Young-sook is a young Korean girl living on the island of Jeju. Jeju is a matrifocal society, where women are in charge of finances and the direction of the family. Young-sook is the daughter of the chief of the divers, women who dive deep into the sea to feed their families. Mi-ja is Young-sook's best friend, but they are from different families and backgrounds and soon those differences will tear them apart. We follow these women through World War II, through the Korean War, and way into the present when the atrocities they witnessed are finally acknowledged.
Lines of note:
Oh, I understood life and death, but I didn’t yet have a true comprehension of all that could happen between your first and last breaths. (location 2053)
This is such a good line. It's true, right? When I was young, I thought I understood life, but I certainly could not have predicted the twists and turns that make up a person's history.
Things I looked up:
McCune-Reischauer system of romanization (location 52) - a romanization system for the Korean language. It was first published in 1939 by George M. McCune and Edwin O. Reischauer. Through the Korean War it became the foundation for most current Romanizations of Korean place names. A variant of McCune–Reischauer is currently used as the official system in North Korea. Another variant is currently used for standard romanization library catalogs in North America. On the other hand, South Korea formerly used yet another variant as its official system from 1984 to 2000, but replaced it with the Revised Romanization of Korean in 2000.
Jeju is her home, an island known for Three Abundances: wind, stones, and women. (location 61) -
Jeju is a big character in this book and I wanted to know more, particularly about its geography.
Jeju Island is South Korea's largest island, covering an area of 1,833.2 km2 (707.8 sq mi), which is 1.83% of the total area of the country. The island lies in the Korea Strait, 82.8 km (51.4 mi) south of the nearest point on the Korean Peninsula. The Jeju people are indigenous to the island, and it has been populated by modern humans since the early Neolithic period. The Jeju language is considered critically endangered by UNESCO. It is also one of the regions of Korea where Shamanism is most intact.
Jeju Island has an oval shape and is 73 km (45 mi) east–west and 31 km (19 mi) north–south, with a gentle slope around Hallasan in the center. The length of the main road is 181 km (112 mi) and the coastline is 258 km (160 mi). O
April Third Incident (4.3 Incident) (location 92) - The Jeju uprising (in South Korea, the Jeju April 3 incident) was an insurrection on Jeju Island, South Korea from April 1948 to May 1949. Egads! Was it an insurrection? What does that language tell us?
A year prior to its start, residents of Jeju had begun protesting elections scheduled by the United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea (UNTCOK) to be held in the United States-occupied half of Korea, which they believed would entrench the division of the country. A general strike was later organized by the Workers' Party of South Korea (WPSK) from February to March 1948. The WPSK launched an insurgency in April 1948, attacking police and Northwest Youth League members stationed on Jeju who had been mobilized to suppress the protests by force. (eek! this feels gross to be typing and not editorializing. I mean...seems like the police might have shot the first shot, you know?)
The First Republic of Korea under President Syngman Rhee escalated the suppression of the uprising from August 1948, declaring martial law in November and beginning an "eradication campaign" against rebel forces in the rural areas of Jeju in March 1949, defeating them within two months. This resulting campaign has led to the event being called the Jeju massacre.
Between 14,000 and 30,000 people (10 percent of Jeju's population) were killed, and 40,000 fled to Japan. Other estimates reach as high as 80,000 dead. Atrocities and war crimes were committed by both sides. (egads, again)
bulteoks (page 213) - a traditional, open-air, circular stone shelter used by Jeju Island's haenyeo (women divers) to change clothes, warm themselves by a fire, and socialize. Located along the coast, these, sometimes called "bonfire" spots, served as crucial community spaces for resting, sharing diving knowledge, and, historically, enforcing hierarchy within the group
sumbisori (page 351) - the distinct, high-pitched whistling exhale of haenyeo (female divers) in Jeju, South Korea, produced upon surfacing after holding their breath for over a minute in deep dives.
They sank the Kowamaru (location 2240) - ship sunk by a U.S. submarine
There are those who say no one survived the Bukchon massacre. Others say that only one person lived. (location 3359) - Bukchon is the site of the worst indiscriminate mass killing during the Jeju Uprising.
Hat mentions (why hats?):
The wife wears the same polka-dot T-shirt, but otherwise every bit of her skin is protected from the sun by long pants, sleeve guards, gloves, hat, and a cloth mask. (location 70)
his favorite dog-fur hat pulled down over his ears (location 167)
...showed her how to do chores and taught her the songs for grinding millet, knitting horsehair hats, netting anchovies, gathering pig excrement for our fields, and plowing, planting, and pulling weeds... (location 624)
Mi-ja, the Kangs, and I peeled off our coats, scarves, and hats. (location 1272)
One man, wearing a different hat than the other sailors, gestured for us to come closer. (location 1312)
The man with the special hat (location 1315 and 1316)
matching coats, hats, and mittens (location 1355)
bowler hats (location 1802)
small hats pinned to their heads (location 1804)
wearing a skirt, a little jacket, and a hat with a veil that came down over her eyes (location 2019)
a Western-style dress and a hat (location 2481)
big straw hats (location 2515)
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Had you ever heard of the Jeju uprising? How much have you read about the Korean War? Are you as annoyed by the contemporary elements of some historical fiction as I am?
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