Title: Uncategorical and gorgeously crafted
Product review: Recently translated, Harpman's disturbing existential novel recalls the more terrifying moments from Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" and the novels of Franz Kafka. "I Who Have Never Known Men" depicts a stark, room-sized cage in which a group of amnesiac women attempt a semblance of dignity while overseen by nameless, whip-wielding guards. How did they get here? What is going on? Harpman denies us answers. Even after the women manage a fluke escape, their freedom is ambiguous at best, and we can only watch as they wander an uncompromising landscape (that may or may not be Earth...) and ultimately succumb to exhaustion and death.That this is not a cheerful novel goes without saying. Its triumph is Harpman's unerring eye for the absurd and tragic. Above all, this is an engagingly strange book that refuses to pigeonhole itself into any specific sub-genre. I highly recommend this odd and uncategorical tale.
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