I Who Have Never Known Men (Vintage Editions)
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Description
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 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. The woman who will never know men.
WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY SOPHIE MACKINTOSH, MAN BOOKER PRIZE-LONGLISTED AUTHOR OF THE WATER CURE
Book Information
Posts
A sad novel about what makes us human
It's timeless, dystopian and thought-provoking. A SciFi story about hope, friendship, loneliness, humanity, survival, curiosity and freedom. The author Jacqueline Harpman wrote this in the ninetees, but this book is entirely timeless. You can draw some parallels because the author fled during World War II and the huts are somewhat similar of concentration camps. I thought this book is going in another direction, but I didn't dislike it. It's interesting that the main character is always kind of anonymous, because you never know her name. She is convinced that she's not entirely human, because she can't remember her childhood and has grown up without touch. It's very cool that she became something like a human clock, counting her heartbeat when there's nothing else to make out time. I wanted to know more about their surroundings, the plot and the Why. Why do they hear birds but there are no other animals? What happened to the guards, they just disappeared. What was the point of the alarm? Why was the main character the only child? Was this a failed experiment to populate a new planet? But maybe the book doesn't need to give answers to every questions, because that's the whole point. It's an open end and you're just as confused as the protagonist
Es bleiben eine Millionen Fragen und zeitgleich auch keine!
Ich glaube ich habe noch nie auch nur ein Buch gelesen, was der Art von I who have never known men entspricht. Die Protagonistin nimmt einen auf ihrem Weg mit, welcher etwas anders ist als der ihrer Mitmenschen. Und genau das macht es aussergewöhnlich, sie kennt nichts anderes als einen Bunker in dem sie und 39 mitgefangenen Frauen leben. Die anderen Frauen erzählen von der Welt wie sie zuvor war, doch die Protagonistin kann nichts damit anfangen, da sie als einzige im Bunker aufgewachsen ist und nichts anderes kennt. Durch ein unbekanntes Ereignis gelangen diese Frauen dann ins Freie und wir begleiten sie weiter auf ihrem Weg. Das Buch ist etwas düster und nervenaufreibend, zeigt jedoch auch neue Sichtweisen auf. Sobald man I who have never known men beendet hat, hat man eine Millionen Fragen und gleichzeitig auch absolut keine. Ein unfassbar faszinierendes Buch!
Description
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 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. The woman who will never know men.
WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY SOPHIE MACKINTOSH, MAN BOOKER PRIZE-LONGLISTED AUTHOR OF THE WATER CURE
Book Information
Posts
A sad novel about what makes us human
It's timeless, dystopian and thought-provoking. A SciFi story about hope, friendship, loneliness, humanity, survival, curiosity and freedom. The author Jacqueline Harpman wrote this in the ninetees, but this book is entirely timeless. You can draw some parallels because the author fled during World War II and the huts are somewhat similar of concentration camps. I thought this book is going in another direction, but I didn't dislike it. It's interesting that the main character is always kind of anonymous, because you never know her name. She is convinced that she's not entirely human, because she can't remember her childhood and has grown up without touch. It's very cool that she became something like a human clock, counting her heartbeat when there's nothing else to make out time. I wanted to know more about their surroundings, the plot and the Why. Why do they hear birds but there are no other animals? What happened to the guards, they just disappeared. What was the point of the alarm? Why was the main character the only child? Was this a failed experiment to populate a new planet? But maybe the book doesn't need to give answers to every questions, because that's the whole point. It's an open end and you're just as confused as the protagonist
Es bleiben eine Millionen Fragen und zeitgleich auch keine!
Ich glaube ich habe noch nie auch nur ein Buch gelesen, was der Art von I who have never known men entspricht. Die Protagonistin nimmt einen auf ihrem Weg mit, welcher etwas anders ist als der ihrer Mitmenschen. Und genau das macht es aussergewöhnlich, sie kennt nichts anderes als einen Bunker in dem sie und 39 mitgefangenen Frauen leben. Die anderen Frauen erzählen von der Welt wie sie zuvor war, doch die Protagonistin kann nichts damit anfangen, da sie als einzige im Bunker aufgewachsen ist und nichts anderes kennt. Durch ein unbekanntes Ereignis gelangen diese Frauen dann ins Freie und wir begleiten sie weiter auf ihrem Weg. Das Buch ist etwas düster und nervenaufreibend, zeigt jedoch auch neue Sichtweisen auf. Sobald man I who have never known men beendet hat, hat man eine Millionen Fragen und gleichzeitig auch absolut keine. Ein unfassbar faszinierendes Buch!