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I Who Have Never Known Men
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.
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.
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
About the author
Jacqueline Harpman
26 books742 followersJacqueline Harpman was born in Etterbeek, Belgium, in 1929. Being half Jewish, the family moved to Casablanca when the Nazis invaded, and returned home after the war. After studying French literature she started training to be a doctor, but could not complete her medical studies when she contracted tuberculosis. She turned to writing in 1954 and her first work was published in 1958. In 1980 she qualified as a psychoanalyst. She had given up writing after her fourth book was published, and resumed her career as a novelist only some twenty years later. She wrote twelve novels and won several literary prizes, most recently the Médicis for the present novel. She was married to an architect and had two children.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31,059 reviews
January 24, 2025
oh. my. god. how am i supposed to go on???
one of the best sci-fi/dystopian books ive ever read, but its also so much more than that!! we follow our anonymous narrator who has been raised in a cage with 39 other women. no one knows why they’re there or how they got there and they have very vague memories from “before,” but not our narrator. one day an alarm sounds and the guards watching them flee, now they’re free… now what? THIS IS JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBURG TOO!!
it’s only january and i think this will be in my top fave books of the year
one of the best sci-fi/dystopian books ive ever read, but its also so much more than that!! we follow our anonymous narrator who has been raised in a cage with 39 other women. no one knows why they’re there or how they got there and they have very vague memories from “before,” but not our narrator. one day an alarm sounds and the guards watching them flee, now they’re free… now what? THIS IS JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBURG TOO!!
it’s only january and i think this will be in my top fave books of the year
December 5, 2023
“I was forced to acknowledge too late, much too late, that I too had loved, that I was capable of suffering, and that I was human after all.”
4 1/2 stars. Wow. This tiny, disquieting book carries a sadness that the most popular tearjerkers could never hope to capture.
It sits outside of genre, outside of time, outside of the reality we know, introducing the reader to a world unfamiliar to both them and the unnamed protagonist. The result is a palpable feeling of wonder and loneliness.
I have decided to round up because this book made me feel so deeply, and because I have decided that my personal frustrations are perhaps misguided. There were things that I was hoping for from this book that I didn't get, but then I was never promised them, and, in fact, the past tense narration forewarned I would not get them. So that's my problem.
The story starts in an underground bunker where thirty-nine women and one young girl-- our narrator --are imprisoned in a cage. They don't remember how they got there and they have no idea why they are there. The women remember a life before the cage with families, friends and jobs, but the child remembers only their current existence. They are watched over and fed by male guards who tell them nothing. It seems they are doomed to live and die in this cage... until one day a combination of chance and ingenuity provide an opportunity for freedom.
It is part eerie pastoral dystopia, part a deeply introspective novel about hope, loneliness and the things that give life meaning. The novel swings between the invigorating feeling of hope and the numbing despair of hopelessness.
I found myself wondering at one point if it was supposed to be a metaphor. But perhaps I am overthinking things.
Either way, this short novel sat like a ball of anxiety in my throat from beginning to end. What a sad, evocative little story.
January 23, 2023
This is desolate and despondent. But it never tricks you into thinking it will be anything else. It tells you from page one that this isn't a happy story and that you'll be left wanting. But the story-tellers we are trick ourselves into believing that everything will get wrapped up in a nice little bow. No. False. This is pure science fiction. I don't know what was going on at any point of this book but by god am I so glad it exists. A women wrote this in the 90s??? Iconic. Never before seen. Stunning.
For such a short book, it packs a massive punch. Almost anything you could have questions about in a dystopian world are brought up in these mere 188 pages.
I can't say I ever felt fulfilled or happy reading this book but it definitely left me reeling and talking about the subject matter with everyone who had the displeasure of being within ear shot of me that week.
Critically this book is a 5 star. But by vibes, it's a 4.
For such a short book, it packs a massive punch. Almost anything you could have questions about in a dystopian world are brought up in these mere 188 pages.
I can't say I ever felt fulfilled or happy reading this book but it definitely left me reeling and talking about the subject matter with everyone who had the displeasure of being within ear shot of me that week.
Critically this book is a 5 star. But by vibes, it's a 4.
July 28, 2022
that might be the single greatest, most traumatizing last sentence in a book that i have ever read
----------
the title: god, i wish that were me…
the content: god, i’m so happy that’s not me.
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the title: god, i wish that were me…
the content: god, i’m so happy that’s not me.
February 14, 2024
Do yourself a favor and read this.
The second half of this book blew my mind. Very bleak but it will haunt me forever.
Best book of 2022: https://youtu.be/lQBAza0zdj8
Update: Reread it in French (no idea how to add another edition here) and liked it even more.
The second half of this book blew my mind. Very bleak but it will haunt me forever.
Best book of 2022: https://youtu.be/lQBAza0zdj8
Update: Reread it in French (no idea how to add another edition here) and liked it even more.
November 22, 2024
“I felt as if this pain would never be appeased, that it had me in its grip for ever, that it would prevent me from devoting myself to anything else, and that I was allowing it to do so. I think that is what they call being consumed with remorse.”
December 13, 2022
What the fuck
January 14, 2023
I WHO HAVE NEVER READ A BOOK LIKE THIS
October 27, 2023
Holy shit
I’m unwell
I’m unwell
March 25, 2020
‘I was forced to acknowledge too late, much too late, that I too had loved, that I was capable of suffering, and that I was human after all.’
