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kaleyrdaniels 's review for:
I Who Have Never Known Men
by Jacqueline Harpman
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book is unlike anything I’ve ever read before. I rated it 3 ⭐️ because while it was very interesting and thought-provoking, I just simply didn’t enjoy it all that much. Not to say that’s any fault of the novel: it’s a personal problem of mine, as this style of novel just isn’t my favorite. I didn’t connect much with the characters or narrator, and the writing was dull (surely a stylistic choice which I’ll discuss shortly), which are the two main elements that usually determine if I enjoy a book or not. Despite that, the themes and premise of the story were intriguing enough to keep me reading.
This book had such simple prose, likely a reflection of how the (nameless) narrator read mostly scientific texts and a gardening manual, but it still felt very complex. At first, I thought the themes were concealed by the perplexing setting, but then I realized the setting was only so perplexing because it was so simple and inexplicable. The themes then stood out quite well, only aided by the plain background.
I think the most prominent theme in this novel is about what humans are, at their core, when not influenced by modern culture or society. The nameless narrator of course exemplifies this because she was raised in the barren environment of the bunker, and later, the plains. Her core values that stood out to me were curiosity and hope. Curiosity, about what else is out there in their world, why the women were confined to the bunker in the first place, and what happened to everyone when the siren went off. And then hope, when despite all evidence to the contrary, she continued to hope that there were other survivors, somewhere out there- one of her last actions was to shout into the plains: “Help! Is anyone out there?”
A secondary theme that I found interesting was how culture and upbringing shapes a person’s feelings about topics like murder. This was touched upon by the narrator as well: in the novels she found in the final bunker, murder was an extreme and violent action, where in her case, she had technically “murdered” dozens of women at their own request, for their own comfort. As she stated, she didn’t understand the gravity of it, nor of other concepts she hadn’t experienced.
I also noticed how the author seemed to have a generally positive view of the base nature of humans, or at least, women. In other stories regarding a group of people lost in a vast wilderness fighting to survive, they often turn on each other and resort to violence and cruelty. That was not the case with these women, though that may have been different had they not had practically unlimited supplies available.
I wish I could know the answers to all the questions the narrator had: mainly, why these women were locked up in the first place. By not enlightening the readers, the author ensured we shared a common frustration with the narrator. She died without knowing why things were as they were, as will we.
This book had such simple prose, likely a reflection of how the (nameless) narrator read mostly scientific texts and a gardening manual, but it still felt very complex. At first, I thought the themes were concealed by the perplexing setting, but then I realized the setting was only so perplexing because it was so simple and inexplicable. The themes then stood out quite well, only aided by the plain background.
I think the most prominent theme in this novel is about what humans are, at their core, when not influenced by modern culture or society. The nameless narrator of course exemplifies this because she was raised in the barren environment of the bunker, and later, the plains. Her core values that stood out to me were curiosity and hope. Curiosity, about what else is out there in their world, why the women were confined to the bunker in the first place, and what happened to everyone when the siren went off. And then hope, when despite all evidence to the contrary, she continued to hope that there were other survivors, somewhere out there- one of her last actions was to shout into the plains: “Help! Is anyone out there?”
A secondary theme that I found interesting was how culture and upbringing shapes a person’s feelings about topics like murder. This was touched upon by the narrator as well: in the novels she found in the final bunker, murder was an extreme and violent action, where in her case, she had technically “murdered” dozens of women at their own request, for their own comfort. As she stated, she didn’t understand the gravity of it, nor of other concepts she hadn’t experienced.
I also noticed how the author seemed to have a generally positive view of the base nature of humans, or at least, women. In other stories regarding a group of people lost in a vast wilderness fighting to survive, they often turn on each other and resort to violence and cruelty. That was not the case with these women, though that may have been different had they not had practically unlimited supplies available.
I wish I could know the answers to all the questions the narrator had: mainly, why these women were locked up in the first place. By not enlightening the readers, the author ensured we shared a common frustration with the narrator. She died without knowing why things were as they were, as will we.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Suicide, Terminal illness, Murder