Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

36 reviews

lottiemort's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Murder, and Suicide attempt

amyford's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Confinement, Death, Suicide, Cancer, Dementia, and Suicidal thoughts

crybabybea's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This was like an episode of The Twilight Zone. You're dropped into a dystopian, post-apocalyptic setting with no explanation. The narrator is unreliable due to her complete ignorance, having grown up pretty much entirely in an underground bunker with no human contact except for her 39 fellow prisoners, under guard 24/7.  As the events progress, the reader gets more questions than answers, and just like The Twilight Zone, the ending leaves you with nothing but your own thoughts. Don't come into this book expecting crazy action or deep characterization.

It's a deceptively simple story with equally deceptively simple writing. This is the kind of book you can read over and over again and you will discover something new depending on where you are in your life at the time of reading. You can endlessly theorize about what might have happened or what could have gone differently. 

For me, I really liked the exploration of loneliness and isolation. Our main character is different from her cellmates because she has absolutely no memory of the outside world or a life before the bunker. She often remarks that she doesn't even feel human because her brain works so differently from the others. I really connected with this story because of it and it made me reflect and think deeply. I think anyone who has experienced isolation or loneliness of any kind would feel similarly.

I also just really liked the tone of this book. It was eerie, disquieting, uncomfortable. The author feeds us threads of hope that turn into a disconcerting uneasiness by the end of the story. It felt lonely and empty in a really immersive way. As well, I liked how it differed from typical post-apocalyptic media. There are dark moments, but the author doesn't resort to brutality and shock factor to try and question humanity. She shows glimmers of hope and light, and shows how people come together and care for each other and give each other what they can when all other hope is gone. She makes you question what makes humanity, not what breaks it.

Just a really great example of what speculative fiction can be and how it can make a reader think and feel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Death

Moderate: Cancer, Grief, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

mandareads222's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Confinement, and Cancer

Moderate: Grief, Suicide, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, and Infertility

Minor: Alcohol and Violence

phoevincent's review

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Deportation, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Genocide, Suicide, Confinement, Death, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, and Gore

morgan_gensler's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

Stunned. This will be a book I think about for a long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Grief, Death, Torture, and Abandonment

mjmiller_'s review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Gore, Excrement, Confinement, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Suicide attempt

henlovesbooks's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

I started this book last evening and finished it this morning. Though short, I was completely immersed in the narrative from beginning to end. I thoroughly enjoyed the writing style and loved the exploration of themes in womanhood, desperation, resiliency, friendship, life, loneliness and human nature overall. 

I thought the ending was both tragic and perfect for the storyline. I can see how this book may not be for everyone but it was right up my alley

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide attempt, and Confinement

evening's review

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Confinement

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Suicide, and Cancer

Minor: Blood

rizzi_anna's review

emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Suicide

Minor: Terminal illness and War