I Who Have Never Known Men
I Who Have Never Known Men ~ Jacqueline Harpman, Translated from French by Ros Schwartz
The unnamed protagonist of I Who Have Never Known Men has no memory of life outside of the underground bunker where she lives imprisoned with 39 other women. They were all adults when they were captured, but she was a baby and was raised by them. They have no idea why they are here, the only interaction with other human beings is with the harsh guards who watch over them, bring them food, and prevent them from breaking any of their arbitrary rules.
Then one day, while the guard has the keys in the lock to their cage, an alarm sounds, and the guards drop everything and scarper. Because the key is in the lock, they are able to escape, and they make their way above ground to see what freedom, and the world itself these days, looks like.
I read this book based on Engie’s recommendation. I liked the introspective, quiet nature of it, but it certainly did not end the way that I expected. I kept thinking to myself, “Oh, THIS is when xyz is finally going to happen”. And it never did.
According to Wikipedia, the author was a Belgian woman whose family fled Belgium when the Nazis invaded in World War II. After the war, she finished her schooling, and had to give up her study of medicine when she contracted tuberculosis, which had her bed-ridden for 2 years before penicillin cured her. She wrote several novels, and eventually went back to school and obtained a PhD in psychology. She worked as a phycotherapist, though she left in anger at the treatment methods used on patients. While training to become a psychoanalyst, she took up writing again. I Who Have Never Known Men was published in 1995, and translated into English in 1997. It was republished in 2022, and for some reason is a TikTok sensation, though I have not watched any of the videos. Why is any of this relevant? I guess because of her experience with WWII and being bedridden, and being a psychoanalyst, she writes about survival, loneliness, intimacy, humanity, and community in a really interesting way.
Very weird, but really good in a ‘what did I just read’ way. Recommended.
24 Comments
Suzanne
Ahhhh!!!! I read this one in June too and found it captivating! (Is that a pun???) What a strange, strange book. I still don’t know how I feel about the ending. Does it seem exactly right? Does it make me feel frustrated and annoyed? Is it devastating? Yes to all, I think.
J
Yes to all.
Jenny
Wow, this book sounds strange, yet intriguing. It sounds like you and Suzanne are still thinking about it, which is the sign of a good book. I’m debating putting it on my TBR… we’ll see.
J
If you like a lot of action, this might be frustrating for you…not a ton happens.
Elisabeth
This was already on my TBR but I am waaayyyy down the holds list so it will likely be months before I read it. I saw Engie’s review and was intrigued. Seeing a second blogger review has really cemented the fact I want to read this book! I will report back…next year when it finally comes in??!!!
J
It’s an intruiging book for sure!
NGS
YES!!! What a weird, quiet little book. The ending was devastating, but it felt real. I have added it to the CBBC list of book ideas because I think it would be a great book club book. I really want to discuss it with people.
J
So many questions…
PocoBrat
If Engie does a book club with this, I WILL read this. But I don’t feel like I could venture into this alone without some virtual ranting/hand-holding.
J
I think someone to talk about it with would have been really nice, Maya!
Margaret
The idea of the book scares me but it is probably one that I would think about long afterward.
J
It’s a book that lends to a lot of thought, Margaret.
Allison McCaskill
My daughter brought home many BookTok recommendations, and we have been buddy reading a lot of them. We have this one on the docket – sounds cool. It keeps making me think of We Who Are About To by Joanna Russ, a feminist sci fi writer from the seventies.
J
Oh, fun to read it with your daughter! I hope you enjoy it.
Nicole MacPherson
This is on my holds list, even though I do not like dystopia, it feels like something I would enjoy.
J
I think you will love it Nicole. There’s a lot going on, even though there’s not much going on.
Ernie
I’ve heard of this book. It sounds really unsettling. Not sure it’s for me. It reminds me a bit of a few stories that I read in text books as a kid. One was about kids who only got to go outside once a year, and one kid gets shoved or something when they scramble outside and he misses his chance (gets stuck in a locker or something?). It was a story in Great Books reading series and the sense of regret and loss stuck with me. I still think about it sometimes. It was heartbreaking.
J
What a sad story. This one has sad and little joys as well. Definitely not for everyone.
Tamara
Hey, I’m late to this party, but maybe you are referring to All Summer in a Day, a story by Ray Bradbury. I spent some time when I was growing up in a rainforest, and this story pierced me to the bone. It is so sad.
For anyone who is interested, you can read it here: https://archive.org/details/Fantasy_Science_Fiction_v006n03_1954-03/page/n123/mode/2up
J
I’ve never heard of it, but I love when someone makes a connection like that!
Coco
This is a very interesting introduction of the book. I’ve seen it in other blogs and I like the way you describe it and giving the author background. Now I’m intrigued.
J
Thanks Coco, I’ll admit that I keep thinking about this one.
Tamara
Hey, this is intriguing. I like dystopic novels but I’m reading Parable of the Sower at the moment, and I can only get through a few pages at a time before I have to put it down (it is basically like reading the news). I’ll recover a bit and then try to find this. Thanks for this write up.
J
I tried to read The Parable of the Sower just before the October attacks in Isreal, and OMG, no, I could not handle the book. So I GET YOU. Maybe someday things will calm down enough that I can handle it.