Viscerally disturbing, elegant and dignified. Better even than The Handmaid’s Tale.
This is the most haunting and thought-provoking book I have read in a very long time. Harpman’s prose is stark and stylistically perfect, charged throughout with an agonising inexorability. It’s a powerful concept besides: a slim dystopian novel narrated by an anonymous woman, whose only life she has ever known is that of being locked in a cage in a bunker with thirty-nine other women. Her narrative is deeply introspective, despite her complete and utter inexperience. And regardless of her intense capacity for emotion, she is convinced she is not entirely human.
At once exquisite and devastating, I am at a loss to understand how this has not reached a wider audience. I Who Have Never Known Men is a profoundly sad novel that revels in its ambiguity.
Viscerally disturbing, elegant and dignified. Better even than The Handmaid’s Tale.
This is the most haunting and thought-provoking book I have read in a very long time. Harpman’s prose is stark and stylistically perfect, charged throughout with an agonising inexorability. It’s a powerful concept besides: a slim dystopian novel narrated by an anonymous woman, whose only life she has ever known is that of being locked in a cage in a bunker with thirty-nine other women. Her narrative is deeply introspective, despite her complete and utter inexperience. And regardless of her intense capacity for emotion, she is convinced she is not entirely human.
At once exquisite and devastating, I am at a loss to understand how this has not reached a wider audience. I Who Have Never Known Men is a profoundly sad novel that revels in its ambiguity.
January 17, 2024
I’m shocked to be giving this 1 star. I really thought it was going to be 5 stars so I’m very disappointed. The main reason this is 1 star is because it literally went no where. The same thing kept happening over and over. Nothing new was given, the plot was virtually non-existent. It just went no where but because the writing is philosophical I’m supposed to ignore that? I don’t think this is worth picking up tbh.
1 star
1 star
Want to read
June 4, 2024i wish
March 30, 2024
2.7
Największe rozczarowanie tego roku 😭😭😭
Największe rozczarowanie tego roku 😭😭😭
February 8, 2025
If you enjoy wondering if you’ll ever feel hope again, this book's for you. I Who Have Never Known Men makes The Road by Cormac McCarthy feel like a stroll in a park. The premise is straightforward enough. 40 women, caged in a bunker for reasons no one’s sharing.
This isn’t the kind of book that’s here to comfort. It’s dark, bleak, terrifying, yet also profound. It made me sit in discomfort and confront survival, freedom, and what it even means to live.
The silence about what happened to the world is louder than any dystopian world-building ever could be. And at first, I wanted the explanations, the “why,” the rules of this world. But the more I read, the more I realised that the silence is the whole point of the story.
If you’re on the hunt for a happily ever after, you might want to look elsewhere, because this book doesn’t do redemption or catharsis or answers. What we do get is a meditation on what’s left when everything we think makes us human such as love, connection and hope, is stripped away.
By the time I turned the last page, I was left reeling and grappling with the enormity of my own insignificance. It’s frustrating, haunting and unforgettable.
Highly recommend if you’re a masochistic reader, like me.
♦️♦️♦️
Sometimes I swing from fantasy to soul-crushing dystopian books to keep me grounded.
This isn’t the kind of book that’s here to comfort. It’s dark, bleak, terrifying, yet also profound. It made me sit in discomfort and confront survival, freedom, and what it even means to live.
The silence about what happened to the world is louder than any dystopian world-building ever could be. And at first, I wanted the explanations, the “why,” the rules of this world. But the more I read, the more I realised that the silence is the whole point of the story.
If you’re on the hunt for a happily ever after, you might want to look elsewhere, because this book doesn’t do redemption or catharsis or answers. What we do get is a meditation on what’s left when everything we think makes us human such as love, connection and hope, is stripped away.
By the time I turned the last page, I was left reeling and grappling with the enormity of my own insignificance. It’s frustrating, haunting and unforgettable.
Highly recommend if you’re a masochistic reader, like me.
♦️♦️♦️
Sometimes I swing from fantasy to soul-crushing dystopian books to keep me grounded.
September 11, 2024
I’ve now read this book twice in 2024 and can confirm it is one of my all time favorites.
Original Review:
I would definitely encourage anyone interested in reading this book to not look too much into what this book is actually about.
If you have no idea what this book is about and are reading this review, here’s what I’ll say: this is a story about a girl growing up in confinement and how she learns to free herself through her mind. And yet along the way, she wonders is she really free?
Now you can pick this book up and have your own mind blown.
I loved how this had both a really intriguing plot, but also a deep philosophical examination of what it means to be a human, to live and love and laugh and learn.
I truly never knew where this book was going next. It’s quite a short novel and yet full of so much.
This would make an excellent bookclub selection as well.
I feel like I won’t stop thinking about this book for a long time. It’s one of those stories that gets a hook in you and doesn’t let go.
Original Review:
I would definitely encourage anyone interested in reading this book to not look too much into what this book is actually about.
If you have no idea what this book is about and are reading this review, here’s what I’ll say: this is a story about a girl growing up in confinement and how she learns to free herself through her mind. And yet along the way, she wonders is she really free?
Now you can pick this book up and have your own mind blown.
