Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

34 reviews

tlaynejones's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

2.0

No. 
Maybe my brain has melted from the relentless onslaught of euthanasia (ableism?) and suicide but I don’t think this is a particularly feminist novel. I think even if it was back in the mid 90s, it doesn’t stand the test of time. I also found some of the events/ learnings/ descriptions related to the protagonist to feel clunky and or inauthentic. 
This is a bleak story, and there is not a lot of complex character development; other than the MC all the characters are barely sketched in. 
Read with caution

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Confinement, Death, Self harm, Suicide, Terminal illness, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Abandonment

ameliasbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.25

As much as I appreciate and enjoyed the ideas in this book, the execution didn't really click for me. Even without knowing the author's professional background, it would be quite obvious to notice that there was some psychoanalysis stuff going on. 

The writing was okay, but nothing to write home about, which I probably expected more of, because of all the praise this book received lately.

There were some interesting questions raised to think about and I am reading a lot of bleak and depressing books, so I had no problem with this story being as plotless as it was.
I can also love an apocalyptic book in which the reason for it all is not explained (looking at you The Road), if this is not really what the book is about.

You could argue that this is also not what this story is about and you could just read everything as a metaphor for misogyny and patriarchy and to raise some big questions about resilience and the surving of the human race (women in particular). 

However the way the story is build, it is a weakness of the book that not at least some of the questions are answered, because this would have only made the novel stronger. And I couldn't help but think that the author simply didn't want us to know, but that she didn't know herself, because that wasn't the focus of the story she wanted to tell. But authors should always have all the answers to their stories, even when they are holding them back from the reader, because otherwise it always shows.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, and Deportation

Moderate: Mental illness, Excrement, and Dementia

Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

m_a_j's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Cancer, Terminal illness, and Grief

Minor: Miscarriage, Sexual content, Blood, and Medical content

homosexualstudying's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense

4.75

A beautiful writing style. a riveting and gripping concept. challenging and reflecting to read. 
almost stopped reading because it got a bit too dark for myself, but i’m so glad i continued. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Suicide

Moderate: Cancer, Medical content, and Trafficking

maybe_nell's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

I have so many questions. Read in one sitting.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Medical content

Minor: Cancer

sydneylount's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Infertility, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Kidnapping, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

paperkindle's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, and Abandonment

Moderate: Cancer, Dementia, and Kidnapping

Minor: Violence

kates_cupcakes's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

Bleak and dense, emotional at the ending and almost rips your heart out. I wanted there to be to read. You start to question at the end how she knows all the information she does. It was hard to get through this book simply because it’s dense with a lot of world building and not a lot of dialogue. 

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Cancer, Confinement, Death, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

katharinaamaliae's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.75

I hated the way this book made me feel. I'm used to reading sad books with sad endings, but something about this just really hit me and I don't know why. I think it dealed with some very interesting themes like what makes us human or the definition of freedom, but in a smaller amount than I expected? I hated the world building. In the beginning I really liked how you knew nothing at all about why the women were in the cage, but that was mostly because I expected an explanation the entire time.

I was just really disappointed when there was none, because there was so much potential for a great explanation that was just wasted. For me the lack of an explanation didn't even have a effect on me that made the book more interesting, it just seemed like a lack of world building

I think the narrator was a really interesting and well written character though. Most of the other women seemed kind of flat to me on the other hand, which I thought was sad because going into this book I expected strong female characters.
Overall this was a good book, but it just didn't stand out to me and it's probably not something I will think about for a long time.

I am the sterile offspring of a race about wich I know nothing, not even whether it has become extinct.
Perhaps, somewhere humanity is flourishing under the stars, unaware that a daughter of its blood is ending her days in silence.
There is nothing we can do about it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Medical content, Dementia, and Murder

juli161's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? N/A

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol