I Who Have Never Known Men

By: Jacqueline Harpman

Narrated by: Nikki Massoud

Deep underground, 39 women live imprisoned in a cage. Watched over by guards, the women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time, and only a vague recollection of their lives before.

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 above ground.

Informed by her background as a psychoanalyst and her youth in exile, I Who Have Never Known Men is a haunting, heartbreaking post-apocalyptic novel of female friendship and intimacy, and the lengths people will go to maintain their humanity in the face of devastation. Back in print for the first time since 1997, Jacqueline Harpman’s modern classic is an important addition to the growing canon of feminist speculative literature.

This audio edition of I Who Have Never Known Men is expertly read by Nikki Massoud, a listener favorite. Produced and published by Echo Point Books & Media, an independent bookseller in Brattleboro, Vermont.

©1997, 2019 Ros Schwartz (P)2024 Echo Point Books & Media, LLC

Exceptionally thought provoking

Listening to this book leads you to constantly question the reasoning behind why they were taken and caged. Why is the world written the way it is? Why are things happening the way they did? Where did everyone else go? Ultimately there’s no answer, which disappears me at first. However I quickly realized this book is nearly a mirror to our current world. Why do some people have so much hate for certain groups? Why is there racism? Why is our bodies perfectly adept to live on earth? How did the universe start? How do our brains work? Why is there an individualistic quality to people raised in the same environment? The questions are endless but with no answers, only continuous pondering. This book highlights the philosophical challenges that exist in regard to what humanity, femininity and survival means when people are stripped of their identity without knowing the cause. A phenomenal and thought provoking read.

Satisfying in its simplicity

I enjoy following the narrator and found myself hoping for change along side her. I was more satisfied with the end than I had thought I would be, and felt as though the story was complete while lacking much conclusion. The world was creative and the book surprisingly captivating.

A very cool book!

This was a very great book! I would highly recommend it! It is very thought-provoking and I loved it.

Tremendous.

The rare kind of mystery that only gives you the answers you need to hear rather than the ones you want. I went in not knowing much of anything about this book and I think it was all the better for it.

The power of women working together to overcome difficulty

I loved this book. At times it felt very odd. I wondered if we were on another planet and then I thought we were on our own planet during an apocalyptic time. So profound in terms of the overall story. The afterword is so powerful. It’s a must read for me and one I recommended to many of my friends.

Make sure to finish it!

Mid way through it seemed just sad with no redeeming qualities. By the end I was profoundly impacted and so grateful I stayed to the end of the book.

Interesting

This book left me a lot of questions and none were answered in the book. The epilogue was very helpful and described what to think about.

WOW, a powerful performance and an incredible book

Nikki Massoud's narration of I Who Have Never Known Men is emotional, tender, engaging, and just really good. She makes it easy to listen to this frankly, at times, bleak and hopeless text. She imbues a lot of energy and ethos into her narration, she's very compelling and skilled. Really good separation between how she narrated different characters without ever going overboard or overly dramatic.

The book is incredible. It's simultaneously beautiful and tragic, bleak and hopeful, heart-wrenching and inspiring. The duality of these themes and feelings is communicated in such a fascinating and excellent performance of a complex, unique piece of fiction.

Does a good job with no answers

For me, 3 stars is everybody else's 5, so don't take this as "it was only ok."

Any author who can satisfy me while giving me virtually no answers, has accomplished an enormous feat. No answers in this book but that wasn't the point. Not a lot happens, yet I was rarely bored--also hard for an author to do.

Timeless

I find this book leaving me at a loss for words. Such a simple story that doesn’t try too hard to be what it’s not. It asks the question “what does it mean to be human?” in so many ways. Each question the narrator poses makes me want to turn inward to see where that same question has nagged at me in my own life.