I loved how this had both a really intriguing plot, but also a deep philosophical examination of what it means to be a human, to live and love and laugh and learn.
I truly never knew where this book was going next. It’s quite a short novel and yet full of so much.
This would make an excellent bookclub selection as well.
I feel like I won’t stop thinking about this book for a long time. It’s one of those stories that gets a hook in you and doesn’t let go.
Read
September 8, 2024Imagine the experience of listening to
I Who Have Never Known Men in audiobook form
—a story that unravels in your mind like a haunting philosophical meditation.
The narrator’s voice is quiet and contemplative, pulling you into this strange dystopian world, where every word lingers, inviting deep introspection. As you listen, the novel’s philosophical musings unfold slowly, and you begin to question what it means to be human.
Can humanity survive when stripped of all its familiar markers?
Can it endure in a cage, both literal and existential?
The story is sparse, the narration minimal, yet the emptiness itself carries weight. The narrator's voice captures the essence of the protagonist's inner thoughts and emotions as she grapples with these profound questions in her isolated world. You’re never given the answers to why the women are imprisoned, what has happened outside, or even where they are. In any other context, this lack of clarity might be maddening, but the audiobook’s pacing and introspective tone soften that frustration. You find yourself less focused on the unknowns and more absorbed in the journey of the protagonist, listening closely for the subtle shifts in her psyche as she navigates this dehumanizing existence.
Listen here: I Who Have Never Known Men (Audiobook)
The unanswered questions hang in the air, drawing you deeper into the narrative. The lack of worldbuilding details becomes almost a background hum as the philosophical reflections take center stage. As the narrator guides you through this slim but weighty story, you realize that the power lies in what isn’t said as much as in what is. And while you may not find complete satisfaction when the audiobook reaches its end, its ideas will linger in your mind, begging for further reflection long after the last word fades away.
The narrator’s voice is quiet and contemplative, pulling you into this strange dystopian world, where every word lingers, inviting deep introspection. As you listen, the novel’s philosophical musings unfold slowly, and you begin to question what it means to be human.
Can humanity survive when stripped of all its familiar markers?
Can it endure in a cage, both literal and existential?
The story is sparse, the narration minimal, yet the emptiness itself carries weight. The narrator's voice captures the essence of the protagonist's inner thoughts and emotions as she grapples with these profound questions in her isolated world. You’re never given the answers to why the women are imprisoned, what has happened outside, or even where they are. In any other context, this lack of clarity might be maddening, but the audiobook’s pacing and introspective tone soften that frustration. You find yourself less focused on the unknowns and more absorbed in the journey of the protagonist, listening closely for the subtle shifts in her psyche as she navigates this dehumanizing existence.
Listen here: I Who Have Never Known Men (Audiobook)
The unanswered questions hang in the air, drawing you deeper into the narrative. The lack of worldbuilding details becomes almost a background hum as the philosophical reflections take center stage. As the narrator guides you through this slim but weighty story, you realize that the power lies in what isn’t said as much as in what is. And while you may not find complete satisfaction when the audiobook reaches its end, its ideas will linger in your mind, begging for further reflection long after the last word fades away.
February 19, 2024
2.5 stars
SPOILER🛑 but you should probably take the title of the book very literally, because she really has never and will never know men or KNOW ANYTHING AND NEITHER WILL WE.
I am actually so mad. I wish I knew this had one of those annoying open endings with zero answers. Just repetitive ramblings from start to end.
I was waiting with bated breath for something to happen, the author would even tease me with the possibility of a revelation. But don't hold your breath like I did. Every time you think it's something interesting, it's just them finding the same shit for 20 years.
I was dying of curiosity about the mystery of the women's circumstances, it was genuinely the only thing that had me hooked amongst the repetitive writing. It didn't even cross my mind that something so suspenseful would never be revealed.
The narrator and I were left in a pile of unanswered questions, accompanied by a despondent feeling that came with the ending of this book. It was completely depressing in a way that mirrors a real hunger for discovering hidden answers to questions that will never be found or be just out of reach.
Was this perhaps a metaphor about the uncertain reality of our own lives? Yea IDGAF, give me answers.
SPOILER🛑 but you should probably take the title of the book very literally, because she really has never and will never know men or KNOW ANYTHING AND NEITHER WILL WE.
I am actually so mad. I wish I knew this had one of those annoying open endings with zero answers. Just repetitive ramblings from start to end.
I was waiting with bated breath for something to happen, the author would even tease me with the possibility of a revelation. But don't hold your breath like I did. Every time you think it's something interesting, it's just them finding the same shit for 20 years.
I was dying of curiosity about the mystery of the women's circumstances, it was genuinely the only thing that had me hooked amongst the repetitive writing. It didn't even cross my mind that something so suspenseful would never be revealed.
The narrator and I were left in a pile of unanswered questions, accompanied by a despondent feeling that came with the ending of this book. It was completely depressing in a way that mirrors a real hunger for discovering hidden answers to questions that will never be found or be just out of reach.
I have understood nothing about the world in which I live. I have criss-crossed it in every direction but I haven't discovered its boundaries
Was this perhaps a metaphor about the uncertain reality of our own lives? Yea IDGAF, give me answers.
