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aneges 's review for:
I Who Have Never Known Men
by Jacqueline Harpman
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Had this on my list for a long time as it was highly recommended by someone I follow but I always felt intimidated by it. Finally picked it up and it surprised me how "easy" it was to read, not because it is shallow or an easy read in a more traditional sense but because it was surprisingly unpretentious and very different from what I was expecting.
There is a lot that can be learnt from this book if one reflects about it and it's clear that is the "purpose" for which it was written but I loved the fact that it was not preachy and leaves all the considerations to the reader. I thin these are the best kind of books as everyone can see something different in it depending on our experiences and even different things on re-reads based on the moment.
It revolves a lot around exploration and the search for answers, even though it's clear from the start that there are not answers to be found. Despite that I still kept reading and hoped that I would get some clue or hint between the lines, but in the end even though I did not find an answer I still loved the journey (Journey before destination, after all 😂)
I appreciated the impartiality of our narrator and it was interesting to try imagine the point of view of someone who has never experienced everything we take for granted. I appreciated the calmness throughout the whole story and the emphasis on the curiosity that kept our narrator going even after multiple disappointments.
I was undecided on the rating and for now I'm not ready to give it 5 stars because even though it was great I feel like it did not fully satisfy my expectations or deeply impact me yet and I'm not sure if it will stick with me after some time. But maybe I'm just too critic this year (no 5 stars yet except rereads and I feel that I'm being too picky perhaps).
There is a lot that can be learnt from this book if one reflects about it and it's clear that is the "purpose" for which it was written but I loved the fact that it was not preachy and leaves all the considerations to the reader. I thin these are the best kind of books as everyone can see something different in it depending on our experiences and even different things on re-reads based on the moment.
It revolves a lot around exploration and the search for answers, even though it's clear from the start that there are not answers to be found. Despite that I still kept reading and hoped that I would get some clue or hint between the lines, but in the end even though I did not find an answer I still loved the journey (Journey before destination, after all 😂)
I appreciated the impartiality of our narrator and it was interesting to try imagine the point of view of someone who has never experienced everything we take for granted. I appreciated the calmness throughout the whole story and the emphasis on the curiosity that kept our narrator going even after multiple disappointments.
I was undecided on the rating and for now I'm not ready to give it 5 stars because even though it was great I feel like it did not fully satisfy my expectations or deeply impact me yet and I'm not sure if it will stick with me after some time. But maybe I'm just too critic this year (no 5 stars yet except rereads and I feel that I'm being too picky perhaps).