Book Review: I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

April 9, 2025

I went into this book knowing it would make me think, but I am not sure I realized how much. This was a raw, interesting, hard to read at times, tale of resilience, love, and what makes us human. There is so much that is left unknown and not wrapped up, just like life sometimes, life doesn’t always wrap itself up in little red bows and give us nice conclusions, and neither did this book.

We follow the story of a young woman who has only known life in a bunker. She was alive before she was placed in the bunker, but she doesn’t remember a bit of it. All she knows is that she is the fortieth member of the group of women that were being kept in a large cage that was constantly watched by guards. They all vary in ages and backgrounds, but for the most part, they had all been working women who were stolen from the life that they had lived and were now here, wherever here was, and not one had known each other before the bunker. The women have slowly ran out of things to talk about, but continue to chat amongst themselves because that is really all they have. The more the question where and why they are where they are the more agitated they become, so they have stopped talking about that. They all have memories of before and of in but no one knows how things turned into this. By the end of the novel, our main character has been left with more questions than answers and more loss than one person usually has to deal with in their lifetime. Where was she? Why was she still alive? Who were the guards? Did they have any answers? What makes us human?

This was thought provoking and strange. I am not sure I wouldn’t suggest it, but I am not sure I would either. I liked the book, and I think a certain group of people would agree with me, but I am not sure it is everyone’s cup of tea.