Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

12 reviews

mjmiller_'s review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Gore, Excrement, Confinement, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Suicide attempt

refrejarator's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.0

I feel so hopeless after reading this. Madly depressing and terribly mysterious.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Excrement, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Self harm, War, Cancer, Grief, Police brutality, Suicide, Dementia, and Terminal illness

gaeu's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.75

wow wow WOW!!! 
I need time to digest this book, but wow. 
The only reason it doesn’t get 5 stars is because there are questions still unanswered (which I guess it’s the point), but I still would have liked some answers 
Very introspective book, questioning the meaning of life and what it means to live. The pacing reminds me of “The invisible life of Addie la rue” where in both books you’re basically following these women through the years and what happens to them
I really enjoyed this. So much so that I read in one sitting and that doesn’t happen very often 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Confinement, Death, Excrement, and Murder

philippmk's review against another edition

dark hopeful 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

3.75

I Who Have Never Known Men manages to be, at times, both deeply depressing yet hopeful. The nameless main character brings in a unique perspective to the strange world she lives in, given it's the only one she's ever known. Though some themes, such as her aversion to touch or her unexplained heritage, could be explored further, her relationships to the other women make for an interesting enough journey in this rather short book. 

Though I am typically not a fan of mysteries that remain unsolved, I could see why the protagonist's journey was the main focus all along. Watching her discover the most mundane things about the world that came before, if she even is on that same world, and marvel at books, regardless of their content, simply because she's never had them, was delightful. 

Yet still, I wish there had been at least one or two more hints as to what had happened to the world, or at the very least how come electricity in the bunkers remained working. Leaving the desolated characters with decades worth of perfectly well-preserved food, whereas every other luxury, such as toilets, furniture or housing, had to be built from scratch, showing off the versatility and resourcefulness of the forty women, seemed like an odd choice for this story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Violence, Confinement, Blood, Grief, Cancer, Excrement, and Suicidal thoughts

temia04's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, and Death

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Excrement

andrewhatesham's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Death, Medical trauma, Medical content, Confinement, Mental illness, and Terminal illness

Minor: Miscarriage, Sexual content, Excrement, and Grief

kimberleydawn's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Death, and Confinement

Minor: Grief, Suicide, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Infertility, Physical abuse, Dementia, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, and Cancer

mme_carton's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Grief, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, Cancer, Suicide, Abandonment, Blood, Chronic illness, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Terminal illness

deetabz's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Excrement, Confinement, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Infertility, Body shaming, and Cancer

Minor: Sexual content, War, Alcohol, Kidnapping, and Drug abuse

marieke17's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-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? Yes

5.0

This book is so beautiful. I would recommend it to literally everyone. Reading about a group of woman that escaped a prison not knowing what to expect but still having hope in finding other people. <The way they have so much respect for the dead every time the find a new bunker or when one of them dies. The way this woman decides to follow her dream to keep looking after she’s the only one left.> The way she doesn’t know anything other than what the other women have told her and how she wants to know everything.
This book leaves me in tears, questions and a smile.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide, Terminal illness, Vomit, Grief, Body horror, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Excrement