Although I have yet to read The Handmaid’s Tale (despite owning it), I Who Have Never Known Men always seems to appear alongside Atwood’s dystopian gender-focused novel as a comparable work.
Harpman’s relatively short novel follows a young girl who is locked up in a ‘bunker’ of sorts with thirty-nine other females, kept in place by armed men. She lacks a name or any memories, all she knows is her current hellish situation.
From what I see online, I presume she eventually experiences freedom, but now has to grapple with the concept of not being caged up and continuously watched. This concept nicely toys with the concept of freedom, flipping it from the expected default to this new and daunting realm of change and unknown.
This book has been on my radar for some time, and seems to have many positive reviews online, so it’s definitely worth looking into if you enjoy a somewhat dystopian look at subjects like feminism and personal freedom.
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