September 2024 | I Who Have Never Known Men - Jacqueline Harpman, Ros Schwartz

[restive basin]

From <t:1725148800:D> to <t:1727654400:D> | Leader(s): @clear grove

Book Link
Cover: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1636235968i/11996.jpg

ID: 66cca79d83c767217747321e

[clear grove]

For the month of September, this forum post will be for the discussion of I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (translated by Ros Schwartz)

The server goes by Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), meaning that this event officially begins <t:1725148800:R>

Please remember to use spoiler tags here and move to https://discord.com/channels/811077227449286667/1277664957571530765 once you've finished the book. There you can discuss the book freely and without spoiler tags.

If this is your first event in the server, our Book of the Month is meant for a large group to collectively decide on a book to read, and then discuss the story as we read it together throughout the month.
If you read the book within the timeframe, and discuss your thoughts, then you get the chance at earning reader points ❤️
You can find more info in our #faq

Happy reading! ☕

Announcement link: ⁠

---

Content Warnings:
Graphic: ||death, confinement, suicide.||
Moderate: ||cancer, terminal illness, grief||
Minor: ||miscarriage, sexual content, blood||

[outer lotus]

Looks like a reread is happening

[pure mango]

[crimson needle]

This will be an audiobook listen for me it turns out

[heavy mountain]

HELLO

[eager aurora]

i was hoping it would be this one

[ornate umbra]

I didn't vote because I've already read it pretty recently, but I was hoping it'd get picked! Very excited to read everyone's comments

[quartz perch]

I’m getting excited it sounds soooo good!

[heavy mountain]

[devout nova]

https://tenor.com/view/soon-cat-peek-gif-10008520

[crimson needle]

[outer lotus]

technically today for me 👀

[mystic marlin]

i am reading it right now,, i am half way through and good lord it is intense

my mom has already read it and she wanted me to read it So badly so she would have someone to talk about it with

[median walrus]

I’m starting now

[median walrus]

I get that feeling!

[outer lotus]

I think I'll probably get to this today too

[mystic marlin]

i just finished, i just sat at my desk reading it for like 4 hours straight

i think i need a nap

[median walrus]

I’m about 25% in.
||If they were so careful as to find women that were unrelated and had no ties to one another, I find it very hard to believe that a child would be there at random 🤔||

[vivid oyster]

I'll start this as soon as I finish "The Man Who Died Twice"!

[glad acorn]

I want to get it but waitlist

[crimson needle]

Listening to this and it may not be my jam so far but that's ok!
Ch. 2: ||The implication that men meant they were alive because men + women = babies is a very crude simplification... but I get the point. I feel like the humiliation and the lack of knowledge and intimacy between them and others is depriving them from being human. Even if they had feelings for each other or wanted to act on their attraction for each other they would't be able to. Still unsure about how I feel about this book.||
||But to be loved by others you had to be beautiful. - that's a stretch.||

[acoustic gale]

I guess, it's divided into 3 parts, the beginning-the actual story-the ending.

[outer lotus]

Does this not have any chapters? It’s going to be interesting trying to mark where I’m reading

[crimson needle]

my audiobook is divided into chapters, are there none in the written editions?

[outer lotus]

Not in the one I have

[devout nova]

guess we can do page/percent

[crimson needle]

Alright! The next comments will be around the 50-65% mark if I remember correctly.

Ch. 5: ||There's more bunkers. More groups of 40 women (maybe not just women?). I think this read may not be for me but the writing is really pretty. I just realised the MC has no name and is only referred to as 'The Child'. I wonder if it has to be with her having no period? Maybe it happened due to growing in captivity.||
Ch. 6: ||They found enough bunkers to feed them for 2 years?... No animals? At all? Also, I'm fully aware that they couldn't have physical contact inside the bunker, but it's weird to frame the entire concept of sexuality as a means to an end, men being the means... only means ||
Also, ||them saying they're not very resourceful after surviving almost a decade in the wild with no means to hunt and no other people outside of their group?? Sounds incredibly resourceful.||

[mystic marlin]

yeah my copy doesn't have chapters, and i think that format really lends itself well to the story

it's a stream of consciousness and very hard to find any stopping points, it really makes you feel like you are listening to the narrator tell her story very quickly as best she can before she forgets it

General spoilers and story analysis: ||I think that this story is so deeply interesting while also very Very bleak, I think it illustrates well how in many patriarchal societies a lot of women's "sense of purpose and belonging" relies on other people, especially men, and these values are taught through other women. I think the fact that we don't have Any timeline as to when this is happening shows how Persistent these ideas can be, and how when you have someone like the narrator who is so completely removed from any of these concepts, their lives are not dictated by them. She does not care about human concepts such as modesty, she flinches from touch and emotion, and she gravitates toward the only women who will share their knowledge with her. She survives so well out on her own because all she has known is survival.||

||I think the most interesting part is that it illustrates just how much of our society and culture relies on other people to create it. The narrator has the will to survive in this bleak environment because she has the benefit of not knowing what she is missing. She didn't have a life before this, she isn't weighed down by the yearning for a life she can no longer have.||

