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A review by futurememory
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
What a powerful, powerful slim novel about existential dread, and a fine companion piece to The Memory Police.
I Who Have Never Known Men tracks an unnamed narrator who has been trapped in a bunker with 39 other women since she was a small child. She doesn't recall any other existence. She's guarded 24/7, not allowed to touch the other women in the bunker, not allowed to step out of line. And the story only unspools from there.
This is a bleak, bleak piece of fiction about the persistence of humanity, even in the throes of an almost cosmic horror level of unknowability. We are as in the dark as the narrator, and the only points of illumination and humanity seem far off in the distance.
A quietly harrowing and horrifying novel that refuses to compromise and refuses to reveal. I loved it. I could see people loathing it.
I Who Have Never Known Men tracks an unnamed narrator who has been trapped in a bunker with 39 other women since she was a small child. She doesn't recall any other existence. She's guarded 24/7, not allowed to touch the other women in the bunker, not allowed to step out of line. And the story only unspools from there.
This is a bleak, bleak piece of fiction about the persistence of humanity, even in the throes of an almost cosmic horror level of unknowability. We are as in the dark as the narrator, and the only points of illumination and humanity seem far off in the distance.
A quietly harrowing and horrifying novel that refuses to compromise and refuses to reveal. I loved it. I could see people loathing it.