The Island of Sea Women

 

I'm going to start off by saying that I highly recommend Lisa See's latest historical fiction novel, The Island of Sea Women. This novel is set in Jeju, an island of Korea, from the 1930s through 2008. As such, it covers lots and lots of history. And lots of conflicts.

The Island of Sea Women is the story of the friendship of two haenyeo, Korean sea divers, Young-sook and Mi-ja. They meet as 15 year old girls when hungry Mi-ja is caught stealing from Young-sook's family's sweet potato field. They become fast friends. But things change when they get married. Yet their lives remain connected.

The story begins in 2008 when an elderly Young-sook is approached by an apparently American family on the beach. The daughter of the family, Clara, reaches out to Young-sook. She seems to know who she is. Clara shows Young-sook an old photo of a young woman diver. Young-sook recognizes her as Mi-ja. But there seem to be memories associated with Mi-ja that she doesn't want to deal with.

This is a novel about women's friendships, about motherhood, and about the power of women. It's also about forgiveness.

I learned about Korean sea divers, something I knew nothing about. What a fascinating life those women led. And I learned about life over the years on Jeju and it's connection to mainland Korea. When I was teaching fifth grade, I'd learned by talking to my Korean students about the basics of Korean history. I'm glad I had that little bit of background as it helped me understand some of the political references a little bit better than I would have without that. However, I still have a lot to learn.

Mrs. Everything

 

From this description on goodreads.com, I thought I was going to love Jennifer Weiner's Mrs. Everything. Plus the reviews were so good. I'm surprised that I was able to read it in four days because for me, it was so slow. Here's the blurb:

    Do we change or does the world change us?

    Jo and Bethie Kaufman were born into a world full of promise.

    Growing up in 1950s Detroit, they live in a perfect “Dick and Jane” house, where their roles in the family are clearly defined. Jo is the tomboy, the bookish rebel with a passion to make the world more fair; Bethie is the pretty, feminine good girl, a would-be star who enjoys the power her beauty confers and dreams of a traditional life.

    But the truth ends up looking different from what the girls imagined. Jo and Bethie survive traumas and tragedies. As their lives unfold against the background of free love and Vietnam, Woodstock and women’s lib, Bethie becomes an adventure-loving wild child who dives headlong into the counterculture and is up for anything (except settling down). Meanwhile, Jo becomes a proper young mother in Connecticut, a witness to the changing world instead of a participant. Neither woman inhabits the world she dreams of, nor has a life that feels authentic or brings her joy. Is it too late for the women to finally stake a claim on happily ever after?

Jo and Bethie are a pair of Jewish sisters and their Judaism definitely does play a role in the novel. That's always a draw for me. There were lots of other things about this novel that I liked. I loved that it spanned from the 50's to today (2022). I loved the themes covered in the book, the main one being women's roles. But the novel covers too many themes, too many things happen to these sisters, and at times it just seemed to drag. It's a fairly long book (416 pages), longer than I expected. The chapters were very long, too. I wonder if it's the lengthy chapters that slowed it down for me. Yet the final chapter, where I think I needed a bit more, was fairly short. 

Overall, I turned the last page and was just glad to be finished with it. Not the greatest endorsement for a novel.

Hamnet

 

Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet showed up on a lot of "what to read in 2021" lists. So when my college friends suggested we all read the same book and Hamnet was proposed, I was all in.

Hamnet was the name of William Shakespeare's son who died, possibly of the plague, during childhood. O'Farrell went on the few details she available to her to create a story about what the loss of their son might have done to Shakespeare and his wife. The author definitely nailed how I would imagine it must feel as a mother to lose a child. She also focused on how a twin might feel after the loss of his or her twin.

The book was interesting. I thought there would be a few more details about what life might have been like during the plague in the late 1500s in England. I learned how the plague was transmitted and that theaters and other public places were closed, but not much else.

The story moved a little too slowly most of the time, although sometime it moved ahead at a good pace. I'm not sure I would have had the patience to stick with it if I didn't think I'd have someone to discuss it with. I think it will make a good discussion. There's lots to talk about, from author's purpose and writing style to plot points. I would definitely recommend this historical fiction novel for a book club. 

(And you don't have to be a Shakespeare fan to appreciate it.)

Upstairs at the White House

I almost titled this blog post "Almost as good as being there" since I'm really hoping that zooming in with my old book club this Thursday is going to be a wonderful thing. My very first book club.

I started teaching when I was in grad school earning my teaching certification. I spent another 3 years in school continuing on for a masters degree. I was a single mom with three fairly young kids living at home, and did not have a whole lot of time for pleasure reading. I sat at the lunch table, envious of talk about the district book club. What they were reading, what their discussions were like. I'd never been in a book club  but I really wanted to join one. I wanted to join their book club.

