A review by jasmineteagirl
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.75

It has been awhile since I’ve picked up a book and not had anything else on my mind but finishing it. “I Who Have Never Known Men” provided me with that experience I almost solely associated with my childhood readings. It’s a book unlike any I’ve read, a dystopian also unlike any I’ve read. Harpman excellently weaves us into our narrator’s (unnamed) mind. I think one of my favorite parts about this book was its size, but specifically in how the book was written for its size. Harpman carried our Narrator’s voice consistently, and even when large time jumps occurred, I didn’t feel like I was missing out because in my mind, the mystery of the end was always the goal. I kept thinking “where is this going? What has happened to her?”. I just NEEDED to get to the end. But, I also didn’t want it to end. I wanted to continue on with our Narrator as she took us through her life. As gathered from the description, our main character has been isolated her whole life. That feeling never leaves her voice as you read. 

What I also found fascinating was that this book COULD have spanned hundreds of more pages. In fact, part of me wishes it did. But it didn’t, and I still enjoyed it. I didn’t feel rushed by the writing at all. 

Now, for a semi-spoiler part;

I can see how people would feel rushed or dislike the book for the concise writing, time jumps, etc. 

A small, petty criticism I had came up when I’d find myself thinking about the women in the book, especially our narrator, and wondering how they were doing certain things living the life they did.

SPOILER after they escaped,  I found myself wondering random things about their daily lives, walking across the plains and never finding anything. One thing I wondered was- why had it taken so long for our main character to notice her reflection? We know in the beginning, in the bunker, that she has never seen herself. Yet when she leaves, certainly she’d see her reflection in a river, as she sees many throughout her journey. I did enjoy reading the part where she saw herself for the first time, but that thought was nagging me. Stupid, yes, but it felt inconsistent with the narrator’s habit to experience new that she wouldn’t have noticed herself in a blurry, unstable water-image. 

Further SPOILERS regarding the ending and also My Brilliant Friend / Neapolitan Quartet (do not read if you have not read either): I’m realizing I am someone who likes a solid conclusion to her mysteries. There are books and movies with open endings I’ve enjoyed, however I got a similar feeling finishing this book as I did with the Neapolitan Quartet. A feeling of defeat- “that’s it?” I desperately wanted to know where Lila was, and with I Who Have Never Known Men, i desperately wanted to know wtf was going on, where our narrator was, and where everyone else was. Obviously, it’s a creative choice to not include these things. It’s very intentional. Which is why I don’t like docking points from my ratings if an ending isn’t to my preference. Is it disappointing, yes. But it’s supposed to be. How is it not? Reading those pages, needing to know answers- and neither we as readers nor our main character get them.

I really did love this book. I think it’s my favorite read of the year, partially because my experience reading it was so nice. I’ve been wanting a physical copy (specifically the Vintage edition) for so long hence why I put off reading this book for YEARS. Finally, with influence from social media (sigh) I picked it up. And I’m very glad to have! A must read in my eyes.