glanced at Mi-ja, hoping she hadn’t been hurt by Yu-ri’s thoughtlessness, but her face was set in concentration as she tried to follow the Kang sisters’ instructions.

None of us yet know what the goddesses have planned for Yu-ri,” Mother said. “She may wake up tomorrow her usual chatterbox self.” In recent years, their numbers are decreasing dramatically. It’s estimated that the haenyo will be gone in twenty years unless more women step forward. Originally, diving was an exclusively male profession. By the 18th century, women divers outnumbered the male divers. We edged closer to the flames and stripped off our clothes. No one showed any inhibitions. This was like being together in the communal bath. Some of the younger women were big with babies growing in their bellies. Older women had stretch marks. Even older women had breasts that sagged from too much living and giving. Mi-ja’s and my bodies showed our age too. We were fifteen years old, but the harshness of our environment—little food, hard physical work, and cold weather—meant that we were as skinny as eels, our breasts had not yet begun to grow, and just a few wisps of hair showed between our legs. We stood there, shivering, as Yu-ri, Gu-ja, and Gu-sun helped us put on our three-piece water clothes made from plain white cotton. The white color would make us more visible underwater, and it was said to repel sharks and dolphins, but, I realized, the thinness of the fabric would do little to keep us warm. Your body will know what to do,” Mother said reassuringly. “And even if it doesn’t, I will be there with you. I’m responsible for every woman’s safe return to shore. I listen for the sumbisori of all woman in our collective. Together our sumbisori create a song of the air and wind on Jeju. Our sumbisori is the innermost sound of the world. It connects you to the future and the past. A single sumbisori allows girls like you to serve her parents and then her children.”

A Tewak is a flotation device about the size of a basketball that sits at the surface of the water with a net hanging beneath it to catch the harvest. Its HUGE ....( see photos online) I’ll need to work extra hard to help pay for Jun-bu’s tuition andhelp my new family.” Yu-ri called across the room to her mother and future mother-in-law. “I’m a good worker, eh?” Yu-ri was known throughout our village as a chatterbox. She seemed worry free, and she was a good worker, which was why it had been easy to find a match for her. I found this comforting, but I also became aware of Mi-ja staring at me expectantly. Yesterday we’d agreed to tell my mother of our worries. Mi-ja had volunteered hers, but I was hesitant about revealing mine. There were many ways to die in the sea, and I was scared. My mother may have said that Mi-ja was like a daughter—and I loved her for loving my friend—but I was an actual daughter, and I didn’t want her to see me as less than Mi-ja.At the same time I feel bad because I wanted to fall in love with it. I could really feel how it would be to love this book. I am not ruling out a second reading. Despite their love for each other, Mi-ja and Young-sook find it impossible to ignore their differences. The Island of Sea Women takes place over many decades, beginning during a period of Japanese colonialism in the 1930s and 1940s, followed by World War II, the Korean War, 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. 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 forces outside their control will push their friendship to the breaking point. Shaman Kim chanted a few more incantations. The helpers banged their cymbals and drums. After that, there was nothing left to say or do.