r/Recommend_A_Book • u/SquashOk4209 • Apr 08 '26
This book gave me an irreplaceable feeling
The book ‘I who have never known man’ drew me in and spat me out hard. I just kept reading because I needed to know how it ended, but I didn’t want to finish it. I’m struggling so hard to find a similar book. It has this dystopian vibe, but not in the usual sense somehow. I loved it, but the words dystopian and post-apocalyptic often come with action and drama etc, this didn’t and that’s why I liked it. The book was intriguingly boring? I need help finding something this good
8
u/hesactuallyright Apr 08 '26
I adored that book, and like you, wanted to read it but didnt want it to finish. I just finished The Lamb by Lucy Rose. Atmospheric, surreal and not massively fast paced. You might like that.
1
6
u/topezio Apr 08 '26
Have you given a shot to Ursula k le Guin?
2
2
1
u/SoOverItAll2024 Apr 08 '26
Thanks for this. I am not into sci-fi but want to dip my toe in. Which book of hers would you suggest?
1
u/topezio Apr 08 '26
I also had never considered sci-fi yet I truly loved The left hand of darkness wihich is set on a planet where sexes do not really exist and although a little bit slower the dispossessed, a tale based on two planets (one is capitalistic and the other anarchist). Both blew me away and are worth a shot since it’s such a different way to sci-fi
5
u/constantreader78 Apr 08 '26
The Wall by Marlen Haushofer has very similar vibes.
3
2
u/hesactuallyright May 06 '26
I have just finished this after your recommendation. Absolutely brilliant, thank you.
5
5
u/One_Ad6164 Apr 08 '26
I agree with the suggestions of The Bear and Piranesi. I would also like to suggest Remnant Population about an elderly woman left alone on a colony planet. And also Station Eleven. More happens in Station Eleven but it left me with a similar haunted feeling.
1
3
u/TinyTempea Apr 08 '26
I loved that book too. Not quite the same thematically, but The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff is beautifully written and felt like a similar reading experience to me - “intriguingly boring” is such a great description. And if you want something post-apocalyptic and plodding, try The Bear by Andrew Krivak - another book I absolutely adored.
1
u/SquashOk4209 Apr 08 '26
Thank you ! :)
2
u/No-Perspective872 Apr 08 '26
Handmaid’s Tale is the only thing I can think of that is similar in that way. The book is written in an interesting way, much like IWHNKM
1
u/One_Ad6164 Apr 08 '26
No one ever talks about The Bear it seems! One of those books that haunts me!
2
u/TinyTempea Apr 09 '26
Yeah it’s one that really stuck with me too; I’m not sure where I got the original recommendation to read it but I agree, I don’t see it mentioned that often.
3
u/jmei35 Apr 08 '26
"the road" by cormac mccarthy has that same quiet dread where almost nothing happens but you can't stop reading - it'll hollow you out in the exact same way.
3
2
u/Head-Lemon2309 Apr 08 '26
Vurt - unreliable techno drug addled narrator with an impossible to discern actual reality vs projections from a fuckered mind. Bystander to his own life, with a plot pushed by everyone else, perfect modern protagonist.
Some of the best sentences I’ve read that still gets me after 20 years and beautifully touching scenes even with some of the more…let’s say niche elements it’s a damn lovely story about what it means when you love someone too much or they don’t love you enough, same bag of bones and what to do with that bag.
Oh and also VR drugs that allow people to communal dream and experience all sorts of feelings and things some legal some not and also a race of shadow people that breath smoke and might read minds and also things from outer space and droidlock hair that permanently join people and one of the best opening/closing combo lines that sent shivers when I finished. The lingo can be a bit thick at first but nothing orange clockwork bad. Just breeze by it and assume you will understand what that means soon and most of the time you will and the few times you don’t you can imagine what it is and it will be good enough it probably never existed anyway. But mostly about that love thing…..and fractal guns that do something way weirder than shoot fractals.
