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jojo_circus 's review for:
I Who Have Never Known Men
by Jacqueline Harpman
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
It’s very repetitive, like a stream of consciousness. Knowing the narrator is writing it after the fact makes this make sense, but full sentences get repeated not very far apart and it makes for a slow, frustrating read. Every point needs to be made at least 5 times, as if the reader will immediately forget it when they go to the next sentence. It could be a stylistic choice with the stream of consciousness, but it also seems to be trying to be extremely profound in places, so I would just think it’s poor writing.
For a book that is narrated by a young women who has never met a man and has no knowledge of lust or physical desire, the book focuses way too heavily on sex for the content. It is a minor aspect and only arises a few times (more so in the beginning, much less as it goes on), but it’s not needed at all in this story. If the author didn’t have a feminine name, I would swear it was written by a man.
The narrator gives away the ending too much throughout the story, bits of the present/later happenings break through the retelling and spoils a bit. Keeps readers interested in how it came to be but also loses the mystery and thrill of actually reading the story as it develops.
The narrator tells us less than halfway through the book that the mystery is never solved, almost makes me want to quit reading.
For a book that is narrated by a young women who has never met a man and has no knowledge of lust or physical desire, the book focuses way too heavily on sex for the content. It is a minor aspect and only arises a few times (more so in the beginning, much less as it goes on), but it’s not needed at all in this story. If the author didn’t have a feminine name, I would swear it was written by a man.
The narrator gives away the ending too much throughout the story, bits of the present/later happenings break through the retelling and spoils a bit. Keeps readers interested in how it came to be but also loses the mystery and thrill of actually reading the story as it develops.
The narrator tells us less than halfway through the book that the mystery is never solved, almost makes me want to quit reading.