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I Who Have Never Known Men
Deep underground, forty women live imprisoned in a cage. Watched over by guards, the women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time, and only a vague recollection of their lives before.
As the burn of electric light merges day into night and numberless years pass, a young girl—the fortieth prisoner—sits alone and outcast in the corner. Soon she will show herself to be the key to the others' escape and survival in the strange world that awaits them above ground.
Jacqueline Harpman was born in Etterbeek, Belgium, in 1929, and fled to Casablanca with her family during WWII. Informed by her background as a psychoanalyst and her youth in exile, I Who Have Never Known Men is a haunting, heartbreaking post-apocalyptic novel of female friendship and intimacy, and the lengths people will go to maintain their humanity in the face of devastation. Back in print for the first time since 1997, Harpman’s modern classic is an important addition to the growing canon of feminist speculative literature.
As the burn of electric light merges day into night and numberless years pass, a young girl—the fortieth prisoner—sits alone and outcast in the corner. Soon she will show herself to be the key to the others' escape and survival in the strange world that awaits them above ground.
Jacqueline Harpman was born in Etterbeek, Belgium, in 1929, and fled to Casablanca with her family during WWII. Informed by her background as a psychoanalyst and her youth in exile, I Who Have Never Known Men is a haunting, heartbreaking post-apocalyptic novel of female friendship and intimacy, and the lengths people will go to maintain their humanity in the face of devastation. Back in print for the first time since 1997, Harpman’s modern classic is an important addition to the growing canon of feminist speculative literature.
184 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
24256 people are currently reading
678079 people want to read
About the author
Jacqueline Harpman
30 books1,276 followersJacqueline Harpman was born in Etterbeek, Belgium, in 1929. Being half Jewish, the family moved to Casablanca when the Nazis invaded, and returned home after the war. After studying French literature she started training to be a doctor, but could not complete her medical studies when she contracted tuberculosis. She turned to writing in 1954 and her first work was published in 1958. In 1980 she qualified as a psychoanalyst. She had given up writing after her fourth book was published, and resumed her career as a novelist only some twenty years later. She wrote twelve novels and won several literary prizes, most recently the Médicis for the present novel. She was married to an architect and had two children.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 63,355 reviews
December 5, 2023
“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.”
4 1/2 stars. Wow. This tiny, disquieting book carries a sadness that the most popular tearjerkers could never hope to capture.
It sits outside of genre, outside of time, outside of the reality we know, introducing the reader to a world unfamiliar to both them and the unnamed protagonist. The result is a palpable feeling of wonder and loneliness.
I have decided to round up because this book made me feel so deeply, and because I have decided that my personal frustrations are perhaps misguided. There were things that I was hoping for from this book that I didn't get, but then I was never promised them, and, in fact, the past tense narration forewarned I would not get them. So that's my problem.
The story starts in an underground bunker where thirty-nine women and one young girl-- our narrator --are imprisoned in a cage. They don't remember how they got there and they have no idea why they are there. The women remember a life before the cage with families, friends and jobs, but the child remembers only their current existence. They are watched over and fed by male guards who tell them nothing. It seems they are doomed to live and die in this cage... until one day a combination of chance and ingenuity provide an opportunity for freedom.
It is part eerie pastoral dystopia, part a deeply introspective novel about hope, loneliness and the things that give life meaning. The novel swings between the invigorating feeling of hope and the numbing despair of hopelessness.
I found myself wondering at one point if it was supposed to be a metaphor. But perhaps I am overthinking things.
Either way, this short novel sat like a ball of anxiety in my throat from beginning to end. What a sad, evocative little story.
March 25, 2020
‘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.’
Viscerally disturbing, elegant and dignified. Better even than The Handmaid’s Tale.
This is the most haunting and thought-provoking book I have read in a very long time. Harpman’s prose is stark and stylistically perfect, charged throughout with an agonising inexorability. It’s a powerful concept besides: a slim dystopian novel narrated by an anonymous woman, whose only life she has ever known is that of being locked in a cage in a bunker with thirty-nine other women. Her narrative is deeply introspective, despite her complete and utter inexperience. And regardless of her intense capacity for emotion, she is convinced she is not entirely human.
At once exquisite and devastating, I am at a loss to understand how this has not reached a wider audience. I Who Have Never Known Men is a profoundly sad novel that revels in its ambiguity.
Viscerally disturbing, elegant and dignified. Better even than The Handmaid’s Tale.