January 22, 2025
well written and does have some terrifying situations and ideas regarding being the last person on earth and having a past clouded in mystery but ultimately i found it very conservative in its ideas regarding womanhood, virginity, religion, sexuality, gender, age, and menstruation.
IWHNKM is the story of a group of women who are kept in a cell for give or take 12 years, they don't know why they've been imprisoned, they don't know by who, they don't know each other, and they don't know what's going on in the rest of the world. Their guards are all men, these guards never talk to them or touch them other than threatening to whip them if they disobey, these guards are somehow able to provide basic food and medicine for these women. The women aren't allowed to touch or kill themselves. One day a siren goes off and the guards evacuate leaving the keys for the jail cell and allowing the women to explore the now empty earth. We are told the story through the pov of The Child called so because she was the only child in the jail cell and grew up in captivity, this making her a woman who has never known men (a woman raised without patriarchy essentially).
It’s a pretty interesting dystopian setting and maybe I should’ve expected this given the title but any interesting ideas this story has are brought down by the it’s very outdated ideas about womanhood. For one the women never fight back against the guards despite there only being 3 guards at a time for 40 women. The only transgressive act they even attempt at doing is when the Child decides to stare at one of the newer younger guards and develops a way of counting time. This doesn’t really lead to helping them escape but it’s implied that the guard the Child liked left behind the keys because he felt pity for them. So their escape is ultimately dependent on the random kindness of a man rather than any actual effort on their part. And what motivated Child to stare at this man and develop this system of time anyway, well the fact that she could fantasize about him and make herself maybe sort of have an orgasm like that hands free…I guess?? Talk about a brain blast.
Honestly the first red flag of this book is when one of the women tells Child that back in the before time women would make themselves beautiful for men and that some woman claimed it was for themselves but it was really for men and without men they had no reason to make themselves pretty anymore. This statement is sexist and also wrong there is proof women still enjoy making themselves beautiful even when no men are around. But even ignoring that Child just kinda accept everything these women tell her no question, not even an inkling that she’s curious if anything she’s being told is actually true. Despite the 40 women in the jail cell supposedly coming from all around the country and having no relations to one another none of the women are described as having a unique ethnic identity, none practiced any religion that wasn’t christianity before incarceration, most didn’t have any real hobbies or interest because they were middle class working women and moms (this is also very sexist to me and a bit classist), and none of them were queer in any way before being locked up. We only have one woman who is seen as being “smart” and that’s only because she used to be a nurse and she often looks down on all the women around her. So obviously Child is raised with a very narrow view of life. Like i guess i shouldn’t have been too surprised there weren’t any like non white women in this book (cuz we weren’t invented until 2010 lol) but it still came off as odd to me because the book goes out of its way to say none of these women knew each other before being trapped and yet they’re all basically the same character.
Child is raised to believe that men were basically the greatest thing ever, a woman’s ultimate joy in life was being with men and having kids and all the other women pity her because she’s doomed to die alone and a virgin. Despite our introduction to Child being her basically imaging RPF until she braincums she grows up to be what reads a lot like an aromantic asexual adult. Not because the author has anything interesting to say about queer sexualities but because Child is infertile and obviously the only way a woman like this could exist would be because her uterus doesn’t work and she’s never spoken to a man in her life. Any normal woman would be wildin for some dick all the time. Child tries masturbating as an adult and it doesn’t work because obviously women can only achieve orgasm through “real” penetration from a penis. Pour one out for Child, last woman on earth and she can’t even masturbate. like girl keep digging around down there eventually you’ll find it.
So Child is constantly described as a virgin despite that label being extremely useless in a world where society is just 40 women, this isn’t really explored either. On the topic of sexuality while it does seem like some of the women do pair up and have sexual relationships with each other this is framed more as them “doing what they can for each other” and not “real” relationships, there is never any talk of romantic love between these women just relationships out of convenience and desperation. Relationships where they get each other off and sometimes one do them takes on a more masculine role. weird. y’all are all that’s left of society aren’t you ALL eventually gonna be doing something that’s traditionally seen as masculine.
When the women get old most of them choose to just be killed because it’s better than living as an old person. Age is very weirdly presented in the book with some passages admitting that older women have wisdom in age but also characterizing a lot of the women as being focused on their weight/appearance and not really knowing how to survive in the world or having any real interest/ skills because before she was just a cashier or a retail worker or just straight up being very petty towards each other. And then once a woman is old she just chooses to get stabbed through the heart because it’s better than living in this lonely world without men surrounded by old ladies. Like it’s weird how none of these women really change or grow as people under these new circumstances, they’re still the same petty women they were when they were locked up and it’s like why? i get social conditioning is very hard to undo especially for women but literal DECADES have passed.
Out of 40 women only one of them is ever shown singing and it’s mostly christian worship songs and this is extra weird for me because why do none of them sing? Why do none of you try to write songs? Why do none of them sing pop songs or music they liked? Why do none of them talk about books or stories or movies that they liked? Why is it only christian worship songs? no one here knows any other song or even tried to remember any other type of music? And this moment is presented like one of the nicer times in Child’s post apocalyptic life because it involves the women coming together and tend to their dead instead of like an example of how terrifyingly narrow Child’s world view is now.
