I Who Have Never Known Men

Alex Cabe reviewed I Who Have Never Known Men by Sophie Mackintosh

Philosophical Thought Experiment with Sci-Fi Dystopia Trappings

No rating

This is dressed as a sci-fi dystopia, but was very much a meditation on what it means to be human when stripped away from society and what society tells us to value. The protagonist has to carve out meaning in a world that's empty of meaning and conventional sources of it.

I surmised fairly early that this was too artsy/European to give an answer as to the premise, and I was correct.

The book generally was feminist, but less gender-specific and more universal than I expected. Late in the novel she reads Shakespeare and Don Quixote, and it's interesting to me that, never having heard a man's voice, she likely would have imagined all of the characters sounding like women.

Found it strange that the other women never named the protagonist.

Audiobook narration was well done and the reader did not try to perform in a way that was distracting.

matthewmincher reviewed I Who Have Never Known Men by Sophie Mackintosh

Captivating

4 stars

I'm not sure why this book has been popping up everywhere recently. I picked it up off a recommendation.

I thought it was a compelling short story written from the point of view of someone born in captivity and questioning what it means to be human if everything else is stripped away.

None of the characters really matter except for the main character, which is a bit of a shame. I'm torn between wanting more to the plot versus admitting that the book has clearly told the story the author intended and that it is an acceptable artistic choice.

Like many other reviews I will echo that the last sentence is indeed hard hitting.

Mogwai reviewed I Who Have Never Known Men by Sophie Mackintosh

Leaden Captivation

5 stars

Futures bleak and severe dappled with strange liberations. "I have loved you so much," she said - my far-away favourite character in the book, but that, of course, was by design - and I did cry a little (a lot). I read through it with blazing interest, and short and quickly digestible as it may have been, it is still a taste that will linger for a long while. It's a book that will peek into my thoughts even when I finish other, new ones. Maybe it will never go away? I understand that, in many ways, it is not for me, but I am here for it anyway. I'm here for the art, the endless grey voyage, and the stars up high which (I think) are for everyone. Well, I'm not here to disturb. Just to understand. I like to understand things. She will never tell you what to …

Futures bleak and severe dappled with strange liberations. "I have loved you so much," she said - my far-away favourite character in the book, but that, of course, was by design - and I did cry a little (a lot). I read through it with blazing interest, and short and quickly digestible as it may have been, it is still a taste that will linger for a long while. It's a book that will peek into my thoughts even when I finish other, new ones. Maybe it will never go away? I understand that, in many ways, it is not for me, but I am here for it anyway. I'm here for the art, the endless grey voyage, and the stars up high which (I think) are for everyone. Well, I'm not here to disturb. Just to understand. I like to understand things. She will never tell you what to think. Like poetry, you will have to understand it in a way that will be unique to you. I loved it.

ianatxt reviewed I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

Review of 'I Who Have Never Known Men' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Vou precisar de um tempinho pra me recuperar desse aqui.

Erin reviewed I Who Have Never Known Men by Sophie Mackintosh

Review of 'I Who Have Never Known Men' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

The questions this book makes you think about, beyond the mystery of the story itself, are what make this book a thought-provoking one. You end up considering what makes us human if you strip away most culture, education, and technology. You wonder what you would do in this situation over and over again. You wonder what kind of purpose life would have or what purpose you could give it in this scenario.

Sometimes it got a bit dull with the level of detail about calculations she was making or the intricacies of the schedule. The nature of the story also makes it a bit repetitive at times. She names multiple other women but they all blur together for me except for Anthea.

I enjoyed the introspective style. I love being inside a character’s head - even more so when it’s someone who thinks so differently because of her extreme circumstances. …

The questions this book makes you think about, beyond the mystery of the story itself, are what make this book a thought-provoking one. You end up considering what makes us human if you strip away most culture, education, and technology. You wonder what you would do in this situation over and over again. You wonder what kind of purpose life would have or what purpose you could give it in this scenario.

Sometimes it got a bit dull with the level of detail about calculations she was making or the intricacies of the schedule. The nature of the story also makes it a bit repetitive at times. She names multiple other women but they all blur together for me except for Anthea.

I enjoyed the introspective style. I love being inside a character’s head - even more so when it’s someone who thinks so differently because of her extreme circumstances. Harpman makes good use of her narrator’s perspective because she challenges the norms that the rest of the women miss or want to recreate, like privacy on the toilet. The narrator doesn’t remember anything different, so doesn’t feel the same way about it, and you wonder where the need for privacy came from. When did that first come up in human history?

Kathrin Passig reviewed I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

Review of 'I Who Have Never Known Men' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Zwei Dinge haben mich gestört: Die zu bequeme Lösung aller Überlebensprobleme (Technik der Zivilisation funktioniert jahrzehntelang ohne jede Wartung weiter), und dass die Protagonistin alles, was die Autorin vermutlich gut findet (Himmel ansehen, weiche Betten, schön eingerichtete Wohnzimmer) ohne jede Eingewöhnung sofort auch gut findet, als seien das Naturkonstanten, unbeeinflussbar durch ein bisher völlig anders verbrachtes Leben. Der Rest war gut.