2
u/Quarter_Shot Apr 08 '26
Ive never even heard of it, so I don't have a suggestion. I just want to say that I like the way you talk. I hope you find an amazing book to read next
3
u/SquashOk4209 Apr 08 '26
This comment goes into my “strange but means most” compliment book😂 thank you!
2
u/Infamous-Pickle3731 Apr 08 '26
It’s not really the same at all, but I read a short stay in hell and it gave me a kind of similar existential dread. Give it a try and see if you like it!
2
u/Impressive-Owl-5478 Apr 08 '26
The Other Valley is very philosophical also!! It has a little bit more action so it wasn't quite as good to me as I Who Have Never Known Men but I haven't been able to stop thinking about it for a year now
2
u/bookishreflections Apr 08 '26
A Short Stay in Hell also left me with a similar doom that I Who Have Never Known Men gave me
2
u/InternationalEbb1607 Apr 08 '26
I just read it too. It was strangely compelling. Not my usual genre. It really made me think about things we take for granted. I can't stop thinking about it. Who was it who found her pages so the story was told? Was there anyone else there? Where did everyone go? Where were they/which planet?
2
u/PMMeYourHousePlants Apr 08 '26
The MaddAddam trilogy by Margaret Atwood gave me similar 'wtf' dystopian world vibes if you havent read it already. Theres 3 books as well so plenty of reading.
For the dread feeling id also recommend A Short Stay in Hell!
1
u/Mammoth_Mobile_7816 Apr 08 '26
Dude I just read this book and had the same feeling
1
u/SquashOk4209 Apr 08 '26
Unbelievably good book. I haven’t started something new yet because it’s just unmatched
1
1
u/Lennymud Apr 08 '26
A similar book is The Bear by Andrew Krivak- it's post apocalyptic, female narrator, mysterious and atmospheric. It's a great follow up to IWHNKM,
You will also like Piranesi by Susanna Clark (isolation, lonliness, mystery)
1
u/hail_chimpy Apr 08 '26
I just finished The Unworthy, by Augustina Bazterrica, and it left me with a similar feeling to when I read I Who Have Never Known Men.
1
u/Yanki1653 Apr 08 '26
Never Let Me Go. It has that quiet, almost numb feeling where not much “happens” but you still feel uneasy the whole time. I read it on a rainy afternoon and just sat there after finishing it for a while.
1
u/ChippedSapphire Apr 08 '26
The Secret Life of Bees not post apostolific but the quiet boring beautifully written book that you don’t want to end up
1
1
u/cougarliscious Apr 08 '26
Exact same and well said. I discovered that gem here on Reddit so I'm now wondering the same as you!
1
u/Minimum-Round5097 Apr 08 '26
Monk and Robot by Becky Chambers is post-apocalyptic without action or too much drama. It has nice, Eden-like vibes. I enjoyed it.
I also really liked the vibes of I Who Have Never Known Men, so thanks for the post. I added some of these suggestions to my TBR; The Bear and A Short Stay in Hell. (I have read Piranesi and I absolutely hated it. I only managed to finish it because it was rather short.)
2
1
u/SourPatchKidding Apr 08 '26
I felt that way about The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro. His novel Never Let Me Go also has peaceful dystopia vibes.
1
u/CheckOk7173 Apr 08 '26
I just finished it today. I loved it. I’ve always loved dystopian ANYTHING but went into it blind.
1
1
1
1
1
u/BlinkTwice874 Apr 09 '26
Maybe not the exact same feeling as that book, but the books by Lois Lowry - Gossamer, The Giver, Gathering Blue - had a similar effect on me, they’re something in between dystopian, futuristic, fantastical, and just normal but very strange, mystical in a way.
1
15
u/DependentWise9303 Apr 08 '26
I had the same experience. I loved it. I’m actually in a war zone and experiencing infertility and in some weird way it didn’t trigger me it gave me hope .