Most of these women only have fond memories of motherhood and having men in their lives so Child feels alienated knowing she’ll never have that but don’t any of the women see Child as their kid? Why is Child never moved by genuine displays of female friendship? Every interaction among the women is laced with this underline pettiness. Why does Child not take joy in creating stories as the only thing she writes (the story we’re reading) she only wrote it because she was about to die? Like i get life sucks but damn! What not being able to nut does to a motherfucker.
There’s this whole theme that when Child is alone she doesn’t have interest to do anything because there isn’t a point but isn’t that just sooooo boring! It’s very human to want to make things even if it’s pointless. Child never hunts for food or has to worry about clothes because she keeps finding other bunkers that also have jail cells identical to the one she and her tribe were in except they’re filled with dead people and supplies so she has a lot of free time. But instead of like trying to figure out who locked her and the women up or make up her own music or stories she just stops talking instead? Like the fact that she’s never known men somehow makes all creativity pointless? How do none of the bunkers loose power in this world there’s gotta be something keeping electricity running?? Child is really lucky none of the bunkers ended up with a busted fridge.
Child sometimes manages to find books to read which help her expand her world view but these books are also pretty limited to telling stories about me and Child herself doesn’t really have any reading comprehension skills. This really could’ve been the perfect opportunity to show Child just how empty her life has been outside of not having had sex with a man but instead it’s mostly Child telling us that some of the books are boring. If any moment of this book was going to challenge the worldview of the women and demonstrate that the real horror was Child living in ignorance this entire time it would’ve been this and it’s just…not expanded on.
Our protagonist Child is literally on her death bed about to die and her only big regrets aren’t that she wasn’t able to experience human society at its fullest or listen to music or eat actually seasoned food or have friends her own age or look at beautiful art, her only regrets are that she’s never known men (had sex) and never had a period. Because of course her defective womb is what eventually kills her.
IDK somewhere under this there’s something really interesting going on but as is it just left a bad taste in my mouth. like i get this story is ultimately a tragedy but Child never truly got to see how diverse womanhood really is I feel like that aspect of briefly seeing something she could’ve had and realizing her childhood was built on lies would’ve really made everything more scary. the moral seems to be “look at how women grow up when surrounded by women who exist purely for men” but that’s the thing, Child NEVER gets to realize that the women in her life were ultimately victims of the patriarchy.
i know this book is old and i expected some pretty outdated stuff beforehand anyways and i’m not trying to say this book as no value just cuz some rando didn’t learn anything despite reading it decades after it was first published. for all i know this was a very creepy eye opener for women at the time that their lives will be unfulfilled if all they think about is men and i’m all for that but i’m genuinely surprised by how many people online promote this book as being a powerful feminist masterpiece about the strength of female friendship specifically as if Child wasn’t basically friendless and alone her whole life. the central theme of the story is that Child is an outsider from the beginning so why are we lying and saying it’s about female solidarity when it’s about living life unfulfilled both in that Child never got dicked down and in the fact she never saw a life worth living that didn’t revolve around outdated patriarchy
IWHNKM is the story of a group of women who are kept in a cell for give or take 12 years, they don't know why they've been imprisoned, they don't know by who, they don't know each other, and they don't know what's going on in the rest of the world. Their guards are all men, these guards never talk to them or touch them other than threatening to whip them if they disobey, these guards are somehow able to provide basic food and medicine for these women. The women aren't allowed to touch or kill themselves. One day a siren goes off and the guards evacuate leaving the keys for the jail cell and allowing the women to explore the now empty earth. We are told the story through the pov of The Child called so because she was the only child in the jail cell and grew up in captivity, this making her a woman who has never known men (a woman raised without patriarchy essentially).
It’s a pretty interesting dystopian setting and maybe I should’ve expected this given the title but any interesting ideas this story has are brought down by the it’s very outdated ideas about womanhood. For one the women never fight back against the guards despite there only being 3 guards at a time for 40 women. The only transgressive act they even attempt at doing is when the Child decides to stare at one of the newer younger guards and develops a way of counting time. This doesn’t really lead to helping them escape but it’s implied that the guard the Child liked left behind the keys because he felt pity for them. So their escape is ultimately dependent on the random kindness of a man rather than any actual effort on their part. And what motivated Child to stare at this man and develop this system of time anyway, well the fact that she could fantasize about him and make herself maybe sort of have an orgasm like that hands free…I guess?? Talk about a brain blast.
Honestly the first red flag of this book is when one of the women tells Child that back in the before time women would make themselves beautiful for men and that some woman claimed it was for themselves but it was really for men and without men they had no reason to make themselves pretty anymore. This statement is sexist and also wrong there is proof women still enjoy making themselves beautiful even when no men are around. But even ignoring that Child just kinda accept everything these women tell her no question, not even an inkling that she’s curious if anything she’s being told is actually true. Despite the 40 women in the jail cell supposedly coming from all around the country and having no relations to one another none of the women are described as having a unique ethnic identity, none practiced any religion that wasn’t christianity before incarceration, most didn’t have any real hobbies or interest because they were middle class working women and moms (this is also very sexist to me and a bit classist), and none of them were queer in any way before being locked up. We only have one woman who is seen as being “smart” and that’s only because she used to be a nurse and she often looks down on all the women around her. So obviously Child is raised with a very narrow view of life. Like i guess i shouldn’t have been too surprised there weren’t any like non white women in this book (cuz we weren’t invented until 2010 lol) but it still came off as odd to me because the book goes out of its way to say none of these women knew each other before being trapped and yet they’re all basically the same character.
