The Island of Sea Women: A Novel

The Island of Sea Women: A Novel by Lisa See

Rural Jeju island in Korea had a somewhat matriarchal society. The women served as divers where they would skin dive to harvest sea creatures for food. They would do this even when the waters were cold. Men would stay home and watch he kids. The book tells the story of an old woman who is now gathering algae on the beach. She is created by some young children who would like to hear her story. The old woman had lived through the Japanese occupation and the American / Soviet partition. There were great atrocities and massacres committed on the island. Fellow Koreans in power would shoot their countrymen out of fear of ideological differences.  Americans would often turn a blind eye. They would even restore Japanese collaborators to power to the chagrin of the others.

Much of the book is flashbacks into the early life of the old lady. She had many challenges, including the deaths of her mother and the near-death of a friend while diving. She had befriended a daughter of Japanese collaborator and ended her friendship after she failed to help save her during a massacre. Only at the end does she learn that the children seeing her were descendents of that friend. The collaborator woman had struggled through her life with the grief of not being able to help her friend. 

The book deals with a quest for forgiveness as well as the struggles of historical cultures in the face of modernity. What culture should be preserved and how should it be maintained?