Reviews

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

meheehee's review against another edition

mysterious relaxing slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

atiq_hssn's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

awoke101's review

adventurous emotional inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.25

allisong82's review

dark hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

puwubear's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

sprouter's review against another edition

4.75

• This book is about the big existential questions of what it is to be human / a woman
• Of course, I’m someone who likes speculative fiction/sci fi bc I want all the deats on the world building and this is not that at all - but you have to accept it and lean in to what it is 

vegtoble's review against another edition

5.0

“How much of our humanity is intrinsic? How much remains, when all else is stripped away?”

I loved the unending curiosity of the narrator paired with the bleakness of her reality.
This is definitely a book I’ll visit many times, I loved it.

jamekeith's review against another edition

mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

This book surprised me in many ways! I think the decisions it makes about it's mystery could easily be a turn off, and I thought for a while would be for me. But at the end of the day it really worked for me. One I'll think about for quite a while. 

chloe_jade's review

dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

This book will haunt me forever - and I’m glad. Such elegantly written prose for such an evocative tale. 

I was saddened to see people find this book misogynistic. The author, Jacqueline, was born in 1929 - I believe the characters are a good reflection of what she would’ve lived through - patriarchal beauty standards, housewife culture, patronisation of women. It’s not right to assume any author’s beliefs are the same as their characters.

The characters are a product of all of that, and I found the protagonist’s dedication to exploration despite the solitude to  be empowering. By the end, I had a strong affinity with the protagonist. 

A raw dive into what it means to be human when everything is stripped away from us. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

songsforwillow's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0