I Who Have Never Known Men, by Jacqueline Harpman

Readers say they love or hate this book. For me, I lean toward the love. This book is a deeply psychological story, and ultimately, it held my attention. 

The apocalyptic book begins with 40 women imprisoned in a cell (the "cage") with male guards who never speak to them, never acknowledge their existence.  39 of the 40 women remember their lives "before." Before the sirens, the violence that tore them from their homes, and the cage in which they now live. Only one was a child when captured, and she's the narrator. Drugs of some sort erased the narrator's memory of her parents and her former life, or she was too young to remember. All she knows are the 39 women, the cage, and the guards. 

There's definitely a Holocaust vibe. Such as with this quote: (the "She" refers to one of the 39 older women) - "She had lived out 25 years of her legitimate destiny, and then crazy events took place and she entered a world of absurdity, surrounded by strange women who were as confused as she was." 

The narrator is always called "the child" by the other women because they never knew her name, and they never bestow a new name on her. This sets the narrator - "the child" - farther apart from the 39 than she already is. She's the only one who doesn't remember "before." She doesn't remember music or books or birds or love. She's never known a life where men are builders, fathers, lovers, war mongers. That seems to be the point of this book -- What would a world without men look like? Would war cease to exist?

I think this book asks: If you're stripped of everything, are you still human? For example, the women must use a toilet in the middle of the cage, which strips them of their dignity. They're not allowed to touch each other - ever. There are no books. Their days and nights are artificial -- the cage is dimmed (not darkened) at odd intervals. The "nights" come at random, as though their body clocks are trying to be scrambled; their circadian rhythms erased.

Some context about the author is interesting. Harpman was born in Belgium; her family fled when the Nazis invaded. Post-WW2, her family returns to Belgium; later, she becomes a psychoanalyst. This book certainly feels like the work of a psychoanalyst.

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After the 40 women escape, due to a sudden and unknown circumstance, they find a foreign land outdoors. It's desolate and alien. They don't think they're on Earth. They set about exploring. It's a ton of work to exist. Then this quote grabbed me: "I think they were wondering why they were wearing themselves out trying to survive from day to day in this alien land where only the grave awaited them." -- This quote struck me because this is the view of a depressed person; someone who cannot see the meaning of their existence. I mean, isn't this the point of life? To find meaning in the day to day? Life surely isn't easy or fair, and sometimes it downright rips your heart out...and yet, we must continue to find meaning in our existence. Otherwise, we wither, we cease. 

This quote seems to apply to the entire book, both the cage scenario as well as the "above-ground" situation: "It is impossible to predict what might happen in a world where you don't know the rules."  -- This quote begs the question, If you are stripped of all you know, stripped of the very culture that makes you who you are, stripped of expectations and all the rules you thought applied to your life, what then?