I Who Have Never Known Men - Jacqueline Harpman & Ros Schwartz

I Who Have Never Known Men

By Jacqueline Harpman & Ros Schwartz

  • Release Date: 2022-05-10
  • Genre: Literary Fiction
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 269 Ratings
$9.99 On itunes Buy on Amazon

Description

Deep underground, thirty-nine women live imprisoned in a cage. Watched over by guards, the women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time, and only a vague recollection of their lives before.

As the burn of electric light merges day into night and numberless years pass, a young girl—the fortieth prisoner—sits alone and outcast in the corner. Soon she will show herself to be the key to the others' escape and survival in the strange world that awaits them above ground.

Jacqueline Harpman was born in Etterbeek, Belgium, in 1929, and fled to Casablanca with her family during WWII. Informed by her background as a psychoanalyst and her youth in exile, I Who Have Never Known Men is a haunting, heartbreaking post-apocalyptic novel of female friendship and intimacy, and the lengths people will go to maintain their humanity in the face of devastation. Back in print for the first time since 1997, Harpman’s modern classic is an important addition to the growing canon of feminist speculative literature.

Reviews

  • humanity finds a way

    4
    By emrohliee
    heart-wrenching yet tender. tragic yet full of hope. i devoured this in 2 days.

  • 10/10

    5
    By Ig\ @samlopezx
    Amazing read, took me out of my reading slump very quickly. Makes you think very deeply and wishing things were different!

  • Must read

    5
    By dmm0601
    It’s like every thought the narrator has makes you reflect on your own life in some way. It’s unsettling and deeply comforting at the same time. No matter how mundane your life may seem to you it is unlike any other, and holds its own unique value.

  • Glad I read this

    5
    By Great Music Luvr
    A strange, unique, and compelling story

  • Weird and transformative

    5
    By Jackie is not cool
    I feel like not enough people know about this short novel. I also had no idea that this book was speculative fiction I really thought it was mostly a feminist novel but to my fortunate surprise this novel had themes of sci fi and absurdism. This novel, especially for the time it was written, is unlike any other. I absolutely love the scenery of this land the reader is on, this desolate, dry and sort of depressing land. I do love that in the end we never fully find out why any of this happened, and usually I don’t like that, but Harpman seems to do it in such a tasteful, graceful and non obnoxious way that it leaves me just thinking about the possibilities days after I’ve finished.

  • The point of the book is for it to be frustrating

    5
    By auntyi206
    The author wants the reader to be frustrated the entire time and just as confused as the characters are. This is a great example of how books can evoke physical feelings in the readers for example the feeling of being “on the edge of your seat.”

  • Very intriguing

    5
    By Fhfhjgc
    I think I will muse over this for some time to come. I feel the perseverance of humanness highlighted in this work to be very intriguing; the innate expression of ‘human’, existent even in such a vast and questionable world. I found the quiet yet profound nature of the women’s experience to be a very truthful reflection of what I see Womanness to be. The background of the author which was revealed in the Afterward added a major layer of depth to this work that made it even more impactful for me. Thank you!

  • I who have never known men.

    1
    By NoCapDogMomma
    I’m far to intelligent to read a low IQ book like this, plus the scenes of her fingering herself are rather distasteful. Would not recommend.

  • Started out strong

    2
    By jhopebts
    Maybe this isn’t the genre for me, but I felt that the first half of the story was great and had such a great buildup compared to the rest of it. Once the climax of the story hits, we are basically left with nothing. It was quite depressing with everything and everyone slowly withering until we are left with the main character. At this point, I still held hope that there would be something to come of these women’s hard work- but there is nothing. The last portion of the book is the main character ruminating over everything her life lacked. Love, experiences, answers, ideas. Nothing happens. It was sad to see the storyline plummet and leave the reader with such an empty feeling and no answers whatsoever.

  • Frustrated but in love

    5
    By thelonelysiren20
    This is the first time I ever read this book. But I think this is one of those books that you have to keep reading and re-reading over the years. I think it holds a different value at different times in your life. All throughout, I kept waiting. Hoping for answers to questions. That there will be a twist. A change. Something that will dramatically alter the ending. But to reach the end and be left as curious and frustrated as I was when I first started reading it… it’s a different kind of feeling. A different kind of sadness and joy and addiction. I don’t think I’m ready to read it again just yet. Perhaps in a few years when I’m searching for answers, I will come back to this book that gave me none.

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