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A review by mitzee
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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? It's complicated
5.0
A beautiful story that is part philosophical and part fiction, maybe even science fiction? It’s mysterious and leaves a lot in the dark but it’s also heartwarming and holds a mirror up to expectations about we think one should do with one’s life.
The narrator is never named but it’s told from her POV. Shes telling the story of her life as far back as she can remember from the point of view of being in her last days.
The story starts with her and 39 other women living in a cage in a bunker. They don’t have access to much, they don’t remember really how they got here. They don’t know WHY they are being held but they do have memories of what it was like in the “before times”.
The narrator shares what it was like to be growing up as an adolescent among those women. And they all suspect that she was accidentally rounded up with adults and that’s how she got here.
She longs to learn and gain knowledge but the women don’t always tell her things because they don’t think there is a point to her knowing since she’ll never get to experience certain things.
There are men here though they never interact with her. Nobody is ever allowed to touch, so she has no concept of that it’s like to be touched. It goes on like this with her learning new things as she experiences them.
One day an alarm goes off while the guards are bringing in their food and the guards all leave but also leave the door open with the keys. The women are finally able to escape and she learns for the first time what the world is like. She has never known the outside nor experienced a full day (with the sun rising and setting).
The rest of the book continues on with the women going out, exploring and learning to survive on their own. They discover more bunkers but none of them have anyone alive. It seems like they were the only lucky few to survive.
Over time the other women die and it’s just the narrator by herself.
The whole book is quietly beautiful and dark. It’s peaceful and kind of lovely. I was excited to continue reading it even though I didn’t think anything particularly exciting was going to happen. I was also okay when the story just ended with her being like “okay well that’s my story. If someone reads this then I will exist but if nobody reads this then maybe I didn’t. And it doesn’t matter either way.”
The narrator is never named but it’s told from her POV. Shes telling the story of her life as far back as she can remember from the point of view of being in her last days.
The story starts with her and 39 other women living in a cage in a bunker. They don’t have access to much, they don’t remember really how they got here. They don’t know WHY they are being held but they do have memories of what it was like in the “before times”.
The narrator shares what it was like to be growing up as an adolescent among those women. And they all suspect that she was accidentally rounded up with adults and that’s how she got here.
She longs to learn and gain knowledge but the women don’t always tell her things because they don’t think there is a point to her knowing since she’ll never get to experience certain things.
There are men here though they never interact with her. Nobody is ever allowed to touch, so she has no concept of that it’s like to be touched. It goes on like this with her learning new things as she experiences them.
One day an alarm goes off while the guards are bringing in their food and the guards all leave but also leave the door open with the keys. The women are finally able to escape and she learns for the first time what the world is like. She has never known the outside nor experienced a full day (with the sun rising and setting).
The rest of the book continues on with the women going out, exploring and learning to survive on their own. They discover more bunkers but none of them have anyone alive. It seems like they were the only lucky few to survive.
Over time the other women die and it’s just the narrator by herself.
The whole book is quietly beautiful and dark. It’s peaceful and kind of lovely. I was excited to continue reading it even though I didn’t think anything particularly exciting was going to happen. I was also okay when the story just ended with her being like “okay well that’s my story. If someone reads this then I will exist but if nobody reads this then maybe I didn’t. And it doesn’t matter either way.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Suicide and Murder