[crimson needle]

Around 80% into the read (just to be safe):
Ch. 7: ||'I have loved you so much.' - ||
Ch. 8: ||The gradual death of the last companion was chilling to read.||

[crimson pulsar]

Dang I know its a short book but people really be finishing it one day

Craaaazy

[clear grove]

Tagging people who signed up or voted for this to be BOTM but haven't joined the thread yet
@oblique sentinel @frail sleet @rough ocean @fading glacier @short arch @surreal radish @leaden arrow @edgy current @mild turret @velvet wedge @slow flicker @reef crown @regal jasper @brave drum @rain flax @earnest coral @boreal ruin @hazy harbor @hexed mica @heavy mountain @finite crag @wild cobalt @gentle thunder @glad acorn @green kraken @heavy mountain @subtle breach @heavy mountain @sacred gull @earnest nebula @twin cloud @heavy mountain

Also a few quick reminders for @everyone

• even though the book is short, __please message when you are starting and finishing the book as well as discuss the book during your reading. __ I know the book doens't have chapters for everyone, but I really can't tell otherwise if you actually read the book or not.
• there's a finished thread for those who already finished and can talk in there spoiler free https://discord.com/channels/811077227449286667/1277664957571530765

[clear grove]

Can you please reshare your thoughts using spoiler bars? Also, I can't really tell if you've read the book in one day or this is an old review of yours. Can you please elaborate?

[crimson needle]

Midway through ch. 10 (about 85% in): ||I would have never woken up from climaxing and immediately think "if only there were live men around to help me achieve this feeling" she clearly hasn't met men||

Also same chapter, ||I understand the enormity of these events for MC but its such a bland experience for the reader. I've been bored for awhile now.||

[median walrus]

I’m about 50% in.
|| I’m enjoying the pace of the book and the writing. I quite enjoy the lack of chapters in my copy. It’s very easy to get really absorbed by the story.

I have so many questions with the discovery of the other bunkers… I didn’t expect male prisoners. ||

[heavy mountain]

Not me completly forgot about this read! I’ll get to it some point this week!!

[clear grove]

you have the entire month lmao but nice!!

[heavy mountain]

I’ve been having lost of blonde dumb moments this weekend 🤣🤣

[crimson needle]

Ch. 10, about 90% in: || oh what's this underground room||

[small galleon]

Ch. 10, about
90% in: || oh what's
this underground room||

- Alex🌻

[crimson needle]

I finished this. Moving to the other thread.

[edgy current]

My friend is going to gift me this for my birthday as soon as she gets her salary

[nocturne haven]

Okey im starting this since it seems like a quick and an interesting read

and i need a break from a diff book anyways 😉

My copy has no chapters sooo this will be fun

[median walrus]

About 65% in.
|| I find it particularly interesting that Anthea is worried about the MC surviving and being “alone”.
Although she was surrounded by 39 woman since the beginning (or fewer as time goes by), the MC experienced loneliness on so many other levels, never being able to fit in, relate to the “real world experiences”, etc.
I wonder how she will experience the world after everyone has passed.||

A few moments later…
|| realising that what I spent 8 minutes trying to articulate is exactly what the MC describes in the following page ||

[nocturne haven]

somewhere early in the book ||That is how things should be,’ she insisted.
‘Why?’|| i am liking this so far, def should check what this book is about but interesting set up

[mild turret]

Picking the book up from my library tomorrow

[median walrus]

About 85% in.
||After finding the bodies in the bus and going through their stuff, she still folds and places things neatly as if someone can find them. This has kind of been a pattern throughout the book - all the woman were still very “proper”.||

[median walrus]

Done!

[earnest nebula]

I am going to start listening today!

[dusky sandal]

I will start today aswell :)

[earnest coral]

I don't think I'll be able to read it unfortunately , too many things to care of and still have to finish many on-going reads.

[heavy mountain]

Can hopefully start this tomorrow!

[eager aurora]

I finally bought the book on my kindle. Hoping to finish my current reads and then start it in a couple days!

[ornate umbra]

Enjoy! I think it's something you might like!

