Reviews

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

kmccolgan18's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

3.75

kimtuyen_l's review

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.5

kissmykassxo98's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

kmmi_booklover's review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

vladaa's review

4.0

4.5 ⭒ i know it’s a cliché but this was one of "did i finished this book or did it finished me" kind of books

half of the star down,

Spoiler

only cause we never found out why did this happened to them

csigaviki99's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.75

miue's review

emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

5.0

eviestarlight's review

reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.0

brianadonyelle's review against another edition

2.0

I feel like I'm one of the few people that did not love this book. The premise is so unique and compelling, the characters are well developed, and the prose is well done. My main issue with the story was just that it felt so slow and somewhat repetitive. I had a hard time convincing myself to push to the end, if only to get answers to the questions brought up in the story (which were never really given in the end). I think that ultimately it probably just wasn't for me!

ya_chitayu's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

4.5

Struggled to rate this one because I think it executes perfectly the goals of the novel but I also would not want to read many more like it, as it was fairly bleak through and through. 

The novel was paced really well considering the timespan it covers, even when time was sped up towards the end I didn’t feel like it was a mindless skip forward. The plot certainly hurtled along in an impressive pace considering how contemplative the narrative was. 

In some ways the first act reminded me of the art assignment in ‘Speak’; in deep study of a particular topic or problem, you can infer much more than you’d expect. I appreciated how she came to conclusions about their situation in the cage logically just by trying, whereas the other women didn’t in their distraction. I don’t think the author was trying to discredit the value of socializing that the other women did, but it was an interesting counterpoint. 

While it does irritate a little that we don’t ever get to find out what the circumstances on that planet were, I feel it was the only appropriate choice. 

Would likely have more to say but I’m doing this review a bit later on so that’s what’s stuck with me most.