Child is raised to believe that men were basically the greatest thing ever, a woman’s ultimate joy in life was being with men and having kids and all the other women pity her because she’s doomed to die alone and a virgin. Despite our introduction to Child being her basically imaging RPF until she braincums she grows up to be what reads a lot like an aromantic asexual adult. Not because the author has anything interesting to say about queer sexualities but because Child is infertile and obviously the only way a woman like this could exist would be because her uterus doesn’t work and she’s never spoken to a man in her life. Any normal woman would be wildin for some dick all the time. Child tries masturbating as an adult and it doesn’t work because obviously women can only achieve orgasm through “real” penetration from a penis. Pour one out for Child, last woman on earth and she can’t even masturbate. like girl keep digging around down there eventually you’ll find it.
So Child is constantly described as a virgin despite that label being extremely useless in a world where society is just 40 women, this isn’t really explored either. On the topic of sexuality while it does seem like some of the women do pair up and have sexual relationships with each other this is framed more as them “doing what they can for each other” and not “real” relationships, there is never any talk of romantic love between these women just relationships out of convenience and desperation. Relationships where they get each other off and sometimes one do them takes on a more masculine role. weird. y’all are all that’s left of society aren’t you ALL eventually gonna be doing something that’s traditionally seen as masculine.
When the women get old most of them choose to just be killed because it’s better than living as an old person. Age is very weirdly presented in the book with some passages admitting that older women have wisdom in age but also characterizing a lot of the women as being focused on their weight/appearance and not really knowing how to survive in the world or having any real interest/ skills because before she was just a cashier or a retail worker or just straight up being very petty towards each other. And then once a woman is old she just chooses to get stabbed through the heart because it’s better than living in this lonely world without men surrounded by old ladies. Like it’s weird how none of these women really change or grow as people under these new circumstances, they’re still the same petty women they were when they were locked up and it’s like why? i get social conditioning is very hard to undo especially for women but literal DECADES have passed.
Out of 40 women only one of them is ever shown singing and it’s mostly christian worship songs and this is extra weird for me because why do none of them sing? Why do none of you try to write songs? Why do none of them sing pop songs or music they liked? Why do none of them talk about books or stories or movies that they liked? Why is it only christian worship songs? no one here knows any other song or even tried to remember any other type of music? And this moment is presented like one of the nicer times in Child’s post apocalyptic life because it involves the women coming together and tend to their dead instead of like an example of how terrifyingly narrow Child’s world view is now.
Most of these women only have fond memories of motherhood and having men in their lives so Child feels alienated knowing she’ll never have that but don’t any of the women see Child as their kid? Why is Child never moved by genuine displays of female friendship? Every interaction among the women is laced with this underline pettiness. Why does Child not take joy in creating stories as the only thing she writes (the story we’re reading) she only wrote it because she was about to die? Like i get life sucks but damn! What not being able to nut does to a motherfucker.
There’s this whole theme that when Child is alone she doesn’t have interest to do anything because there isn’t a point but isn’t that just sooooo boring! It’s very human to want to make things even if it’s pointless. Child never hunts for food or has to worry about clothes because she keeps finding other bunkers that also have jail cells identical to the one she and her tribe were in except they’re filled with dead people and supplies so she has a lot of free time. But instead of like trying to figure out who locked her and the women up or make up her own music or stories she just stops talking instead? Like the fact that she’s never known men somehow makes all creativity pointless? How do none of the bunkers loose power in this world there’s gotta be something keeping electricity running?? Child is really lucky none of the bunkers ended up with a busted fridge.
Child sometimes manages to find books to read which help her expand her world view but these books are also pretty limited to telling stories about me and Child herself doesn’t really have any reading comprehension skills. This really could’ve been the perfect opportunity to show Child just how empty her life has been outside of not having had sex with a man but instead it’s mostly Child telling us that some of the books are boring. If any moment of this book was going to challenge the worldview of the women and demonstrate that the real horror was Child living in ignorance this entire time it would’ve been this and it’s just…not expanded on.
Our protagonist Child is literally on her death bed about to die and her only big regrets aren’t that she wasn’t able to experience human society at its fullest or listen to music or eat actually seasoned food or have friends her own age or look at beautiful art, her only regrets are that she’s never known men (had sex) and never had a period. Because of course her defective womb is what eventually kills her.
IDK somewhere under this there’s something really interesting going on but as is it just left a bad taste in my mouth. like i get this story is ultimately a tragedy but Child never truly got to see how diverse womanhood really is I feel like that aspect of briefly seeing something she could’ve had and realizing her childhood was built on lies would’ve really made everything more scary. the moral seems to be “look at how women grow up when surrounded by women who exist purely for men” but that’s the thing, Child NEVER gets to realize that the women in her life were ultimately victims of the patriarchy.
i know this book is old and i expected some pretty outdated stuff beforehand anyways and i’m not trying to say this book as no value just cuz some rando didn’t learn anything despite reading it decades after it was first published. for all i know this was a very creepy eye opener for women at the time that their lives will be unfulfilled if all they think about is men and i’m all for that but i’m genuinely surprised by how many people online promote this book as being a powerful feminist masterpiece about the strength of female friendship specifically as if Child wasn’t basically friendless and alone her whole life. the central theme of the story is that Child is an outsider from the beginning so why are we lying and saying it’s about female solidarity when it’s about living life unfulfilled both in that Child never got dicked down and in the fact she never saw a life worth living that didn’t revolve around outdated patriarchy
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 31, 2021
I found this book when aimlessly browsing for available books on my library app. I’m so glad I did and added it to my favourite list straight after reading.