[dusky sandal]

page 38/188
|| I like the prose. And the setting feels unique. Curious to see if we get more answers on why these women are in the cage. The life of the narrator seems to have changed by the time she writes her account. ||

[dusky sandal]

More thoughts up to this point:
|| When she talks about the young guard, and how she watches him, and he watches her, this is the first time she talks about the way she looks.
Made me think about something I read in another book (sadly cannot remember which one) which said that women look at themselves the way other people look at them, mostly men (a binary view.. anyway). That resonated with me, and what it felt like to become aware of what I look like in the context of what others may think about me.
Not saying thats true for everyone or that men dont feel that way. It just feels like women are taught a lot more to please others. ||

[quartz perch]

I am going to be listening to the book tomorrow or Thursday

[dusky sandal]

p 96/188 55%
|| them finding everyone else dead is pretty grim. I also wonder what happened to them, what was the plan for them?, what happened to the guards, where are they?
And while reading, I wondered if I would recognize if I was on earth, without a clock. I only know a few constellations and of course how big the sun is and what the moon looks like, but other than that.. 🤷
Also impressive that, up to this point, 40 people managed to work on one plan together and they stay together. I wonder if something might happen within the group. ||

[nocturne haven]

p 58/185 so 30% ish, the version on goodreads is longer..
|| i am wondering what has happened for them to resort to this living situation.. it definately quite unusual but maybe, its something psychological, experimental.. like the truman show sort of.. I loke how our main character is slowly trying to think things out, even tho they are in a situation thats quite impossible to give many answers, shes working her brain and finding a way. Im intrigued to see where that ends up taking her.. I just dont understand the whole no touching and the rules.. its so weird||

I have to sayi like books with chapters, reading like this feels like its never ending and there are no breaks

[nocturne haven]

p 72 ish ||Since then, I’ve been back down hundreds of times – that is one of the few things I haven’t counted – and each time it is just as unpleasant, as if I were walking into a trap that could close any minute. When I was alone, I got into the habit of blocking the door of the cabin with a few stones: ||

||do they stay then or...?|| im confused a lil

[nocturne haven]

p85 so they are just gonna ||stay close to the cabin and then probably move back in? Thats all??||

[nocturne haven]

oop i think i spoiled myself

[slow flicker]

Starting this!

[nocturne haven]

p98 this makes no sense... ||We walked for two years, advancing in small stages, and then we decided we’d have to stop|| is there at all an explanation? Maybe this is all ||an illusion shes|| creating or smt.. I just dont understand at all

[median walrus]

Nooo!!! I’m sorry, I’ll add page references next time

[nocturne haven]

noo its alright

made me wanna keep reading to see what happened

[nocturne haven]

p150 nearly done and cant put this down ||THERES A BUS????||

[median walrus]

Totally relate to this feeling

[nocturne haven]

p165 ||I was on the top step of a very narrow spiral staircase that was unlit|| i had a feeling theres ||a way close by but hidden in some way|| maybe theres more of ||these paths|| but they never noticed them

[dusky sandal]

Finished. Huh. Time to collect my thoughts, see you in the finished-channel

[small galleon]

Finished. Huh. Time to
collect my thoughts, see you in
the finished-channel

- pauliney_

[vivid oyster]

I dnfed it, not really my scene

[devout nova]

starting this tonight!

intro: yet another introduction that seems to just be a synopsis and analysis of the entire book spoiling the plot, etc. gonna skip it

[devout nova]

(my story started at 5%)

14%: || you would think that they would figure the secret can't be all that big of a deal given they can't actually hide anything from each other except their own thoughts.

also, no one pointed out that it is unfair of them to demand a secret when they keep secrets from the mc? ||

[devout nova]

33%: || we are a bit like the women trying to figure out how to count time without a clock: we're using these arbitrary percentages that don't mean anything and hoping they're close enough to not spoil each others' enjoyment ||

[slow flicker]

I'm about ~50% in: ||The women have just found the other bunker with the dead women. I'm so curious if there's going to be an explanation on what this was all for, but I'm suspecting this isn't that sort of book ||

[devout nova]

53%: || not discussing much because im finding the story engrossing and fascinating. the scale of it is bizarre... if they find a bunker roughly once every 30 days all over the countryside, that's a huge network... and what was supporting everything? ||

[devout nova]

70%: || it's crazy to me that they decided to stop searching and she waited for them to all die. i hope she continues searching now when she's alone. ||

[devout nova]

yeah i think this was intentional and adds to the reading experience imo. i really like it

[devout nova]

84%: || i am thinking that the guards must have had vehicles parked near the surface of the cabins/bunkers when the alarm went off and they fled. that's the only thing i can think of that would explain the complete disappearance of the guards from the area. ||

[devout nova]

bruh. i finished.

[crimson needle]

curious

[devout nova]

movin to other thread

[eager aurora]

I've finished. Once I picked it up I could not put it down.

[heavy mountain]

finally starrting this !!

