![]() ![]() Exposing the depths of human cruelty and resilience, See’s lush tale is a wonderful ode to a truly singular group of women. 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. 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. 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 WWII when American occupation of southern Korea begins, the two grow apart. So much blood ran that the following year, the peasants swore that when they pulled up their onions. ![]() The two girls begin training as haenyeo, divers who harvest oysters, sea slugs, and octopi from the sea. Isabel Allendes new novel, 'A Long Petal Of The Sea,' begins in the horror of war in Europe. 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. Throughout this time, the residents of Jeju find themselves caught between warring empires. 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. The Island of Sea Women is an epic 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 wetsuits for the women divers. ![]()
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