i’m not in love with this book. the writing is a little dull and the omniscient third person POV gets boring after a while. most of it was us being TOLD stuff as opposed to seeing/experiencing it for ourselves. some people may appreciate this style of writing but it’s not for me.

that being said, i think the subject material is very interesting and moving. less is focused on the haenyeo part and the majority of the focus goes towards comfort women - as it should! (side note but it is appalling that japan still has not properly apologised to comfort women, not only from korea but from all other parts of the world).

i appreciate that the author wanted to end on a hopeful note but i call bullshit. why didn’t hana attempt to find her family again after she was saved by the mongolians? and in all the years after the war, couldn’t she have gone back to south korea to look for emi, at least? i would have liked the story better if hana had died - yes it’s much more grim but it would have been more memorable and explains why emi never found her again. it would also have made emi’s moment with the statue much more poignant and touching.