[heavy mountain]

19%
|| I’m really enjoying this book so far, we have a lot of love interest going on here I find this very intriguing I can’t stop reading it 🤣😭||

[heavy mountain]

33%
|| Ifind it fascinating considering what therre going through being locked up they can easily do math tell the time whenever their next food comes theystill find a wayto have fun||

[heavy mountain]

40%
|| this scene seems so intense them escaping the bunker being in middle of nowhere can be stressful without no guards in sight||

|| there’s now a slaughterhouse??!😭||

[heavy mountain]

56%
|| I feel so bad for Mary Jane suffering that bad with her stomach pains 😭||

[heavy mountain]

74%
|| omg now’s Laura is dead?😵 😭||

[heavy mountain]

i finisheed!!!

₊꒰ ⊹ ࣪—˚Final thoughts

⥼~-✰-~⥽ ☽ ˚•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙˚＊☾ ⥼~-✰-~⥽

╭⊹ 𐙚 ₊ ° ⊹ ♡
This book was just so beautifully written this is my first time reading something like this and has the best time 😭
||The way it was described throughout the war how women survived and being crucially ill was just breathtaking and sad seeing it.||

||In the story is about an underground bunker where 39 women and a young girl who are all imprisoned in a cage wanting to escape in the outside world but can be quite dangerous. ||

||I find it quiet eerie and sad how the women are trapped in the bunker with having no life information from the guards have limit time of food to eat. A lot of them does suffer alot with the loss of friends in the bunker when there sick which I find really traumatic for them to witness. ||

||I found this book really shocking in some scenes how gruesome the deaths can be . I love that the author bought this story as it helped the women to have hope of escapism||.

||I would for sure read trigger warnings for this book as it can contain

• war
• loss of friendships + family
• sexual nature||
  But other than that it was such a beautiful book I could not put this one down.

⋆⭒˚.⋆🍁 ⋆⭒˚.⋆⋆⭒˚.⋆🍁 ⋆⭒˚.⋆⋆⭒˚.⋆🍁 ⋆⭒˚.⋆⋆⭒˚.⋆🍁 ⋆⭒˚.⋆⋆⭒˚.⋆🍁 ⋆⭒˚.⋆⋆⭒˚.⋆🍁 ⋆⭒˚.⋆⋆⭒˚.⋆🍁 ⋆⭒˚.

i gave it 4 stars!!

[oblique sentinel]

Going to start today! All the goodreads reviews are so promising! ❤️

[thorny cedar]

Waiting for either a digital or physical copy at the library (have reserved both) but also both the physical and digital copies are fully borrowed and have a person ahead of me waiting for them rip

[sacred gull]

Pg. 104 ||I'm reading but I'm not sure how engaged I am. Like, we know that she doesn't encounter other people, and I don't think she ever finds out what happened in the disaster. The book is mostly vibes, which is nice, but I'm not gripped by it. (I wasn't gripped by my last book either, maybe that's why I'm griping) ||

[crimson needle]

I felt the same.

[slow flicker]

Finished!

[past arrow]

Just starting right now. Wow, there are no chapter breaks? It looks like there aren't even any line breaks 😮

I'm on 14%, ||the part where she wants to know about periods and virginity and no one will tell her because they didn't see why she would need to know if it was knowledge she wasn't going to use, and I'm like, blasphemy!! ||

[past arrow]

34% : ||So many interesting things to think about, paradoxical and contradictory, some of them, but I love the idea of having personal power even when you don't have physical power. I love that the MC is doing things within her control, and developing survival skills that are relevant to their situation. I also think that it's so sad that none of them are allowed to touch each other, not even for comfort or Idk, not even for tending to wounds? Of the whip in the early days? ||

[past arrow]

Omg that's a great point! ||The fact that there are no chapters and breaks, and nothing to mark any kind of separation! I didn't even think of that! 🤯 ||

[past arrow]

42% : ||Okay, so now they're free (but kinda in another prison because it doesn't look like they're going anywhere), and the guards are gone. It looks like nothing came out of her staring at the guard at this point, so I'm wondering if later in the story she's going to meet him again. I need that resolution! Also, apparently the MC doesn't have a name? Or did I just miss it?||

[devout nova]

|| she is nameless and they refer to her as "the child" ||

[past arrow]

63% : ||Walking for two years! And longer! And never finding anyone else alive. They got so lucky that they were released. It looks like no one else imprisoned in those bunkers were. Not so far anyway. I wonder if we'll ever get any answers or if the MC will truly be the last one and then just die without answers||

[past arrow]

Finished. Wow ||not sure what to feel about the ending. It's so sad and yet so apt. It's so dissatisfying because we don't get any answers and yet so satisfying to the feels as a properly fitting ending to a poignant story. It makes me uncomfortable in a good way. It makes me wonder all the whatifs and whys... I'm shooketh ||

