Deep underground, thirty-nine women are kept in isolation in a cage. Above ground, 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 fortieth prisoner – sits alone an 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. The woman who will never know men.
Book Club Pick
I had never heard of this book before one of my fellow book club members proposed it. Then, me and the others were immediately intrigued. It took me nonetheless until almost the end of the reading month to start it. Once I started, it only took me three evenings to finish it. On the one hand, it’s simply quite short with not even 200 pages. On the other side, Jacqueline Harpman caught me instantly and didn’t let me go until I had finished the book. I wouldn’t say that there is a lot going on in these 200 pages, but everything does indeed change over and over again for our protagonist.
Inaction and Emptiness — in a good way
I never thought I could enjoy a book that much in which barely anything happens. The very first out of three chapters makes us familiar with the daily routine of our protagonist and her fellow prisoners. Then, Jacqueline Harpman foreshadows something big to change and we are immediately thrown in in the second chapter. From then on, we try to make sense of the events and changes just like our protagonist. But readers should be prepared to not get any real answers, to solely speculate about the reasons behind everything. In this way, the story is a great metaphor for life itself. The author further adds some speculative thoughts of science-fiction in the sense that we and the characters aren’t too sure if the setting is still earth.
Solidarity and Company
40 women, all by themselves, trying to survive and find sense in their existence. While reading the book, I expected something big to happen before realizing just like the characters that there is not always a greater plan. Or if that we don’t always get to know what it entails. Instead, we must work with what is given. And in this sense, the story tells of solidarity, of unity and strength. Jacqueline Harpman tells of many human emotions through the perspective of her relatively distanced protagonist. She narrates human development and discovery, of death and life, of love and friendship, of creativity and numbness alike. Between the lines, there is even more going on, while our protagonist feels disconnected from human interconnections. Nonetheless, we experience her excitement, her despair, and her inner life intensely and convincingly.
In conclusion,
With this book, Jacqueline Harpman balances nothingness with everything, numbness with plenty of emotions. Her tale of survival intrigued me from the very first page and didn’t let me go until the last one was turned. This story speaks of human (especially female) inventiveness, solidarity, and strength and I will keep thinking about it for quite a while.
The author:
Jacqueline Harpman was born in Etterbeek, Belgium in 1929. Being half Jewish, the family fled to Casablanca when the Nazis invaded, and only returned home after the war. After studying French literature she started training to be a doctor, but could not complete her training due to contracting tuberculosis. She turned to writing in 1954 and her first work was published in 1958. In 1980 she qualified as a psychoanalyst. Harpman wrote over 15 novels and won numerous literary prizes, including the Prix Médicis for Orlanda. I Who Have Never Known Men was her first novel to be translated into English, and was originally published with the title The Mistress of Silence Source