I Who Have Never Known Men Paperback – May 10, 2022

A haunting, thought-provoking and beautiful read. Defies categorization but I recommend it to lovers of compellingly economical writing styles, intellectual mysteries, and feminist sci-fi.

This book was very different than what I usually read. It something about it, very suttle that’s just enough to keep your reading and wondering. Unfortunately I didn’t get the ending I’d hoped for.

4.5 StarsIt is a short, dystopian story that is a beautiful, harrowing tale about life, grief, and humanity. This tale will stick with me for a long time.In a bunker underground, thirty-nine women and one young girl go through day to day life not knowing how they got there. The women have vague memories of a past left behind but the girl only knows of the bunker. Days go by and the only telling of other life are the men who guard them. They come and go but never speak. Then on a day like any other, their world as they know it flips upside down and they are left in a different type of prison.Filled with hope, despair, love, and anguish. It is a small story that packs a great big punch.

2.5 stars. I finished this little book in 2 days, it was interesting and somewhat enjoyable read, and thought provoking, but mostly for the wrong and unintentional reasons. I don't understand all the five star reviews, as I found it very problematic as a novel.The major problems are with the framing and writing style. The narrator reveals in the first few of pages that she is alone and dying and is writing the story of what happened to her. As a very young child, with no memories of a before, she is imprisoned in a cage with a group of 40 women. Guards who never speak to them patrol the outside.A little bit spoliery, but not much:They are not allowed to touch each other, and the women don't interact much or talk much to the child, so that she mostly understands through listening to them. They have nothing other than food and bedding. However, despite all this, the narrator is now writing reflectively, with a highly developed vocabulary, about her past. For me this broke the fourth wall and the immersion in the book. I was unable to suspend my disbelief.Later there is some logic to how she could have begun to understand more about the world in which we live, and learn rudimentary reading skills. But to think that she understood what she did, could reflect on abstract concepts in the way she did, and use the extensive vocabulary that she did, is unbelievable even given her later experiences. I have a PhD in Psycho-Linguistics, study children's language development, and all that I have studied and read would not lead to a person with the experiences the protagonist had, being able to write and reason as eloquently as this, or being able to read the few books it is later mentioned she has access to.Also, many people have seen this as a feminist novel, talking about the subjugation of women. And while I agree there are discussions of menstruation, wombs, the importance of children to women, I don't agree it is about the subjugation of women.Spoilers here:When they find other cages, they are just as likely to be men as women. So this is not something done just to women, but to both sexes equally. Neither are the women sexually abused or interfered with as women in any way.I also, take issue with the talk that they are not on Earth. They seem to quickly jump to this conclusion, with very little firm evidence. While later the years of walking through the wilderness, with a lack of seasons and winter, make this likely, there, are other possible explanations as to why they are somewhere that might not be Earth as they know it. They could be in a computer simulation for instance. It could all be a dream by the protagonist who is in a comma. These are as likely explanations as being on another planet. Perhaps even more so, as they can explain why the women who remember other things about their lives in imprisonment (despite a few years being possibly drugged, making the events that lead up to imprisonment and early years blurry), don't recall space exploration, or anything like that. It would also explain why the electricity and water remain on and everything continues working for more than 40 years without apparent maintenance. They and we cannot conclude anything about where they are from the evidence provided.It is a philosophical book, and an interesting book. It made me think, although mostly about what was wrong with the book, and how it could have been written and framed differently to tell the same story but in a more immersive and believable was. So glad I read it, but don't recommend it, and don't understand the many 4 and 5 star reviews.

I was pleasantly surprised to find the book was not so much a commentary on gender and was a very introspective and unique tale that makes and thinks about life and society from an outside perspective.

I started out thinking it was the most depressing story I had ever read but I was hooked by then. Very thought provoking. Not a feel good book at all but intriguing.

This book was very interesting. I enjoyed reading it & found myself always hoping for the best outcome. It is different than what I am used to but opened me up to a new genre I didn’t know I liked.

A perfect mix of “The Road” and “The Alchemist”(which I hated when I read in high school) but the best elements of each. Harpman navigates facets of womanhood, humanity, sentience and love all on a stage that is equal parts intriguing and easy to access. Read it all in one sitting and was a great kick off to my 2025 list.