The Mermaid from Jeju

By: Sumi Hahn

Narrated by: Cindy Kay, Raymond J. Lee

A Popsugar Best Book of December 2020
An Amazon Editors Pick December 2020

In the aftermath of World War II, Goh Junja is a girl just coming into her own. She is the latest successful deep-sea diver in a family of strong haenyeo. Confident she is a woman now, she urges her mother to allow her to make their annual trip to Mt. Halla, where they trade sea delicacies for pork. A sea-village girl, Junja has never been to the mountains, where it smells like mushrooms and earth, and it is there she falls in love with mountain-boy Yang Suwol, who rescues her after a particularly harrowing journey. But when Junja returns one day later, it is just in time to see her mother take her last breath, beaten by the waves during a dive she was taking in Junja's place.

Spiraling in grief, Junja sees her younger siblings sent to live with their estranged father, Suwol gone, and the ghost of her mother haunting their home - from the meticulously tended herb garden that has begun sprouting weeds to the field where their bed sheets are beaten. She has only her grandmother and herself. But the world moves on without Junja.

The political climate is perilous. Still reeling from Japan's forced withdrawal from the peninsula, Korea is forced to accommodate the rapid establishment of US troops, and Junja’s grandmother, who lived through the Japanese invasion that led to Korea's occupation, understands the signs of danger all too well. When Suwol is arrested for working with and harboring communists, Junja must learn to navigate a tumultuous world unlike anything she's ever known.

©2020 Sumi Hahn (P)2020 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Audible Was So Good That I Had To Get The Book

I enjoyed the detail of the history of Jeju Island and its cultural background. The descriptive details were able to give me a graphic illustration in my mind's eye. Which lead me to nonstop listening. I enjoyed "The Mermaid from Jeju" audible book, and now I have to order the actual book. 👍📘 Thank you, Sumi Hahn (감사합니다, 한수미 씨)

Beautifully written!

I couldn't stop listening! The descriptive details were able to paint a visual that I can see! Love the storyline and the narrative at the end!

Truly disappointed in the performance

I love Audible. But the performance by Raymond Lee was terrible. There was nothing fluid about it as though he was reading it, himself, for the first time. I should have ordered the physical book and read this one myself as the performance was horribly distracting. So much so that I barely was able to finish listening.

Ending was weird

I liked it, but not as much as I was expecting. It started off strong, but the weaving together at the end was forced. I didn’t follow all of the characters’ motivations. But enjoyable. Not as much at all about the haenyeo as I would have thought based on the title. I much preferred the Island of Sea Women by Lisa See. But this one was pretty good too.

Disappointed and disconnected story

Story started off interesting and fast paced. I was really invested in learning more about Grandma and Captain Lee, but in the end, was disappointed in the direction of the book. I don’t think the switch in story was necessary. And I was also disappointed in the ending. Felt very anticlimactic and abrupt.

Good story, but…

I enjoyed the content of this story and learning about the culture and people of Jeju. However, I had a hard time enjoying the male reader and the cadence of his words. The accents he used were also unnecessary. Otherwise, it’s an interesting book.

History of Jeju is always a tear jerker

This story was enthralling and mixed with the history of Jeju makes for an epic story. Don’t be derailed by the performers as it’s obvious that they don’t necessarily speak Korean by their pronunciation of some of the Korean words but that does not impact the story. Highly recommend to keep tissues close by because you might tear up.

Male reader ruins the book

The female reader is great. The story is beautiful. The male reader is awful. He tried to dramatize every word and he is so out of sync with the story, that it sound like he is more concerned about how he sounds and doesn’t even understand what he is reading. It’s choppy and so annoying, I had to skip ahead last the parts he read, because it just ruined the book.

I finally gave up, it was really bad!

The audiobook version, the narration is absolutely the worst I’ve ever heard of about 100 audiobooks I’ve ever listen to you. And the story just drag and drag. I finally gave up with two hours left and I just cannot bring myself to finish it.