Get into this! Get into this!

-- Story Line --

This story follows two young women who were best friends: Mi-Ja and Young Sook. They both were on the Korean island of Jeju. They kept each other secrets and manifested an unbreakable bond at 7 years old. Mi-Ja came from a proud family, specifically, her mother and her father had some gambling debts. Young Sook was not so lucky. However, Young Sook looks were something that most people talk about.

Mi Ja and Young Sook got married at a young age (around the early twenties). It was a difference in celebration at their weddings and how their husbands treated them. They were women raised by the ways of the sea and came to become skill divers. The culture to which they belong to and geographically location focused on women being the leaders, decision-makers, and breadwinners. Men were seen as helpless and not having all the capabilities of understanding things due to their sensitivity.

I found myself intrigued by the cultural nuances throughout the book. Lisa See has a gift of telling a story about sisters and the path and heartbreak. Throughout the story, the two friends turned sisters turned enemies suffered a loss that no person should suffer. They survive a massacre, death of a spouse, death of children, DV, and the death of family members. I don't want to give too much away.

This is a telling of pain, love, and the power of forgiveness.