Reviews with content warning for Dementia - I Who Have Never Known Men

I’m not usually a fan of dystopian or sci fi books so this was a bit out of my comfort zone, but i thought the concept was really interesting!

when i picked this up i was more expecting it to be about a small group of women being held against their will by men for nefarious reasons, rather than it being a dystopia where so many people were in these bunkers for a reason nobody knew, so it was a surprise when i got into it and realised it was that, and i can’t say i hugely enjoyed it just cuz this genre isn’t really my kind of thing, but i did find a lot of the points the main character made very reflective and interesting, and found myself relating to her in some ways, despite her situation being so far from anyone on earth’s.

it was cool to challenge myself to explore a genre i’m not usually into, but i don’t know if i’d do it again

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kmac14's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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nialiversuch's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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mal_eficent's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is beautiful, and haunting, and fixes every issue I've ever had with end of the world dystopian narratives. There's no satisfying end, none of the questions are answered, and there's no bright moment of hope that fixes everything or offers anyone–characters or readers– a conclusion. It just ends as quietly as it begins.

If you want a dystopian story that's beautifully written without being pretentious, and isn't full of overt violence, then you have to pick this up.

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peggy_racham's review against another edition

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5.0

"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."

I rarely read bleak dystopias but this one got me. Something about a woman wondering about her own humanity just speaks to me. There are no answers but it doesnt really matter in the end.

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loz1327's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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raybudbury's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Oh this one was bleak for sure

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not_another_ana's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.25

2.25/5

And now, racked with sobs, 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.

In a cage underground forty women are kept captive. They are guarded and refused basic human rights, such as privacy and touch. None of them know why they're there, who's keeping them captive or for what. The youngest of them, our narrator, has never known anything but this. She has never known society, affection or even the open sky. Then, something suddenly changes and the characters are confronted with the world outside their jail.

This book is bleak. While there is some sort of plot this is more philosophical than anything. It's more of an exploration of the effects that this prolongued captivity can have on human beings. The protagonist is severely affected by this life of deprivation, she has no one to truly connect with. No peers, no parents, nothing different. She's also eventually going to be the only one left, due to her age, and thus is condemned to a life of loneliness.

I was intrigued during the first third or so, but after the big plot event it all became a bit too repetitive. Same with the mentioning of men and a world without them. I understood the trauma of it all but to me it focused too much on that specific loss and nothing else. Too many mentions of the protagonist never getting to have a husband or bearing a child that just rubbed me the wrong way. I didn't feel a sense of community within the women, it felt very sidelined. There's also, for me, the fact that the plot never gets resolved. No explanation of any kind, not even speculation, which was a bummer since that was the most interesting bit.

I did, however, quite enjoy the translator's note at the end. You can tell that Ros Schwartz was very passionate about the project and that the book resonated with her. Her reflections on the plot and Jacqueline Harpman's life were very poignant. I felt like I understood the book a bit more having read that and learning about Harpman's life during the holocaust, you can feel that experience in the writing.

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