[outer lotus]

Starting this now 🫡

11% ||Only knowing a bunker as your home must e mostly terrifying but at the same time if you don't know any different then you don't really have anything to compare it to||

||She's definitely not missing out on anything by not getting periods but I also understand why she feels like she might be if everyone else around her has them||

17% ||Tbh I'm surprised she's not more curious about why she/the other women were taken or ended up in the bunker in the first place||

19% ||If you live with the same people in the same environment day in, day out with no means of escape then I'm not surprised that you'd run out of things to say to each other||

[outer lotus]

20% ||Okay she's a little more curious now.||

24% ||It's such a dire situation if they aren't allowed to touch, don't want to dwell on their memories and don't think they'll ever escaped. They're just trapped there forever until they die. It must be awful to live in that place with no hope, no purpose, and no idea why you were even unfortunately chosen and taken in the first place||

32% ||Measuring time by her heart beats is pretty ingenius considering she has no other way to do it and no real concept of time up to now.||

37% ||Getting out then seemed way too simple||

47% ||I still don't get so much of the motivations for taking them in the first place and how they kept them hidden for so long. 40 women for over a decade and no one suspected a thing? Keeping them constantly drugged, fed, the lighting and heating for them. It should have been a major operation.||

51% ||Is that an implication that the women are together? Happy for them if they are||

59% ||They've been out for 7 years already and haven't really encountered anyone else? omg what went down whilst they were in the bunker?||

[outer lotus]

67% ||I'm almost glad that she's capable of killing them when they're in pain like that because she's saving them so much more pain in the future||

||Isn't it sad though that they managed to escape but had nothing to escape to||

74% ||It's so sad that Laura has essentially given up but after losing Alice and having nothing else other than just surviving, I get it.||

[outer lotus]

83% ||I wish we knew more about how the world they live in came to be like that because how did 20+ people on a bus just die like that?||

[outer lotus]

97% ||Black clot with yellow filaments? that does not sound healthy at all||

||Wait, she thinks her womb is literally rotting? God that sounds horrendous||

Finished! Moving over to the other thread

[crimson pulsar]

Im finding it really hard to discuss this book due to the lack of chapters

Around 25%
||Overall, its very introspective, and very deep in its thoughts, but I dont know why Im not entirely sure I cant think of much when reading it, just tryna see where its going||

[crimson pulsar]

37% End of some chapter
||Theres kind of a beautiful imagery that the MC loses track of time, considering her way of counting time is through her heartbeat, so essentially, her losing track of time basically means that her heart is racing||

[crimson pulsar]

38%
||LOL the coming out of the cabin is supposed to be dramatic but I can't get the opening tune of Kimmy Schmidt out of my head||

[quartz perch]

I started yesterday.

6%
|| Oh my goodness that start was so good!!! ||

[quartz perch]

29%
|| This is getting so good! They are trying to escape it is getting good.||

[quartz perch]

40% || when I started this I was thinking about stopping because I didn’t like to start but then I decided to continue and I am so happy I did that I am really enjoying it! ||

[hazy harbor]

Sorry I've tried reading it but I'm stuck lol

[loud rock]

im starting this now

[loud rock]

page 1 ||i learned a new word today "Laudable" its rare for me nowadays to come across english words that i have never heard before||

[devout nova]

how are you stuck? what are you stuck on?

[hazy harbor]

I mean I don't wanna continue,sorry it's my fault.I'll be back in october

[glad acorn]

This book is not arriving

[outer lotus]

[pure mango]

im starting this why does no book seem to have chapters these days

[surreal radish]

Started this last night and I’m 24% into the book. It’s a lot different than I expected ||more fluid and narrative I guess? It’s hard to put myself in the MC’s place, but the writing makes it really easy to identify with her mindset. I’m wondering if we’ll find out why they’re there or not||

[surreal radish]

I actually really like it in this case, because it matches the mood of like interminable confinement and the monotony of the days all running together

[surreal radish]

45% in and ||they just found the other women who were still locked in their cage when the siren happened and omg I didn’t think this book was going to be sunshine and roses but the trauma is really taking me aback for some reason. That’s just the most horrible thing I can think of. wtf is going on?!?||

[loud rock]

Page 17/188
|| Okay so there are 40 women living there, then the odds of atleast two of them being queer pretty high||

[quartz perch]

55%
|| AHHHH! Some of the women are together!!! It is so cute. I am liking this book more and more.||

[surreal radish]

Would never have thought to describe this book as cute

[glad acorn]

Update. 1 week wait

[loud rock]

Page 35/188
||Why don't they set up a counting system one day where they count ten minutes then switch and so on. Its not like they dont have the time to do it||

[loud rock]

Page 57/188
||Since there is a break anyways then why not put in a part ||

[fading glacier]

I have begun

[loud rock]

Page 82/188
||why aren't they more worried about what made the guards leave in such a rush? ||

[mild turret]

starting this now!