I loved so much about it including the subject matter and the length. It felt unique, fresh and mature.
Although there is no real explanation of events, which would normally drive me mad, I still enjoyed it immensely. This may be due to reading the introduction which was somewhat revealing and prepared me to not expect any explanation of the characters predicament.
I loved so much about it including the subject matter and the length. It felt unique, fresh and mature.
Although there is no real explanation of events, which would normally drive me mad, I still enjoyed it immensely. This may be due to reading the introduction which was somewhat revealing and prepared me to not expect any explanation of the characters predicament.
January 15, 2024
i who will never be the same again
March 23, 2023
I who have never known men is an astounding piece of speculative and dystopian fiction with discussions on womanhood, love and death, all with amazing character studies! A bleak but powerful read, this is one that will undoubtedly stay with me for quite some time.
March 26, 2019
An enigmatic book, haunting and mysterious but ultimately frustratingly open-ended: if you're the kind of reader who needs to have things tied up and explained by the end then step away now - we have no idea why these women have been incarcerated in a bunker, who their male guards are, why the siren goes off, what has happened to the outside world, even whether they're still on earth...
What starts out with a dystopian feel turns into a kind of existentialist meditation as 'the girl', our nameless narrator, ends up as possibly the only woman left alive - without companions or much purpose other than staying alive in her threatless existence, the book asks what is human life? Ultimately more 'Waiting for Godot' than 'The Handmaid's Tale' I found this weirdly compelling. 3.5 stars as I would have liked a bit more material to work with.
What starts out with a dystopian feel turns into a kind of existentialist meditation as 'the girl', our nameless narrator, ends up as possibly the only woman left alive - without companions or much purpose other than staying alive in her threatless existence, the book asks what is human life? Ultimately more 'Waiting for Godot' than 'The Handmaid's Tale' I found this weirdly compelling. 3.5 stars as I would have liked a bit more material to work with.
November 30, 2024
actual rating: 3.5 stars
July 8, 2022
(3.5) i want to die. and no i won't elaborate on that, just pray for my sanity y'all
November 30, 2023
Actual rating: 4,5
The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is bc my curiosity wasn't answered.
The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is bc my curiosity wasn't answered.
April 8, 2024
Ja, która nie znosi książek pozostawiających czytelnika bez wyjaśnień.
January 6, 2025
a world with no men sounds wonderful
February 19, 2025
Let’s be honest—this book is massively depressing, definitely not a light, airy beach read. However, the sorrowful journey is filled with meaning.
I Who Have Never Known Men begins with 40 ladies trapped in a bunker. The youngest one doesn’t remember anything about Before, and the women refer to her as The Child. Until one day, they escape.
As an American living in a country largely centered on capitalistic greed, most stories are structured on longing to achieve a goal, achieving that goal, and everyone living “happily ever after.” Not so in this book.
Even after obtaining freedom, it isn’t all rainbows and sunshine for the women.
This book would make an excellent book club book because there are several questions/topics that would be fascinating to explore:
1) The youngest is called The Child. How do you think this shaped the narrator? Why wasn’t she called The Legacy or The Future or The Truth or The Hope? How did the narrator’s identity change over time?
2) The women decide to once “freed.” Why do you think that they picked this ritual from Before to resurrect? Do you think that the women are recreating Before or intentionally creating a Now?
3) The group of women must decide on a symbol to represent their group. What symbol would you have chosen and why? What symbol do you think a group of men would choose?
4) Time is measured internally by heartbeats instead of planetary objects. Should life be viewed in different units of time? How else did the women take on a sense of control even while in captivity?
5) Once “free” the ladies attribute their liberation to luck rather than their own cleverness. Even with The Child discovers . Is the concept of otherness (oh that couldn’t happen to precious little ole me because I’m a hard worker, clever, etc.) something that is learned?
6) Do you think The Child lets the guards off too easily?
7) Who else thought that aliens were going to pop out at any minute?
The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent):
Softcover Text – $9.54 on eBay
Audiobook – 1 Audible Credit (Audible Premium Plus Annual – 24 Credits Membership Plan $229.50 or roughly $9.56 per credit)
Connect With Me!
Blog Threads BookTube Facebook Insta My Bookstore at Pango
I Who Have Never Known Men begins with 40 ladies trapped in a bunker. The youngest one doesn’t remember anything about Before, and the women refer to her as The Child. Until one day, they escape.
As an American living in a country largely centered on capitalistic greed, most stories are structured on longing to achieve a goal, achieving that goal, and everyone living “happily ever after.” Not so in this book.
Even after obtaining freedom, it isn’t all rainbows and sunshine for the women.
This book would make an excellent book club book because there are several questions/topics that would be fascinating to explore:
1) The youngest is called The Child. How do you think this shaped the narrator? Why wasn’t she called The Legacy or The Future or The Truth or The Hope? How did the narrator’s identity change over time?
