I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (1995)

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (1995)

A dystopian philosophical novel originally published in French. 

Laura’s Rating: 2.5/5 Stars

Plot: A young woman exists in a cage with thirty-nine other females in an underground bunker. She and the other women have no memory of how they got there and their only interactions with the outside world are the armed men that guard their cage and bring them food. 

Opinion: I feel like this book was billed to me as more of a mystery dystopian book, which in a way, is accurate. However, I Who Have Never Known Men was way more existential and philosophical than I imagined. There are themes of isolation, female friendship, purpose, and freedom, but it's up to the reader to examine these principles in the face of a rather uneventful plot (save for a few exceptions).

I was so deeply invested in this book for much of it, but while I can appreciate the philosophical musings and open-endedness, I needed SOMETHING at the end. Some tiny twist or insight would have been enough, but I got nothing. The book makes you think, but it doesn’t provide a ton of answers. I can’t help feeling a bit disappointed after such an interesting premise.