This was a disappointing book that was trying to tell a story of friendship and also trying to give a history of Jeju Island and the unique culture found there. In my opinion it failed to do either of these well, and it ended up being an awkward welding of two completely disparate things.
I haven’t read any other books by the author but the writing style of this book is heavy on tell, not show. There is a lot of information download here, and while educational it felt sometimes like it got too bogged down in detail and left me feeling like I was reading a Wikipedia page.
The characters were a little hard for me to identify with – but I’m pretty sure the target audience of this book is not me. I was especially interested in seeing a society that was not patriarchal, and this was one of the few good points I got out the book.
There might be a good story in here somewhere but thanks to the writing style and the flat, predictable characters I found that this wasn’t the book for me.
Next I am reading Your Brain on Art by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross.