Immediately after graduating, I let the folks at the book club know that I was ready to join them. I was so excited. My first book club! Then I learned that our district education foundation was the sponsor of the book club - and purchased the books for us! Free books and I'd get to discuss them. What could be better.

For the next 7 years, the book club was an important part of my life. When my kids were still little, it was my me time. (And since I was teaching fifth grade, it was my only time with adult conversation outside of faculty meetings and the lunch table at work.) I loved being in a book club and I loved this particular book club. I was sad to say goodbye to them when I moved from New Jersey to Florida with my new husband.

That first year away, I tried to read what they were reading. And faithfully each month I'd send my thoughts about each book to the woman responsible for emailing the group. She'd share my reflections with the group and then would try to relay what the discussion had been like. I'd found a local book club that I belonged to and got busy with my retirement life so eventually keeping up with the New Jersey book club fell off. Over the ten years that I've been down south, I have found myself up north twice on the afternoons when the book club was meeting and got to join them. The summer of 2014, I got together with some of the teachers when they met to select what books they'd read in the coming school year.

In December, I sent a Christmas card to one of my closest friends from my teaching days and was delighted when she wrote me a long letter back. And said, "Hey, the book club is meeting by zoom these days. Why don't you join us?" 

That brings me to Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies by J.B. West with Mary Lynn Kotz. That's the book that the New Jersey book club and I will be discussing two days from now. It's not a book that I ever would have picked up on my own, and I'm not sure that I'm dying to discuss it, but it was a pleasurable read.

West was an assistant usher and eventually the head usher at the White House, a job that is primarily responsible for the running of the Executive Residence part of the White House. West started working during the FDR administration and retired 30 years later, at the beginning of the Nixon administration. It wasn't exactly about the First Ladies, but more about the impact each of the First Ladies had upon the White House. He gives some gossipy anecdotes about each of the families he served as well some dry facts about the running of the White House. I'm not sure how much there will be to discuss in this book (other to perhaps contrast it to what I'd expect life was like for the First Families of recent years. Some stories stuck out in my mind, but others might have found other different bits more interesting.

Many times, I've written here that timing really matters in whether you like a book or you don't like a book. I think that's the case here, too. This book is so different from what I've been reading the past few months and it contrasts so starkly with all the turmoil in Washington at the current moment. It was a good escape for me, one that I'm not sure I would have enjoyed as much at another time.

Best of all, I'll get to reconnect with some of my friends from another part of my life!

First finish of 2021

First finish of 2021. A super quick read with a really interesting story.

Part of my reading routine is to read through a newsfeed from my favorite sources each evening after dinner. That means I can't remember the exact source where I read about Mitch Albom's latest book, Human Touch. What I read described the novel as being about  COVID-19. I think I've mentioned in previous posts since I keep running a story about a pandemic through my head, and that it frustrates me to no end to not  know how it's going to end. That me me really curious to see how Mitch Albom could end his story about the pandemic - while we are going through the pandemic!

I went to see if I could get this novel at a library. Not only did none of my libraries own the book, none of the libraries showed it on order. Which seemed strange. Did a little bit of googling and learned that I could read the book. For free. Online. Interesting. As coronavirus started to devestate Detroit, Albom felt he needed to do something to assist his city. He wrote this serialized story which was available to read online, download, download as an audio book. Lots  of choices. Readers are encouraged to donate to his charity, Detroit Say It Beats Covid-19. I haven't done that yet, but I plan to do so.

I think that this was published in June or July of last year. I believe that a chapter was released once a week for eight weeks. I could be wrong. By the time I discovered the book, all 8 chapters were published so I was able to tear through this in two nights. The illustrations were a lovely bonus.

The story is about 4 families who live across from each other starting last winter and running through the summer. They socialize regularly even though they don't seem particularly close. There's a Chinese-American couple with a live-in Haitian housekeeper and her son. There's a doctor and his family. There's a couple that owns a small business and is raising their grandchildren. There's a pastor and his family. With these characters, Albom is able to tell lots of stories which are relevant to what we hear in the news about the impact of the virus on different parts of society. There was one subplot that had a dose of miracle to it. But considering that one of Albom's novels was The Five People You Meet in Heaven, that wasn't too surprising. Nor was it off-putting.

It's interesting to me that my final read of 2020 was about the importance of human connection. And now, so is the first book that I finished in 2021. It's vital to feel a connection to others.

As for how Albom ended the story... well, I can't tell you that due to my resolve to never include spoilers here. But I can tell you that it just kind of ends. Which is okay. Because it was only eight chapters. It was more like a "fly on the wall" view of what was going on in this particular Michigan neighborhood rather than... life... pandemic...life after pandemic. In a longer book, I would have needed - and expected - a more complete resolution. But for Human Touch, Albom provided just enough of what was necessary without going too far.