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A review by kimsue1313
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book felt like something I should have read in school. It's basically a thought experiment. What if you were locked in a bunker with 39 other women for your whole life and didn't remember anything from before. What would life be like for you? How would it make you different from the others who did remember life prior to this cage?
*Heavy Spoilers ahead*
[It was interesting, but I didn't really ENJOY reading this book. I was also disappointed the mystery is never resolved. But enjoyment and satisfaction didn't feel like the point here. The protagonist is left with no satisfying ending to her existence and you are forced to face that with her. She, who has experienced many horrible things, seems mostly neutral to her plight overall. The book isn't dark, it's not really even sad, it just is. She sets the tone and dulls the impact of all traumatic events. If she's never known a better world, what is there to miss.
The exception to this is shared at the very beginning of the book, and for the protagonist, at her life's end: "I was forced to acknowledge too late, much too late, that I too had loved, that I was capable of suffering, and that I was human after all."
For me, this takes this book from almost emotionless to highly depressing in a moment. This one will stick with me.
*Heavy Spoilers ahead*
[It was interesting, but I didn't really ENJOY reading this book. I was also disappointed the mystery is never resolved. But enjoyment and satisfaction didn't feel like the point here. The protagonist is left with no satisfying ending to her existence and you are forced to face that with her. She, who has experienced many horrible things, seems mostly neutral to her plight overall. The book isn't dark, it's not really even sad, it just is. She sets the tone and dulls the impact of all traumatic events. If she's never known a better world, what is there to miss.
The exception to this is shared at the very beginning of the book, and for the protagonist, at her life's end: "I was forced to acknowledge too late, much too late, that I too had loved, that I was capable of suffering, and that I was human after all."
For me, this takes this book from almost emotionless to highly depressing in a moment. This one will stick with me.
Content Warnings
Minor: Kidnapping