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A review by archaicrobin
Blue Ticket by Sophie Mackintosh
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Why did everyone smoke in this book? Pregnant women, doctors, men, children, like what was that about?!! This is just one of the many questions I have about Blue Ticket.
Calla lives in a world where women are given tickets that determine whether they will live the life of a mother or the life of a single woman, free of children and marriage. Calla pulls a blue ticket at her lottery and is immediately given invasive birth control and sent on her way to live her child free life. Only problem is, soon Calla starts to yearn for the other life. The life of a white ticket woman with her children, her husband, and her cozy suburban life. Calla removes her own birth control, becomes pregnant, and suddenly is a fugitive on the run trying to save herself and her unborn child she is not allowed to have.
The premise for this one was so intriguing and I was so excited to read it but I wish the author had explained more. Why are women forced to pull these tickets? How did this society occur where women lack the ability to choose whether they have children? Why are girls made to wander and survive in the woods on their dangerous journey to “a city” after they pull blue tickets? Why do they have to leave their families and everything they’ve known when they get their period? Why do fathers walk around with their babies and collect tips?! Wtf is up with doctors in this? Why are they so powerful? Why do women get assigned a doctor and why is that doctor like a god?
There are just so many questions and none of them are ever answered. I feel that if the author had taken the time to really craft this world and at least try to explain how it came to be and why it is, the book would have been a lot stronger.
Obviously since I gave it 3 stars, I did still enjoy the book but I feel it could have been so much better. There were twists that I did not see coming in this one and the author’s prose is fantastic. Despite all the unknowns and the slow going in the middle of the novel I still enjoyed this sci fi read and felt it had some qualities worth giving it a try.
Calla lives in a world where women are given tickets that determine whether they will live the life of a mother or the life of a single woman, free of children and marriage. Calla pulls a blue ticket at her lottery and is immediately given invasive birth control and sent on her way to live her child free life. Only problem is, soon Calla starts to yearn for the other life. The life of a white ticket woman with her children, her husband, and her cozy suburban life. Calla removes her own birth control, becomes pregnant, and suddenly is a fugitive on the run trying to save herself and her unborn child she is not allowed to have.
The premise for this one was so intriguing and I was so excited to read it but I wish the author had explained more. Why are women forced to pull these tickets? How did this society occur where women lack the ability to choose whether they have children? Why are girls made to wander and survive in the woods on their dangerous journey to “a city” after they pull blue tickets? Why do they have to leave their families and everything they’ve known when they get their period? Why do fathers walk around with their babies and collect tips?! Wtf is up with doctors in this? Why are they so powerful? Why do women get assigned a doctor and why is that doctor like a god?
There are just so many questions and none of them are ever answered. I feel that if the author had taken the time to really craft this world and at least try to explain how it came to be and why it is, the book would have been a lot stronger.
Obviously since I gave it 3 stars, I did still enjoy the book but I feel it could have been so much better. There were twists that I did not see coming in this one and the author’s prose is fantastic. Despite all the unknowns and the slow going in the middle of the novel I still enjoyed this sci fi read and felt it had some qualities worth giving it a try.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny and Pregnancy