[mild turret]

16% ||the setting is already so good, but I definitely wasn't expecting this rivalry between the main character and the other women||

[mild turret]

28% ||It must be so overwhelming to not know how much time passes and whether you're living in a 24-hour day or not||

[mild turret]

43% ||So now they are free. But I wonder how are going to do anything about it if they are so far away from anywhere. Also, I can't wait to get an explanation for everything||

[mild turret]

52% ||so there are more women in the same situation... I think we're still on planet Earth, but I can't think of any reason that led to this||

53% ||wait what, now men too?||

[mild turret]

65% ||it's quite sad to think that most of these women will die without knowing what or why it all happened||

[mild turret]

74% ||I'm so excited for her to explore more! I hope we get an explanation of what happened, but I'm not so sure we'll get it anymore...||

[heavy mountain]

i started this during my lecture

[vast cradle]

Starting this one

[glad acorn]

Finnaly got my book for pickup

[heavy mountain]

hello i will continue this from tomorrow

[clear grove]

We have a few more days before the end of the month, which is still plenty time to read the BOTM if you haven't already!

[fading glacier]

86/188
||I really want to like this book but I'm just so bored. ||

[heavy mountain]

im excited for this one as well as the next one

[mild turret]

Finished this yesterday but forgot to post my thoughts. I'll post them on the other thread

[regal jasper]

I’ve started this now!
The introduction kinda feels a little spoilery but like helps set the tone for someone like me who hasn’t read the blurb and has no idea what I’m getting into

7%
||The writing’s very flowy and like it’s just going on so I feel like I won’t be commenting much through this read but I’m liking it. I like that it’s first person POV and there’s a bit of confusion too but a lot of relatability as well. The description of grief and how the MC’s coping feels too real||

||> “But I didn’t believe them: they nearly all menstruated, and how can you feel privileged not to have something that everyone else has? I felt they were deceiving me.”||
||I want to say ‘if only you knew’ but like I feel awful sad for her feeling ‘left out’ from a shared experience ||

[regal jasper]

35%
||It’s all so bleak and dystopian so far. MC seems quite smart for someone who’s never experienced the ‘real’ world, like almost impossibly so. It’s turning to be quite a bingeable read||

[quartz perch]

Finished!!

[clear grove]

awesome Jilli! You can share final thoughts here. You dont'have to use spoilers in that thread https://discord.com/channels/811077227449286667/1277664957571530765

[crimson pulsar]

Wait the final day for this is the 29th

Aaaah

I can't believe I still haven't finished this

It was supposed to be a small read

[clear grove]

no it's the 30th. I'll do the points on 1st of october 😄

you have the entirety of september

[fading glacier]

I'm finishing this TONIGHT, I've only got 20 pages left
||Thank God||

[crimson pulsar]

60%
Ive always felt like Lord of the Flies was kinda misrepresented, ||its kinda interesting to see another take on how people would behave if civilization collapsed and you kinda had to live on a same group kidna thing. Ill be honest Im not entirely sure how they are dealing with the food situation but Im reading on||

[fading glacier]

Man I'm absolutely an outlier here I fear
I'm gonna head to the finished thread.

[crimson pulsar]

What kind of outlier

Like not liking the book?

[fading glacier]

Yes lmao

[crimson needle]

It wasn't for me tbh but I understand where the appeal was... I think

[thorny cedar]

43/113 pages in and I'm solidly... hm...

[thorny cedar]

74/113 pages in, am liking it more but not sure if it's a book I'm enjoying much hard to describe my opinion/thoughts on it

[pure mango]

my copy has chapter breaks so im gonna be using those to write my thoughts because i don’t want to do the math
chapter 1
||this is really interesting. 40 women are trapped in a cage, not allowed to touch, but they’re provided all necessary facilities to survive. the mc is a teenager and the only one beginning to question their situation or the only one to show any curiosity for it. it’s sad that she doesn’t know how to do anything much except think. what major event ||

[pure mango]

chapter 2
||well this got very heavy very fast they were slowly losing hope over the course of 13 years, and their lives had no purpose. from one small prison to a greater prison. i felt so sad reading about them getting more lifeless with the pages and having nothing to do all day long made me glad im living my life and not having anything to live for. what is the mc going to do now? all alone, maybe find someone? but the perspective seems to be from the mc in the future, where she says she has no one to talk to, so im assuming she’s going to live out the rest of her days alone. welp that’s going to be hard to read about ||

this book is so different from what i had expected

[pure mango]

chapter 3
||damnnnn that was a very heavy read. in the end, she did die alone. she found a nice house atleast. i think the book on aeronautics proves that they’re not on earth, and maybe there were gadgets or electronic devices in that bunker she could’ve used to entertain herself, but she died alone and never knowing answers to any of the questions. im not overly curious about the world since i think the intrigue is part of what i like about the story. ||

took me so long to get into this book but when i finally started to read it took me less than 3 hours

