2025 Reading – Book 11

Book 11: I Who Have Never Known Men by Jaqueline Harpman

Written in the 1970s, this book became popular due to GenZ TikTok, and as a millennial, for some strange reason, I hope that the privileged sections of GenZ will do what millennials across the world have started – to dismantle the structures of neo-liberal capitalism, patriarchy, and other privileged supremacy. Isn’t that why we read dystopian novels? To see more than meets the eye?

The plot of the novel follow the main character (MC) who is a prisoner with 39 other women in an underground bunker where women have no contact with the outside world, rationed food which is delivered to them by male guards. These women don’t remember why or by whom they were imprisoned. They’re permitted to do nothing, not even hurt themselves, but they can only cook, east, excrete in the same room as others live, sleep, and repeat. They have no sense of time or place until one day when MC starts to question all of this, starting with my other women bleed by she doesn’t. Then, one day, in an unexpected turn of events, a siren blares, the bunker is left open by a stroke of luck, and the guards disappear leaving the bunker open such that MC and the rest of the women are free to leave and explore the outside world.

The book’s recent rise and success is attributed to the themes of female community and companionship, an absence of men (inspired by the 4B movement), and the “discovery” of what it means to be human in a world without any set template. However, I found that I didn’t enjoy reading this novel as much as others did. It did not make me feel anything for the characters, there was little sense of plot, and even the overall feeling of hopelessness was lacklustre. I struggled to enjoy the writing, the plot or even the themes that it promises to carry within its storytelling. I did not mind reading this book, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I would have liked.

🌟 3/5