This is the most haunting and thought-provoking book I have read in a very long time. Harpman’s prose is stark and stylistically perfect, charged throughout with an agonising inexorability. It’s a powerful concept besides: a slim dystopian novel narrated by an anonymous woman, whose only life she has ever known is that of being locked in a cage in a bunker with thirty-nine other women. Her narrative is deeply introspective, despite her complete and utter inexperience. And regardless of her intense capacity for emotion, she is convinced she is not entirely human.
At once exquisite and devastating, I am at a loss to understand how this has not reached a wider audience. I Who Have Never Known Men is a profoundly sad novel that revels in its ambiguity.
January 23, 2023
This is desolate and despondent. But it never tricks you into thinking it will be anything else. It tells you from page one that this isn't a happy story and that you'll be left wanting. But the story-tellers we are trick ourselves into believing that everything will get wrapped up in a nice little bow. No. False. This is pure science fiction. I don't know what was going on at any point of this book but by god am I so glad it exists. A women wrote this in the 90s??? Iconic. Never before seen. Stunning.
For such a short book, it packs a massive punch. Almost anything you could have questions about in a dystopian world are brought up in these mere 188 pages.
I can't say I ever felt fulfilled or happy reading this book but it definitely left me reeling and talking about the subject matter with everyone who had the displeasure of being within ear shot of me that week.
Critically this book is a 5 star. But by vibes, it's a 4.
For such a short book, it packs a massive punch. Almost anything you could have questions about in a dystopian world are brought up in these mere 188 pages.
I can't say I ever felt fulfilled or happy reading this book but it definitely left me reeling and talking about the subject matter with everyone who had the displeasure of being within ear shot of me that week.
Critically this book is a 5 star. But by vibes, it's a 4.
January 24, 2025
oh. my. god. how am i supposed to go on???
one of the best sci-fi/dystopian books ive ever read, but its also so much more than that!! we follow our anonymous narrator who has been raised in a cage with 39 other women. no one knows why they’re there or how they got there and they have very vague memories from “before,” but not our narrator. one day an alarm sounds and the guards watching them flee, now they’re free… now what? THIS IS JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBURG TOO!!
it’s only january and i think this will be in my top fave books of the year
one of the best sci-fi/dystopian books ive ever read, but its also so much more than that!! we follow our anonymous narrator who has been raised in a cage with 39 other women. no one knows why they’re there or how they got there and they have very vague memories from “before,” but not our narrator. one day an alarm sounds and the guards watching them flee, now they’re free… now what? THIS IS JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBURG TOO!!
it’s only january and i think this will be in my top fave books of the year
January 17, 2024
I’m shocked to be giving this 1 star. I really thought it was going to be 5 stars so I’m very disappointed. The main reason this is 1 star is because it literally went no where. The same thing kept happening over and over. Nothing new was given, the plot was virtually non-existent. It just went no where but because the writing is philosophical I’m supposed to ignore that? I don’t think this is worth picking up tbh.
1 star
1 star
July 28, 2022
that might be the single greatest, most traumatizing last sentence in a book that i have ever read
----------
the title: god, i wish that were me…
the content: god, i’m so happy that’s not me.
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the title: god, i wish that were me…
the content: god, i’m so happy that’s not me.
February 14, 2024
Do yourself a favor and read this.
The second half of this book blew my mind. Very bleak but it will haunt me forever.
Best book of 2022: https://youtu.be/lQBAza0zdj8
Update: Reread it in French (no idea how to add another edition here) and liked it even more.
The second half of this book blew my mind. Very bleak but it will haunt me forever.
Best book of 2022: https://youtu.be/lQBAza0zdj8
Update: Reread it in French (no idea how to add another edition here) and liked it even more.
November 22, 2024
“I felt as if this pain would never be appeased, that it had me in its grip for ever, that it would prevent me from devoting myself to anything else, and that I was allowing it to do so. I think that is what they call being consumed with remorse.”
December 13, 2022
What the fuck
January 14, 2023
I WHO HAVE NEVER READ A BOOK LIKE THIS
October 27, 2023
Holy shit
I’m unwell
I’m unwell
Want to read
June 4, 2024i wish
August 19, 2023
Wish I was I who had never read this book
February 19, 2024
2.5 stars
SPOILER🛑 but you should probably take the title of the book very literally, because she really has never and will never know men or KNOW ANYTHING AND NEITHER WILL WE.
