Retro Book Review - I Who Have Never Known Men

Name - I Who Have Never Known Men 

Written by - Jacqueline Harpman 

Translated by - Ros Schwartz

Narrated by - Nikki Massoud

Published by - Echo Point Books & Media, LLC

It is quite hard to find anything more to say for something like this. This is a novella that has been reviewed, analyzed, and talked about a lot. This is an attempt at telling a story, at creating a character who hasn't experienced the world we live in. The author doesn't pull any punches in detailing the dystopia she creates, doesn't hold our hand in explaining anything, and doesn't even provide a satisfying conclusion. And thus creates a beautifully unorthodox experiment that is sure to be talked about for a long time.

The story follows an anonymous narrator who has been raised in a cage with 39 other women who don't know why they’re there, or how they got there, and they have very vague memories of the past, but the narrator has no memory before the cage at all. Then, one day an alarm sounds and the guards flee, and they’re free. Thus begins their journey to find out the truth and to survive in a foreign land where no one else is around.

The plot is very bleak; they never find out anything, never find any other survivors. The landscape they travel through is very monotonous, and soon they have to stop traveling altogether due to advanced ages of some of the members. 

Author continues on describing their mundane ways of survival, but the author uses the narrator's inexperience with everything to color the story through her eyes. Tries to describe normal phenomena through the perspective of someone who has never known them; regular activities and objects get novel meanings and a curious point of view from her.

Then the story turns even more depressing as only the narrator remains the sole survivor, being the youngest after everyone else perishes. She starts to explore the terrain again, finds out some interesting things, and eventually comes to the point when she decides to write down her experience.

This novella is closer in concept to many dystopian works with a feminist angle that have been written, but very different in one aspect that it never really tries to depict or investigate the setting much, rather focuses on the unusual phenomenon through the lens of a protagonist so much different from us.

The translation by Ros Schwartz was very palatable and smooth, never hampering understanding. And the narration by Nikki Massoud was the driving force through some of the boring bits as she perfectly voiced the blandness and practicality with the protagonist perceives the world. This gave the audiobook a sense of authenticity and sensitivity.

While I certainly can't recommend this to everyone due to the slow pace and depressing content, the last 25% of the novella is so memorable and also includes a poignant piece by the translator who tries to explain the themes a bit in her own way. To any impressionable reader, the last portion and ending will linger in the mind for a while surely.

Overall, I will give this one 4 out of 5 stars.