I Who Have Never Known Men

De: Jacqueline Harpman, Ros Schwartz

Narrado por: Sarah Lambie

Brought to you by Penguin.

Discover the haunting, heartbreaking post-apocalyptic tale of female friendship and intimacy set in a deserted world.

Deep underground, 39 women are kept in isolation in a cage. Aboveground, a world awaits. Has it been abandoned? Devastated by a virus?

Watched over by guards, the women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time and only vague recollection of their lives before. But, as the burn of electric light merges day into night and numberless years pass, a young girl - the 40th 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 aboveground. The woman who will never know men.

©2019 Jacqueline Harpman (P)2021 Penguin Audio

This story will make you feel so many things, like no other.

Woah. One of the most moving pieces I’ve read recently for sure. It made me feel deeply and a lot. Incredibly beautiful, equally heartwarming and heartbreaking story about solidarity, love, death, loneliness, luck, coping with despair, and the meaning of it all.

It reminded me of Buttler’s Parable of the Sower in some ways, but it’s so much more quiet, disturbing and beautiful.

If you’re looking for plot twists - I don’t think this book is for you. But reading it for sure will be an _experience_, unfolding in powerful waves of profound hope and overwhelming distress. What a gem.

excelente, te atrapa

no podría dejar de escucharlo, lo terminé en tres días a pesar de que no es mi género favorito. la trama es atrapadora e impredecible. la historia entrañable, cruda pero no cruel.

The voice of both speakers seemed to perfectly match

Amazing reading of a bleak and beautiful story.

“I am the sterile offspring of a race about which I know nothing, not even whether or not it has become extinct. Perhaps somewhere humanity is flourishing. under the stars, unaware that the daughter of its blood is ending her days in silence”

Humanity as never eepicted before

Amazing provoking insightful, literally one sitting book; I don’t understand how it is so captivating.

Not as good as I expected

This review might seem heretical based on how popular this book seems to be, but it just didn't blow me away like I thought it would. It feels like it was written by an edgy emo first year creative writing student... There are other books that do the same thing but much better... e.g Piranesi is a much better mystery, The Road is a relentless break story, etc...

Overall it's fine, but I don't think this book is as good as all the other reviews led me to believe...

Gave me some good questions

Monotonous, realistic perception of things and yet strong, powerful questions. It reminded me some pieces of Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.

A brilliant book!

This book is unlike anything I have ever read. It is full of mystery and suspence. If you enjoy a story like the Handmaid's Tale you will love this book. The story is very different, but to me it had the same vibe.. I am terrible at explaining what it is about, just listen to it!

loved it

this is one of those books I wish i could experience for the first time again. absolutely profoundly beautiful in its bittersweetness. simple yet complex

The narration brought the story to life wonderfully

The audiobook was so much easier to take in than actually reading the book. Great job. The story didn’t satisfy me as much as I would have liked but there’s a deeper truth to that I’m sure that I haven’t gotten around to reflecting on yet.

Unlike any other postapocalyptic book

What a fantastic book! Wonderfully written, and performed. It is not „satisfying” in the sense that it will not give you any definite facts. It will not answer any of your questions. It will leave you wondering. It’s philosophical, disturbing and most likely unlike anything you have read before.