Reviews

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

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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

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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

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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.

Content Warnings