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A review by a_smile
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
4.5
Stunning. Sad. Frustrating. Honest. Empty. Alone. What word can one use to describe a book like this.
The book contains three parts, separated by a blank page. There are no chapters. There is just a woman, telling her story, to a listener that may or may not ever read it. This gives the reader a feeling of participation. Your story is heard, I am reading it, it was found. And this knowledge, this role of listener, will leave you speechless at the end of the book. How to process a life like this.
The woman’s story starts in a cage. Locked with 39 other women, but very much alone. Separated from them by an age gap and years of misunderstandings. Women is still a young girl at this point. The group has been in this cage for years. We don’t see rebellion or adventure, but the monotone days of a community shaped by rules and boundaries beyond their control. The difference between girl and the other woman in the cage is that these woman remember a live before imprisonment. Girl has never know any other world than the cage. And we are left to wonder: is it better to have loved and lost, then to have never loved at all. A series of unexpected events lead to group to escape. We follow as girl grows into woman, and woman grows into elder. It’s a hauntingly visual and human story.
P.S. Read the introduction at the end. It contains spoilers.
The book contains three parts, separated by a blank page. There are no chapters. There is just a woman, telling her story, to a listener that may or may not ever read it. This gives the reader a feeling of participation. Your story is heard, I am reading it, it was found. And this knowledge, this role of listener, will leave you speechless at the end of the book. How to process a life like this.
The woman’s story starts in a cage. Locked with 39 other women, but very much alone. Separated from them by an age gap and years of misunderstandings. Women is still a young girl at this point. The group has been in this cage for years. We don’t see rebellion or adventure, but the monotone days of a community shaped by rules and boundaries beyond their control. The difference between girl and the other woman in the cage is that these woman remember a live before imprisonment. Girl has never know any other world than the cage. And we are left to wonder: is it better to have loved and lost, then to have never loved at all. A series of unexpected events lead to group to escape. We follow as girl grows into woman, and woman grows into elder. It’s a hauntingly visual and human story.
P.S. Read the introduction at the end. It contains spoilers.