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Hanneke's Reviews > I Who Have Never Known Men
I Who Have Never Known Men
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Such an exceptional novel! I have never read anything like it. Is it a dystopian story? Not necessarily. Is Earth the planet where the story takes place? Probably not, but you can’t establish that for sure. Our protagonist, who was raised from childhood onwards locked-up in an underground cage with thirty-nine women, has no knowledge of life beyond the cage. She is called Child and it is exceptional that she is there alive and well and supposedly only by pure accident. The women are closely observed by guards who snap whips but who never mistreat the women physically. By sheer incidental luck the women can escape to the world above after at least fifteen years of imprisonment. It is devastating to read that they only find numerous cages wherever they go, all holding thirty-nine dead people, both women or male. They were obviously the only lucky ones.
The author, Jacqueline Harpman, must have been an extraordinary woman. I cannot phantom how she could so realistically imagine what would develop in the mind of a youngster who is experiencing the world without bars for the first time in her life.
What a special story this is! It is odd that it is not devastating to read, just very alien. This novel proved to be so dissimilar to any novel I ever read.
The author, Jacqueline Harpman, must have been an extraordinary woman. I cannot phantom how she could so realistically imagine what would develop in the mind of a youngster who is experiencing the world without bars for the first time in her life.
What a special story this is! It is odd that it is not devastating to read, just very alien. This novel proved to be so dissimilar to any novel I ever read.
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Sketchbook
(last edited Apr 05, 2025 11:10AM)
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Apr 05, 2025 10:58AM
This sounds creepy -- and may I say it? -- unlikely. Now, back to Nancy Mitford doing the "Highland Fling" !
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Sketch, strangely enough, it did not feel as creepy as you would expect. It was fascinating, as you can’t feel any link to anything familiar, can’t explain what happened and although the hilly earth feels familiar, it definitely is not. I have such an admiration for the author for writing such a very unusual story. She must have been a pretty strange woman, out of the world, so to say!
Thank you for this review. I think you got me at 'exceptional'.
What you say about the reading experience being alien rather than devastating is intriguing, Hanneke. Fascinating review of what seems to be a fascinating book. Nice cover, too!
Jan, very intriguing! I don’t want to sound dramatic, but I thought it is a unique novel!
Reyer, like I said to Jan above, truly an exceptional novel. Do try it. Honestly!
Violeta, do read it, I would be curious to learn how you would feel about this novel! I found it so different from any other novel set in an unknown territory with no links whatsoever for you to make conclusions as to place and time. I was a bit shocked how the author’s mind produced this story. Mind you, it is not frightening although it should have been. It is all the unknown realities that the women encounter which gives the novel a very uneasy atmosphere.
Never heard of this although it seems to be well-known. Thanks for making me aware of it.
Jorg, give it a try! I had never heard of it before either, but saw here on GR that almost all readers gave the novel 5*. And that it certainly deserves! And, really, it is one of those novels that stays hanging on in your thoughts. The tale keeps buzzing around me! I guess it’s because you don’t get answers to anything at all.
