I don’t even know where to start with this book. Jacqueline Harpman’s I Who Have Never Known Men is one of the most quietly devastating things I’ve ever read. It’s not just bleak—it’s merciless. It takes everything you expect from a dystopian novel, strips it down to its rawest form, and then leaves you to sit in the silence of what’s left.
The setup is simple: thirty-nine women and one young girl are locked in an underground bunker. The women have fragments of memories from a world before; the girl only knows captivity. Their only contact with the outside world comes in the form of silent, indifferent guards. Then, one day, something happens that completely upends their reality—not into freedom, but into something even worse.
And that’s the thing about this book: it never gives you what you think it will. There’s no grand revelation, no satisfying resolution. Just an eerie, relentless meditation on loneliness, survival, and the sheer indifference of the universe. It’s not about rebellion. It’s not about hope. It’s about existence in its purest, most brutal form.
If you’re looking for a dystopian novel with answers, this isn’t it. Harpman doesn’t care about neat endings or catharsis. What she does, though, is burrow into your brain with questions that won’t leave. What makes us human? Is it love? Is it memory? Can you even be human if you’ve never been touched, never been loved, never even been acknowledged as a person?
This book is the literary equivalent of staring into the void. Some will find it profound. Others will find it unbearable. Either way, I don’t think I’ll ever shake it off.
If you’ve read it, I need to know—how the hell do you even process this?
by Pajtima
6 Comments
This is a perfect description of the book. As for how to process it – let me know if you ever figure it out lol
While it sounds interesting. I’m not sure I can read it in the current climate.
Your summary is excellent. I wrote a one sentence review when I finished this one: “This is awful and you should read it.”
Yeah, this is one of the best books I’ve ever read. It’s stunning.
I am 33rd in line on Libby to borrow this from my library and the more I hear about it the more I wonder if I’m capable of handling such themes right now. 😬
Not my cup of tea, but it sounds like you might also enjoy Matthew Stokoe’s “Empty Mile”. Or maybe “enjoy” isn’t the right word, but feel satisfactorily broken.