florasin 's review for:

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

4.0

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I suspect I'll reread this in the future. It seems like the sort of work meant to be read more than once. 

I found the work to be interesting, but I do have two qualms. 

The first being that despite all of the claims that this book could have been written at any point in history or the future, it actually carries a very strong sense of nineties feminist conversations. The familiarity is unavoidable, but not truly aligned with the way those conversations are had today in circles I'm engaged in. 

The second is how much happens off page and because it happens off page, it is hard to care about it. Particularly because "the child" is so detached for so much of the book. This can make it feel like very little has happened at all.

I think much of the second issue could be resolved by reading it again. As for the feminist perspective, it at least creates a window for thought and discussion of women's issues. 

Truly expect to read it again, but I am still not sure if I can say I enjoyed reading this. It's been interesting regardless.