Finally finished a book club book in time for the discussion.
I Who Have Never Known Men
Jacqueline Harpman
Deep underground, thirty-nine women are kept in isolation in a cage. Above ground, a world awaits. Has it been abandoned? Devastated by a virus?
Watched over by guards, the women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time, and only vague recollection of their lives before. But, 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. The woman who will never know men.
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It has been a while since I have read a book that I have been so frustrated at but also captivated by. I Who Have Never Known Men is a book that will leave you with more questions than answers and whilst I can usually handle a few things left unsaid by an author and use the context of the story to decide what could have happened, there is very little to draw from in this book.
I had an inkling from the start that there wouldn’t be an explanation as to why the women were held or where the women were but stupidly as I got closer to the end of the story I was still hoping for something to be revealed. In our book club discussion, it was brought to my attention that this sentiment is echoed throughout the story, holding on to hope whilst also knowing it is slightly futile.
This is a very bleak story but to me, it never felt too heavy, which could be down to the narrator’s lack of feeling, the story is relayed to us through a chronicle of her past in the world as she knows it. It was not always easy reading from her perspective as she could be quite abrupt and felt herself to be very different compared to the women she lived with, but parts of her story made for a fascinating look at human behaviour.
I was a bit daunted at the lack of chapters, this book had three sections and the middle one has a lot of pages. When I figured out how long this middle section was I thought I was going to find it difficult to get through but actually, I was so enthralled by the story that I managed it in one sitting.
This has been a tough book to rate, I feel that I could better appreciate it after a discussion to hear others thoughts and takes on what was happening, but it did leave me perplexed.
everywhere-and-nowhere.com 