I am actually so mad. I wish I knew this had one of those annoying open endings with zero answers. Just repetitive ramblings from start to end.
I was waiting with bated breath for something to happen, the author would even tease me with the possibility of a revelation. But don't hold your breath like I did. Every time you think it's something interesting, it's just them finding the same shit for 20 years.
I was dying of curiosity about the mystery of the women's circumstances, it was genuinely the only thing that had me hooked amongst the repetitive writing. It didn't even cross my mind that something so suspenseful would never be revealed.
The narrator and I were left in a pile of unanswered questions, accompanied by a despondent feeling that came with the ending of this book. It was completely depressing in a way that mirrors a real hunger for discovering hidden answers to questions that will never be found or be just out of reach.
Was this perhaps a metaphor about the uncertain reality of our own lives? Yea IDGAF, give me answers.
SPOILER🛑 but you should probably take the title of the book very literally, because she really has never and will never know men or KNOW ANYTHING AND NEITHER WILL WE.
I am actually so mad. I wish I knew this had one of those annoying open endings with zero answers. Just repetitive ramblings from start to end.
I was waiting with bated breath for something to happen, the author would even tease me with the possibility of a revelation. But don't hold your breath like I did. Every time you think it's something interesting, it's just them finding the same shit for 20 years.
I was dying of curiosity about the mystery of the women's circumstances, it was genuinely the only thing that had me hooked amongst the repetitive writing. It didn't even cross my mind that something so suspenseful would never be revealed.
The narrator and I were left in a pile of unanswered questions, accompanied by a despondent feeling that came with the ending of this book. It was completely depressing in a way that mirrors a real hunger for discovering hidden answers to questions that will never be found or be just out of reach.
I have understood nothing about the world in which I live. I have criss-crossed it in every direction but I haven't discovered its boundaries
Was this perhaps a metaphor about the uncertain reality of our own lives? Yea IDGAF, give me answers.
February 8, 2025
If you enjoy wondering if you’ll ever feel hope again, this book's for you. I Who Have Never Known Men makes The Road by Cormac McCarthy feel like a stroll in a park. The premise is straightforward enough. 40 women, caged in a bunker for reasons no one’s sharing.
This isn’t the kind of book that’s here to comfort. It’s dark, bleak, terrifying, yet also profound. It made me sit in discomfort and confront survival, freedom, and what it even means to live.
The silence about what happened to the world is louder than any dystopian world-building ever could be. And at first, I wanted the explanations, the “why,” the rules of this world. But the more I read, the more I realised that the silence is the whole point of the story.
If you’re on the hunt for a happily ever after, you might want to look elsewhere, because this book doesn’t do redemption or catharsis or answers. What we do get is a meditation on what’s left when everything we think makes us human such as love, connection and hope, is stripped away.
By the time I turned the last page, I was left reeling and grappling with the enormity of my own insignificance. It’s frustrating, haunting and unforgettable.
Highly recommend if you’re a masochistic reader, like me.
♦️♦️♦️
Sometimes I swing from fantasy to soul-crushing dystopian books to keep me grounded.
This isn’t the kind of book that’s here to comfort. It’s dark, bleak, terrifying, yet also profound. It made me sit in discomfort and confront survival, freedom, and what it even means to live.
The silence about what happened to the world is louder than any dystopian world-building ever could be. And at first, I wanted the explanations, the “why,” the rules of this world. But the more I read, the more I realised that the silence is the whole point of the story.
If you’re on the hunt for a happily ever after, you might want to look elsewhere, because this book doesn’t do redemption or catharsis or answers. What we do get is a meditation on what’s left when everything we think makes us human such as love, connection and hope, is stripped away.
By the time I turned the last page, I was left reeling and grappling with the enormity of my own insignificance. It’s frustrating, haunting and unforgettable.
Highly recommend if you’re a masochistic reader, like me.
♦️♦️♦️
Sometimes I swing from fantasy to soul-crushing dystopian books to keep me grounded.
January 15, 2024
i who will never be the same again
September 11, 2024
I’ve now read this book twice in 2024 and can confirm it is one of my all time favorites.
Original Review:
I would definitely encourage anyone interested in reading this book to not look too much into what this book is actually about.
If you have no idea what this book is about and are reading this review, here’s what I’ll say: this is a story about a girl growing up in confinement and how she learns to free herself through her mind. And yet along the way, she wonders is she really free?
Now you can pick this book up and have your own mind blown.