2) The women decide to once “freed.” Why do you think that they picked this ritual from Before to resurrect? Do you think that the women are recreating Before or intentionally creating a Now?
3) The group of women must decide on a symbol to represent their group. What symbol would you have chosen and why? What symbol do you think a group of men would choose?
4) Time is measured internally by heartbeats instead of planetary objects. Should life be viewed in different units of time? How else did the women take on a sense of control even while in captivity?
5) Once “free” the ladies attribute their liberation to luck rather than their own cleverness. Even with The Child discovers . Is the concept of otherness (oh that couldn’t happen to precious little ole me because I’m a hard worker, clever, etc.) something that is learned?
6) Do you think The Child lets the guards off too easily?
7) Who else thought that aliens were going to pop out at any minute?
The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent):
Softcover Text – $9.54 on eBay
Audiobook – 1 Audible Credit (Audible Premium Plus Annual – 24 Credits Membership Plan $229.50 or roughly $9.56 per credit)
Connect With Me!
Blog Threads BookTube Facebook Insta My Bookstore at Pango
August 19, 2023
Wish I was I who had never read this book
July 25, 2024
4.5 stars rounded up
I Who Have Never Known Men was a strangely compelling reading experience.
This bizarre and somewhat unsettling story made me reflect on the meaning of life. Can it make sense to live in an absurd world with irrational rules, senseless bans, and little hope for a less grim future?
Forty women are locked up in a cage underground for no apparent reason. Among them is a young girl who has no memories of her life outside the cage. She was brought to this strange prison when she was too young to realize what was going on.
The guards watch the women around the clock, never leaving them alone and never talking to them. Their every move is scanned, their conversations overheard. Sounds like a nightmare, right? But the women have no choice but to resign to their lot. Some of them have attempted suicide, but the guards intervened in time to prevent them from killing themselves. Why do they want the prisoners to continue their existence in the cage? The women keep asking themselves this question.
Memories of their lives before captivity may have faded, but the women vaguely recall the violence they were subjected to at the beginning of their captivity. The guards use this visceral memory to control the women. They no longer need to use the whip to make the prisoners obey the rules.
But what about the always taciturn guards? Are they free, or are they forced to do the dirty work? Do they have a choice?
The chances of finding answers are very slim. This story is not about answers, not about coherent explanations. Things happen to the characters. They must adapt, react, and deal with the consequences of events beyond their control. Their journey would have ended much sooner were it not for a stroke of luck.
This strange novel shows that every life is unique and has its meaning. The meaning of life may be life itself. Even if the journey has no purpose and leads nowhere, it matters.
The world the story takes place in is eerie and stripped of color, action, or variety. Bunkers, cages, and hills dominate this alienated and alienating universe. Yet the women have their stories and even their happy moments.
Their stories are unique, even if some of them have no past in the familiar sense of that word.
The youngest of them says: "After all, if I was a human being, my story was as important as that of King Lear or of Prince Hamlet that William Shakespeare had taken the trouble to relate in detail." And the story she told showcases that our heroine has never been intimidated by obstacles.
I liked this story more than I was expecting. Although it is probably not for everyone, I think those who love the dystopian genre would find it worthwhile. And it is a relatively quick read.
I Who Have Never Known Men was a strangely compelling reading experience.
This bizarre and somewhat unsettling story made me reflect on the meaning of life. Can it make sense to live in an absurd world with irrational rules, senseless bans, and little hope for a less grim future?
Forty women are locked up in a cage underground for no apparent reason. Among them is a young girl who has no memories of her life outside the cage. She was brought to this strange prison when she was too young to realize what was going on.
The guards watch the women around the clock, never leaving them alone and never talking to them. Their every move is scanned, their conversations overheard. Sounds like a nightmare, right? But the women have no choice but to resign to their lot. Some of them have attempted suicide, but the guards intervened in time to prevent them from killing themselves. Why do they want the prisoners to continue their existence in the cage? The women keep asking themselves this question.
Memories of their lives before captivity may have faded, but the women vaguely recall the violence they were subjected to at the beginning of their captivity. The guards use this visceral memory to control the women. They no longer need to use the whip to make the prisoners obey the rules.
But what about the always taciturn guards? Are they free, or are they forced to do the dirty work? Do they have a choice?
The chances of finding answers are very slim. This story is not about answers, not about coherent explanations. Things happen to the characters. They must adapt, react, and deal with the consequences of events beyond their control. Their journey would have ended much sooner were it not for a stroke of luck.
This strange novel shows that every life is unique and has its meaning. The meaning of life may be life itself. Even if the journey has no purpose and leads nowhere, it matters.
The world the story takes place in is eerie and stripped of color, action, or variety. Bunkers, cages, and hills dominate this alienated and alienating universe. Yet the women have their stories and even their happy moments.
Their stories are unique, even if some of them have no past in the familiar sense of that word.
The youngest of them says: "After all, if I was a human being, my story was as important as that of King Lear or of Prince Hamlet that William Shakespeare had taken the trouble to relate in detail." And the story she told showcases that our heroine has never been intimidated by obstacles.
I liked this story more than I was expecting. Although it is probably not for everyone, I think those who love the dystopian genre would find it worthwhile. And it is a relatively quick read.
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