[heavy mountain]

okay i was reading yesterday

and i still got a hundred pages left

i think i only read like 38 pages ||40 women in a cage basement thingy not been provided any sanitary napkins was just ugh, it was so sad they had to use other stuff to take care of their menstrual hygiene. crazy and fortunate the narrator does not have periods. what do they even mean the women cannot touch each other???????? i find the narrator to be very smart and i like that. i hope they start their civil disobedience and get out of there||

[heavy mountain]

|| lol i agree with that but at the same time i kinda relate with her||

[heavy mountain]

||agreeeed ||

[glad acorn]

I ACSIDENTLY DELIVERED THE BOOK. And I cant get it back untill 5 mounths ish

[heavy mountain]

man i will finish this today

even if i have to stay up all night

[devout nova]

you have at least 1 more day i think

[heavy mountain]

yeah but i really need to get this over with and start another book. if i leave things for the next day or sm, i procrastinate a lot

[heavy mountain]

i couldnt read yesterday

I WILL READ THIS TODAY

and finsih

[loud rock]

same

[heavy mountain]

man

[heavy mountain]

im staying up tonight

[heavy mountain]

continuing from where i left off

[crimson pulsar]

82%
||I really hope the narrator isn't a robot||

[heavy mountain]

43%
||okg you guys WHERE ARE THE GUARDS||

[loud rock]

page 100
||Does anyone have a theory on what actually killed Mary-Jane?||

[devout nova]

|| which one was mary-jane again? ||

[loud rock]

page 105
||i really really hate fake shit about the hymen in media it gives me the same kinda ick as when they go poisonous snake ||

[regal jasper]

||Mary-Jane hangs herself as far as I recall||

[regal jasper]

ooooh yes! I was annoyed until I found out how old this book is

[loud rock]

||The one that suddenly started getting stomach cramps and bleeding out of "i assume" her vagina||

[devout nova]

ohh || i believe it is implied she has some form of cancer, but idk ||

[loud rock]

oh i could have phrased that better sorry ||What that pained her to the degree that she killed herself||

[regal jasper]

I have finished the book btw! I’ll move to the other thread but will return back here tomorrow to share some of my annotations

[heavy mountain]

50%
||ohmygod THE DEAD WOMEN||

||that is so sad||

[loud rock]

that was my guess too

[regal jasper]

Okay, I ||believe she just couldn’t take the pains anymore. It’s implied that she’s got some sort of cancer (of the sexual organs) and she gives up and hangs herself up when the others are asleep or something ||

[loud rock]

yeah i know but its such a stupid myth that gets perpetuated even now

[regal jasper]

It issss
I feel so frustrated whenever it’s brought up

[heavy mountain]

53:|| i liked dorothy omg||

i dont like this book not having any chapters

||naur mary jane ohmygod||

||this seems to me like early humans learning everything on their own imagine imprisoning people to the extent they forget everything about the world ||

56: ||i feel like they are all just going to die like this in their built homes||

||why do i feel like this is a “and then i woke up” ending story😭😭😭😭😭||

[small galleon]

||why do i feel like
this is a “and then i woke
up” ending story😭😭😭😭😭||

- aye shall study [09/20]

[heavy mountain]

63:||damnnnn 13 years later||

||ohmygod having to kill someone is soooo bad ||

68:||NAUR i loved anthea the most ||

[fresh bear]

halfway through chapter 3 and this book is giving me Blindness and Maze Runner vibes

so far it's very different from what was stated in the introduction.

[crimson pulsar]

I'm done. Gonna read everyone's thoughts now

[loud rock]