I loved how this had both a really intriguing plot, but also a deep philosophical examination of what it means to be a human, to live and love and laugh and learn.
I truly never knew where this book was going next. It’s quite a short novel and yet full of so much.
This would make an excellent bookclub selection as well.
I feel like I won’t stop thinking about this book for a long time. It’s one of those stories that gets a hook in you and doesn’t let go.
Original Review:
I would definitely encourage anyone interested in reading this book to not look too much into what this book is actually about.
If you have no idea what this book is about and are reading this review, here’s what I’ll say: this is a story about a girl growing up in confinement and how she learns to free herself through her mind. And yet along the way, she wonders is she really free?
Now you can pick this book up and have your own mind blown.
I loved how this had both a really intriguing plot, but also a deep philosophical examination of what it means to be a human, to live and love and laugh and learn.
I truly never knew where this book was going next. It’s quite a short novel and yet full of so much.
This would make an excellent bookclub selection as well.
I feel like I won’t stop thinking about this book for a long time. It’s one of those stories that gets a hook in you and doesn’t let go.
March 30, 2024
2.7
Największe rozczarowanie tego roku 😭😭😭
Największe rozczarowanie tego roku 😭😭😭
February 5, 2023
Just not for me. I like either plot or meaningful relationships in my stories and this had neither. I don’t necessarily think this is a feminist book, I came into this expecting much more discussion on gender inequality but there wasn’t much, it was more of an exploration on what would happen to someone born outside of society and without experiencing love, but the answer wasn’t too interesting or groundbreaking for me.
March 26, 2019
An enigmatic book, haunting and mysterious but ultimately frustratingly open-ended: if you're the kind of reader who needs to have things tied up and explained by the end then step away now - we have no idea why these women have been incarcerated in a bunker, who their male guards are, why the siren goes off, what has happened to the outside world, even whether they're still on earth...
What starts out with a dystopian feel turns into a kind of existentialist meditation as 'the girl', our nameless narrator, ends up as possibly the only woman left alive - without companions or much purpose other than staying alive in her threatless existence, the book asks what is human life? Ultimately more 'Waiting for Godot' than 'The Handmaid's Tale' I found this weirdly compelling. 3.5 stars as I would have liked a bit more material to work with.
What starts out with a dystopian feel turns into a kind of existentialist meditation as 'the girl', our nameless narrator, ends up as possibly the only woman left alive - without companions or much purpose other than staying alive in her threatless existence, the book asks what is human life? Ultimately more 'Waiting for Godot' than 'The Handmaid's Tale' I found this weirdly compelling. 3.5 stars as I would have liked a bit more material to work with.
January 6, 2025
a world with no men sounds wonderful
March 31, 2021
I found this book when aimlessly browsing for available books on my library app. I’m so glad I did and added it to my favourite list straight after reading.
I loved so much about it including the subject matter and the length. It felt unique, fresh and mature.
Although there is no real explanation of events, which would normally drive me mad, I still enjoyed it immensely. This may be due to reading the introduction which was somewhat revealing and prepared me to not expect any explanation of the characters predicament.
I loved so much about it including the subject matter and the length. It felt unique, fresh and mature.
Although there is no real explanation of events, which would normally drive me mad, I still enjoyed it immensely. This may be due to reading the introduction which was somewhat revealing and prepared me to not expect any explanation of the characters predicament.
March 23, 2023
I who have never known men is an astounding piece of speculative and dystopian fiction with discussions on womanhood, love and death, all with amazing character studies! A bleak but powerful read, this is one that will undoubtedly stay with me for quite some time.
February 19, 2025
Let’s be honest—this book is massively depressing, definitely not a light, airy beach read. However, the sorrowful journey is filled with meaning.
I Who Have Never Known Men begins with 40 ladies trapped in a bunker. The youngest one doesn’t remember anything about Before, and the women refer to her as The Child. Until one day, they escape.
As an American living in a country largely centered on capitalistic greed, most stories are structured on longing to achieve a goal, achieving that goal, and everyone living “happily ever after.” Not so in this book.
Even after obtaining freedom, it isn’t all rainbows and sunshine for the women.
This book would make an excellent book club book because there are several questions/topics that would be fascinating to explore:
1) The youngest is called The Child. How do you think this shaped the narrator? Why wasn’t she called The Legacy or The Future or The Truth or The Hope? How did the narrator’s identity change over time?
2) The women decide to once “freed.” Why do you think that they picked this ritual from Before to resurrect? Do you think that the women are recreating Before or intentionally creating a Now?
