for those wishing to be whisked away

*SPOILERS AHEAD*
Any story involving the sea, folklore/fairy tale retellings, and Studio Ghibli inspirations swiftly makes it onto my to be read list. I quite promptly ate up The Girl Who Fell Beneath The Sea. Having primarily read it on the London Underground and two trains to and from Scotland, I can say it’s a great travel read. More than anything else, this book sucked me into its otherworldly setting, which literally takes place in the realm of the Sea God, a being said to have been slumbering in a cursed sleep for a hundred years. His city, lively with the presence of spirits caught in between the mortal world and other worlds, makes for the kind of fantasy landscape I always crave in a book. I think this novel’s two greatest strengths are the execution of such a fantastical setting and the dialogue. I could sense the influence and wonder of Spirited Away in every chapter. All of the characters, from Mina, the fallen girl herself, to Namgi and Kirin, the loyal friends of Shin, the head of Lotus House and (here’s the reason for that spoiler warning!) the actual Sea God, are developed through their interactions and unique ways of speaking. I also loved the decision to have Dai, Mask, and Miki, three helpful spirits Mina would certainly have been lost without, revealed towards the very end of the story to be her ancestors living within the Sea God’s city. It’s a plot point I saw coming, but still shed a joyful tear over. I think the romance is also developed very well; it constantly asked me as a reader if I knew the characters well enough to anticipate their next moves, if they would give in to their true desires and growing emotions, or continue to act out of duty. Very thought-provoking questions are asked concerning what the responsibilities of gods are versus the responsibilities of humans in a world full of joy as well as heartbreak. Seeing how human the gods and goddesses act and appear may be a greater part of the original mythology this author draws from (that I can’t admit to be very knowledgeable in at all), but I like how she crafts it in her own rendition here. The story’s consistent theme concerning fate and the authority one can choose to have over such a thing really intrigued me. At times it felt a bit aloof, and as a result left me feeling like I wasn’t as close to the characters’ inner minds as I would’ve liked to be. I think this is partly due to the writing style, which I enjoyed as well as admire, but it’s just different from my own and others I’ve seen in fantasy authors that I can’t quite put my finger on so soon after finishing the book. It might be due to the fact that Mina, our main heroine, tells us her story through a first person account, but does a lot of telling and flashing back to memories of her family and homeland. I consciously noticed flashbacks at the beginning of the novel more so than in the middle, and was truthfully a bit disconcerted. It seemed like more time could’ve been devoted to developing Mina as a character in her current situation under the sea than in telling about her life before the inciting incident. It’s because of her love for her brother, Joon, and the clear love he has for Shim Cheong, that Mina sacrifices herself to a fate as the Sea God’s bride in the first place — so her brother may live with the woman he loves. However distant I may have felt from Mina as a narrator, I never doubted her upstanding character and deep desire to just see those she loves and cares about happy and safe. The other gods and goddesses in the pages of this story also added color to the already multilayered Spirit Realm we become well-acquainted with. I loved the unexpected character development of the Goddess of the Moon and Memories, as well as the time spent back in Mina’s homeland, Beside-the-Sea, in the last few chapters. A book that prompts me to check how many pages are left before the end is a good book on my shelf; I wasn’t sure if this tale was going to have a happy ending, or if I was going to be okay with such an ending. I ended up really appreciating how all the events tied together, how Shin lost his memories rather than abandoned Mina. The irony of the emperor essentially asking Mina to marry him twice also felt fitting, since time and again Mina is called to enter into the spotlight of a role she feels she must play to save the lives of others, with her own life considered second. I think her selflessness might contribute a bit to why she felt less relatable than other heroines, because she truly acts as the daring and loving heroine worthy of legends and timeless retellings. Despite being human, physically weak within a realm of spirits, and afraid of the unknown more than once, she proves to be the bride of the Sea God because the love she finds for Shin grows free from the constraint of “shoulds” or “musts”. In short, this story’s plot swung like a pendulum, keeping me on my toes and changing direction just when I was sure I’d had everything figured out. Oh, and it was kind of short lived, but I loved the trope where Mina wasn’t able to speak and Shin read her lips. The sass and banter from both parties was so fun to read and clued me in pretty early to where I could expect the seed of romance to bloom. That being said, I’m also very grateful to this book for helping me with a bit of my thesis research. It’ll be just a drop in the bucket of other books, articles, and works I’ll be referencing for my project. But because it possesses love, a god of the sea, memory loss, and a creative spin on rich folklore, it’s been helpful in the marathon writing my own ocean-related novel has been. :) 



Some of my favorite quotes from The Girl Who Fell Beneath The Sea:

“Stories are both an escape from the truths of the world and the only way to see them clearly.”

“Not all storytellers are grandmothers, but all grandmothers are storytellers.”

“In order to remain a human you'd have to tie your life to an immortal. I may not be the god of a river, a mountain, or a lake, but I am a god, and I would tie my life to yours, if you'll have me."

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