177
||What is white coffee? ||

im finally done

[fresh bear]

i finished it idk what to make of this. i was so sad by the end and suddenly the audiobook credits started rolling 😭

it's divided into 11 chapters on audible with an introduction by the book narrator.
chapter 1
||her maladaptive daydreaming sessions are kinda hilarious to me. in a sense I found her naivety
and curiosity amusing. ||
|| i dont understand how 3-6 guards were all keenly able to overwatch a group of 39 adult women... they never speak to one other. i find it hard to digest that in 12 years of imprisonment they never staged a rebellion?? ||

chapter 2
||i don't really empathise with the way the narrator is so unfeeling but I empathise with the women in the room. my grandma and I had not much in common due to a huge age and cultural differences but talking about inconsequential thing or mundane stuff forged a bond. so the women talking about food preparation wasn't the most stupid thing ever even though it was useless and reminded that they had no choice/ power over their own decisions||

chapter 2 || 12 years being deprived of human touch. defecating in front of everyone. no sanitary products... this is insaneeee to even imagine||

chapter 5 || this is surely a different planet. there's so many unanswered questions. there were more prisoners ||

chapter 6
|| walked for TWO YEARS ||
|| Oh no Dorothi and Mary Jane :((( ig this is how it'll end for most of them. they're walking for 2 years and havent found anyone alive. ||

chapter 7
||oh my god this is so bleak ||

chapter 8
|| her (un)feelings and dissociative behaviour is hard to empathise with. first I thought she was heartless to kill them so easily. but then when she was unable to kill a healthy woman I realised she was just being merciful. ||

the book title appeared

the last two chapters got ||my hopes up and then it got squashed so fast ||
chap 9 when she finds || the bus and book I thought it'd finally explain why everything happened. why were there prisoners, or underground rooms and guards, why always 40? what planet was this? but it turned out to be a manual of sorts :/// the curiousity and impatience was the only feelings I could share with the narrator. ||

chapter 10 || i thought she would find secret tunnels but it was just a very well stocked bunker. i wrote underground society in my notes but then towards the end of the chapter I had lost all hope as did the narrator 😦 ||

[crimson pulsar]

Honestly so impressive to literally start a book and finish it in one sitting

Oh wait these are thoughts after the work

[fresh bear]

no I wrote these in audible app itself while reading and posted them here after i finished it. i read it in one sitting

[heavy mountain]

continuing this

[heavy mountain]

75%
||kinda happy to know she is alone now and she could work so much better alone. but also sad that she had to see everyone die||

[clear grove]

For those still reading, I'm going to be adding points a little after <t:1727784000:f> just so everyone's been able to have all of september to read this book. Considering the length of the book, some of you might be able to finish it today still 💪

[heavy mountain]

two more pages

i finished

||aww man i really hoped the mc could escape and find other people and tell them. really hope someone found her and the other cabins and prisoners ||

||i was so excited when she found the bus i thought she would actually be able to flee||

[vast cradle]

Starting this again

35% || The mc is pretty naive yet witty in her own way. I love how curious she is but almost 12 years inside and they didn't tried to get out. The setting is good dystopian with strong women, this reminds me of The Handmaids Tale ||

[vast cradle]

47% || 2 years had passed yet no improvements. This looks like an experiment in space not on earth. I can't wait to find out more. And a group of men just like them. Hmmm ||

[vast cradle]

|| She hang herself. ||

[rare sleet]

@left atlas excuse the ping, but I wanted to let you know that I've started this and am happy to chat about it in here if you want

[left atlas]

Yes, thank you! I unconsciously started the audiobook a couple days ago by accident I think about 10 pages in and finding it quite interesting!

Just realized there's no chapters so I'll do my best to mark by pages (I have the Transit Books publication/red boarder version!)

[ornate umbra]

I remember liking this one a lot! Enjoy

[rare sleet]

I've noticed the lack of chapters also! I'm on page 36/173 I think? I like how logically the plot progresses so far.

[rare sleet]

I ended up kind of just hanging out and reading this in one day and I really enjoyed it

[devout nova]

what'd you think of it

[rare sleet]

I liked that we ||never got an answer to the mystery of the world. I like the way she left bread crumbs for the reader to try to piece together, but in the end stuck with telling the story of her protagonist, which has a narrower scope but is deeply human and well executed.||

Like, I'm extremely curious about what happened in the world, but I really admire Harpman's restraint in sticking to the story she set out to tell

[devout nova]

did you check out https://discord.com/channels/811077227449286667/1277664957571530765 also?

[rare sleet]

Not yet!

But it'll be fun to see if people vibed with this book

[devout nova]

yea

[oblique sentinel]

Ooh I finally finished this read as well

||I completely understand the point of the book but this book literally took me ages to finish cause some points were so dry to read. I really never read anything like this before so it scores super high for that aspect but when she got alone after everyone died, boy i was bored. I wanted to look up a summary so I could end it. ||

||I recognize that is probably a me problem. I do think the book is very beautifully written but it failed to engage me at times :(||

[velvet wedge]

I read this in October! My final thoughts!

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman The human ability ||to persevere through trauma in order to survive is portrayed powerfully in this bleak dystopian tale. The full weight of horrific circumstances often isn't felt until long after they've been escaped, making this account compelling since the main character recognizes the intensity of her captivity but is unable to feel it fully due to being a child and knowing no other life outside of the prison she grew up in.||