3) The group of women must decide on a symbol to represent their group. What symbol would you have chosen and why? What symbol do you think a group of men would choose?
4) Time is measured internally by heartbeats instead of planetary objects. Should life be viewed in different units of time? How else did the women take on a sense of control even while in captivity?
5) Once “free” the ladies attribute their liberation to luck rather than their own cleverness. Even with The Child discovers . Is the concept of otherness (oh that couldn’t happen to precious little ole me because I’m a hard worker, clever, etc.) something that is learned?
6) Do you think The Child lets the guards off too easily?
7) Who else thought that aliens were going to pop out at any minute?
The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent):
Softcover Text – $9.54 on eBay
Audiobook – 1 Audible Credit (Audible Premium Plus Annual – 24 Credits Membership Plan $229.50 or roughly $9.56 per credit)
Connect With Me!
Blog Threads BookTube Facebook Insta My Bookstore at Pango
I Who Have Never Known Men begins with 40 ladies trapped in a bunker. The youngest one doesn’t remember anything about Before, and the women refer to her as The Child. Until one day, they escape.
As an American living in a country largely centered on capitalistic greed, most stories are structured on longing to achieve a goal, achieving that goal, and everyone living “happily ever after.” Not so in this book.
Even after obtaining freedom, it isn’t all rainbows and sunshine for the women.
This book would make an excellent book club book because there are several questions/topics that would be fascinating to explore:
1) The youngest is called The Child. How do you think this shaped the narrator? Why wasn’t she called The Legacy or The Future or The Truth or The Hope? How did the narrator’s identity change over time?
2) The women decide to once “freed.” Why do you think that they picked this ritual from Before to resurrect? Do you think that the women are recreating Before or intentionally creating a Now?
3) The group of women must decide on a symbol to represent their group. What symbol would you have chosen and why? What symbol do you think a group of men would choose?
4) Time is measured internally by heartbeats instead of planetary objects. Should life be viewed in different units of time? How else did the women take on a sense of control even while in captivity?
5) Once “free” the ladies attribute their liberation to luck rather than their own cleverness. Even with The Child discovers . Is the concept of otherness (oh that couldn’t happen to precious little ole me because I’m a hard worker, clever, etc.) something that is learned?
6) Do you think The Child lets the guards off too easily?
7) Who else thought that aliens were going to pop out at any minute?
The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent):
Softcover Text – $9.54 on eBay
Audiobook – 1 Audible Credit (Audible Premium Plus Annual – 24 Credits Membership Plan $229.50 or roughly $9.56 per credit)
Connect With Me!
Blog Threads BookTube Facebook Insta My Bookstore at Pango
November 30, 2023
Actual rating: 4,5
The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is bc my curiosity wasn't answered.
The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is bc my curiosity wasn't answered.
July 8, 2022
(3.5) i want to die. and no i won't elaborate on that, just pray for my sanity y'all
February 26, 2025
After several days of staring off into the void, I think I’m finally ready to put my thoughts about this story into words.
Firstly, once I started reading, I genuinely couldn’t put this book down. I read it from cover to cover in less than 24 hours. I needed to know what happened next. I needed to know if my questions would get answered… It was around 12am when I turned to the last page. I read it in the dark, by the beacon of my phone’s flashlight, with my husband trying to sleep beside me. The last sentence left me in shambles, unable to emotionally accept what I had just vicariously lived through. This is a story that I’ll think about for the rest of my life.
The main character had one of the most unique voices I have ever had the pleasure of reading from. Her one-of-a-kind perspective made me think deeply about aspects of life that are normal to me. She made me ask questions. She made me wonder why we do certain things, and why we live certain ways.
It was thrilling and heartbreaking to witness the world that she inhabited, a world so like and unlike our own. Is it our world? Is it the future of our world? Is it another planet altogether? Questions, questions, questions…
Ambiguity is a blessing and a curse, as someone who likes to interpret things in a multitude of ways but who also wants an answer. In all honesty, I prefer ambiguity, because it resonates more deeply. I’m glad I get to think about this story for the rest of my life and continue to guess, ponder, and marvel at its simple complexity (an oxymoron, but true nonetheless).
