I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

The novel was published in French in 1995 by its Belgian author. I only recently discovered it on YouTube. It’s also short (177 pages on Kindle).

it is a moving story and as I started this review I paused and asked myself, “What wouldn’t I have wanted to know before reading”. Therefore, there won’t be much detail beyond a bare synopsis.

40 women are caged in an underground bunker. They don’t know where they are, how they got there, how long they’ve been there, or why they’re there. The cage is guarded by men who never speak. 39 women have names and memories from before the cage: husbands, lovers, careers, domestic life. The last is a young woman—maybe 16— who has only known life in the cage. She is not named but the other women refer to her as “the child”. The Child is frustrated by the women’s refusal to tell about life before the cage. They say they don’t want to burden her with what she will never experience.The Child is smart but angry and sullen when her questions are ignored.

Is this science fiction? Post-apocalyptic. Will all be revealed? One thing I can say is that it’s Kafkaesque: nightmarish, illogical, powerless characters in an absurd situation, victims of some bureaucracy that even the guards have forgotten.  Shades of  Josef K. in Kafka’s The Trial.

The Child is a wonderfully drawn character and we see everything through her first person narration. Her youth and ignorance are actually strengths in this absurd situation and her unschooled intelligence may be the means to bring the women together. Having grown up in the cage, she doesn't have the hang-ups and baggage of a previous life like the others and she sees things and possibilities differently. She is different.

This is a character driven story with the narrator the glue that binds her and the other women. The absurdity of the situation lets us see the strengths and weaknesses of the characters. As we get to know the women as everyone ages, I also found myself misty-eyed so have a hanky handy.

Being short, the story is tight and doesn’t bog down. As a reader I was always anticipating that an answer might be on the next page.

This isn’t a feel-good story but also not depressing. I'm not sure how I felt at the end. Contemplative? Left in a brown study. A bit haunted. Certainly affected.