I Who Have Never Known Men

“I cannot mourn for what I have not known.”

Now this is the kind of ennui I can get behind. Enough with the stories about male professors listlessly weighing whether to cheat on their wife. No, give me meandering dystopias about women who somehow (but perhaps also inevitably?) find resolve in themselves to continue to exist in a world separate from the community and hope we all take for granted.

Here, our nameless narrator lives in an underground bunker, behind bars. This makes it difficult to have any grasp on seasons or time of day. She cohabitates with 39 other women, but is a few decades younger than everyone else. Men guard the bunker, but do not speak to the women. The women have no privacy and are not permitted to touch one another.

You may be wondering, what is going on? The forty women have the same question. One day, they are suddenly, miraculously, granted an opportunity to find out. The narrator takes it and drags the other 39 along with her. They escape in disbelief.

I can see why this book may not be for everyone, especially if you are used to fast-paced thrillers leading up to shocking twists. But I find something so oddly comforting about depressing, oppressively quiet science fiction. How the biggest mysteries slide into total monotony. Why do I like it so much?!

Anyway. If you like [b:Station Eleven|20170404|Station Eleven|Emily St. John Mandel|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1680459872l/20170404.SX50.jpg|28098716], [b:The Wall|59468837|The Wall|Marlen Haushofer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1639132182l/59468837.SY75.jpg|573687], or [b:The High House|58438623|The High House|Jessie Greengrass|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1639315106l/58438623.SY75.jpg|86405057], you will likely enjoy this. Maybe also [b:Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind|60754889|Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind|Molly McGhee|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1682359454l/60754889.SY75.jpg|95796035] or [b:Convenience Store Woman|36739755|Convenience Store Woman|Sayaka Murata|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1680105376l/36739755.SX50.jpg|51852264].