I Who Have Never Known Men

My god, what a story.

To say I was engrossed would be an utter understatement. This book had me in its grasp from the first paragraph and took me on one me the most harrowing and thought-provoking reads I have ever sat through. It’s a difficult novel, filled with so many questions, yet yield little answers. The story is so simple, yet offers such complex ideas of humanity, which makes you feel like you’ve lived an entire lifetime alongside the main character. This is no cake-walk; this novel easily is one of the darkest and bleakest that I have ever read, but the knowledge you gain after is worth the effort put in to read it.

I haven’t been this completely engrossed in a story in a hot minute, so it was refreshing to find something new and compelling, and I cannot wait to see what our book club discussion is going to look like, because this novel has so much to discuss.

we don’t need men 🗣️

Exy

First of all, if you’re someone that needs answers I’d caution you on reading this one. Everything is ambiguous and speculative and there are no clear cut answers or revelations, only theories. I love speculative fiction and while I do love answers, I can still appreciate a good book that gives you nothing but questions. I Who Have Never Known men is a feminist dystopian tale from the 90s that starts with questions and ends with questions, all asked and attempted to be answered by the main character who has no name and is only referred to as “the child”. She is the youngest of 40 women trapped in a cage, in an unknown location, tormented by unknown men, for unknown reasons, until one day…. They’re not. This one kept me reading in hopes of figuring out what was going on, and what felt at first felt like your normal dystopian quickly turns into a speculative story about what it means to be a human. I loved this one and am still thinking about it!

Such a tiny book packed with such heavy thoughts. I usually hate not knowing the background of a character but I didn't miss it here. She really took me on a journey with her and I experienced growing old with her. This book will leave you with questions and an uneasy feeling, which is my way of saying read this if you like speculations, explorations and simply feeling through a story. Don't expect too much action though. This is a speculation on humanity.