I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman was the last book I rated five stars. This is a dystopian novel at a whopping 184 pages. It’s short and easy, but at the same time will leave you staring at the wall after finishing. It follows a group of 40 women; our narrator is the youngest among them. These women are captured in an underground prison with no memory of how they got there. The ending made me question what it means to be a woman, to be a human, to form connections and share memories.
Do not read further if you don’t want small spoilers of the book.
When the women escape and are still left questioning what happened to the world they once knew, I was also left with questions. Many theories have come up throughout the novel, but I think the bleakness and beauty of the book is that you never get the answers.
To me, this book directly relates to our world today and how isolated and lonely we can feel. It only helps to imagine what it would be like in this dystopian universe with no connection to others at all. It describes what it means to be a human. Our narrator sits and questions her existence. What would she be if she weren’t the timekeeper? What would she be if she weren’t the last one standing? Would she be any less valuable without her youthful body that built homes and carried their food? Would she be more valuable if they ever gave her a name?
The timekeeping was a main plot point that stuck out to me. As time goes by in my life, it is hard for me to realize it is happening. I often forget how important it is to live in the present moment while appreciating the knowledge that we have time, and so much of it. It can be a double-edged sword, though. We will never know exactly how much time we have, but as it passes, it’s important to use it well.
What does it mean to be a woman? What does it mean to be free if there’s nothing to do with that freedom? How would our identities change if we had nothing to compare ourselves to? Are we really ourselves without the foundation of those around us?
This book grapples with these questions in a way that doesn’t give an answer. But the beautiful part is that it forces us to think about them.
To be a woman is the same as to be a man in this instance. In this book, the women are separated from the men. We don’t have any male characters besides the guards, who don’t speak to the women, and the dead men they find along their journey. I’ve wondered how the book would be different if we followed a group of 40 men instead. I think all humans crave the same things: connection, hope, freedom, and a name.
These women claim to have been freed from the prison when they leave it. But they are never truly free. Their life is simply living to die. I think it’s important to relate this to our own lives. We often search for a meaning. What is our purpose? Why do we live? Is it because God created this universe for us? Is it to form connections? To be happy? We will never get this answer. The universe will never give its explanation for why we are here, and the author does the same in this book. We simply exist, and then we die.
It is a very depressing take on life, and I am not going to bring this theory with me through my life. I believe we can make our own purpose. There has to be value in this life. Although no one will ever tell you exactly what that is, it’s important to figure it out for yourself. This book shows us what would happen if we didn’t.
“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.”