By Lisa See
A book review by Andrew Ferris
As a freediver, I picked up this book because the women of Jeju Island have long fascinated me. They are part of my diving mythology, a vivid yet vague story of ancient breath-hold divers in far-off lands. However, the story in Island of Sea Women was far from the poetic prose I expected. Instead, it offers a brutal portrayal of Jeju's people enduring military and cultural invasions during the mid-20th century.
The narrative centers on Young-Sook, a woman whose ability to support her family and engage in her community is precariously tied to her fraught relationship with the sea. From a young age, she joins the diving world—a tradition where families hoped for daughters to work in the “wet fields.” As Young-Sook assumes leadership in her diving collective, she faces the dual challenge of preserving the ocean’s ecosystem and coping with personal loss, political turmoil, and her own struggles with forgiveness.
After finishing the book, I was left with a profound desire for more Korean grandma energy in my life. I found myself both captivated and unsettled by the vivid depictions of the divers' lives, from their raucous interactions in the water to the harrowing scenes of burned villages and bereaved parents. The book also explores the shamanistic traditions that wove symbolism and cosmic drama into the rhythms of diving life—seasonal changes, tides, and harvests.
Diving was depicted as both perilous and potentially rewarding, with Jeju’s culture designed to support its full-time female divers. This book provided a unique lens through which to view the ocean, offering a glimpse into a diver’s life that, while different from my own, revealed familiar motivations for striving towards breath-holding excellence.
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