A review by edamamebean
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Wow. What a strange and compelling book. And so vaguely spooky too. This is a speculative fiction/sci-fi about a young woman who grows up as a captive in a bunker with thirty-nine other women. Her story begins with her coming-of-age, but really picks up when she and the other women finally escape the bunker in search of answers to why they’ve been held captive for so many years. They never do find answers. In fact, every new discovery just brings up more questions. But the book isn’t about the rules of their world. It’s more of a think-piece, interested in asking existential questions. What do things like death, time, or love mean for someone who doesn’t experience a normal human existence? What happens to a person if there’s no one left to remember them? What does womanhood mean to a woman who has never known men? I’ll be thinking about this one for a long time. 
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