*weeps, sobs, stares off into the void*
Firstly, once I started reading, I genuinely couldn’t put this book down. I read it from cover to cover in less than 24 hours. I needed to know what happened next. I needed to know if my questions would get answered… It was around 12am when I turned to the last page. I read it in the dark, by the beacon of my phone’s flashlight, with my husband trying to sleep beside me. The last sentence left me in shambles, unable to emotionally accept what I had just vicariously lived through. This is a story that I’ll think about for the rest of my life.
The main character had one of the most unique voices I have ever had the pleasure of reading from. Her one-of-a-kind perspective made me think deeply about aspects of life that are normal to me. She made me ask questions. She made me wonder why we do certain things, and why we live certain ways.
It was thrilling and heartbreaking to witness the world that she inhabited, a world so like and unlike our own. Is it our world? Is it the future of our world? Is it another planet altogether? Questions, questions, questions…
Ambiguity is a blessing and a curse, as someone who likes to interpret things in a multitude of ways but who also wants an answer. In all honesty, I prefer ambiguity, because it resonates more deeply. I’m glad I get to think about this story for the rest of my life and continue to guess, ponder, and marvel at its simple complexity (an oxymoron, but true nonetheless).
*weeps, sobs, stares off into the void*
November 30, 2024
actual rating: 3.5 stars
April 8, 2024
Ja, która nie znosi książek pozostawiających czytelnika bez wyjaśnień.
April 21, 2025
Rinse, repeat
Forty women are held prisoners, somewhere under the ground and are guarded by a bunch of male guards 24/7.
The women are provided with food and clothing and other necessaries. But there are rules they should obey or else they would be (almost) whipped.
The unfortunate women (and the ill-fated readers) don’t know the reason for their imprisonment or where they are being kept.
The narrator of the story is the youngest of them all. She tells us about their routine and she tells us how she doesn’t have memories like the other women because she hasn’t experienced life like them. She keeps telling us those things. She says a lot of stuff that have already been told by her several times.
But when it comes to details necessary for the demanding reader to picture a scene, she becomes word-stingy. She says “there was a nasty smell”, but doesn’t elaborate what the smell smells like. Or why there exists such a smell.
What were we doing here, and why were we being kept alive?
Apparently the women don't know, the young narrator doesn't know, the guards are almost non-existent and they don't know or know but don't tell, and we don't know either, because the author kindly doesn't tell the readers the whys, wheres, hows and whos.
But one thing is for sure, the words 'die' and 'dying' are mentioned a million times.
Which brings me to the writing: It was primitive and shallow. It wasn’t bad, but it read more like it was written by a jaded teenager.
And the characters, including our monotonous narrator, were blurs. They were under-done and therefore uninteresting.
To tell you the truth, I didn’t get the underlying meaning of the book if there was one and if the author had a message, it was definitely lost on me.
I awoke in the middle of the night. I was amazed: it was dark! With my eyes wide open, I could barely see my own hands. The sky was a dark mass and rather frightening, as if it might fall in, and it took me ages to realise that once again it was very overcast.
Forty women are held prisoners, somewhere under the ground and are guarded by a bunch of male guards 24/7.
The women are provided with food and clothing and other necessaries. But there are rules they should obey or else they would be (almost) whipped.
The unfortunate women (and the ill-fated readers) don’t know the reason for their imprisonment or where they are being kept.
The narrator of the story is the youngest of them all. She tells us about their routine and she tells us how she doesn’t have memories like the other women because she hasn’t experienced life like them. She keeps telling us those things. She says a lot of stuff that have already been told by her several times.
But when it comes to details necessary for the demanding reader to picture a scene, she becomes word-stingy. She says “there was a nasty smell”, but doesn’t elaborate what the smell smells like. Or why there exists such a smell.
What were we doing here, and why were we being kept alive?
Apparently the women don't know, the young narrator doesn't know, the guards are almost non-existent and they don't know or know but don't tell, and we don't know either, because the author kindly doesn't tell the readers the whys, wheres, hows and whos.
But one thing is for sure, the words 'die' and 'dying' are mentioned a million times.
Which brings me to the writing: It was primitive and shallow. It wasn’t bad, but it read more like it was written by a jaded teenager.
And the characters, including our monotonous narrator, were blurs. They were under-done and therefore uninteresting.
To tell you the truth, I didn’t get the underlying meaning of the book if there was one and if the author had a message, it was definitely lost on me.
I awoke in the middle of the night. I was amazed: it was dark! With my eyes wide open, I could barely see my own hands. The sky was a dark mass and rather frightening, as if it might fall in, and it took me ages to realise that once again it was very overcast.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 63,355 reviews