Book Review: Blue Ticket by Sophie Mackintosh

RACHEL SOO THOW - 1 NOV 2021

After the success of The Water Cure (which I insist everyone needs to read first!), I ordered this immediately and I was not disappointed. In Blue Ticket, girls are given a white ticket or a blue ticket once their periods begin - white signifies marriage and children, whilst on the other hand, blue signifies an implant that grants them the freedom to a childless career. The toxicity and authoritarian nature of the novel is quickly made apparent and there is no doubt that with each page it becomes shrouded in tones of female physicality, motherhood, and representations in the capacity of violence. As Calla, a blue-ticket woman, realizes that she wants a baby so much that she will risk everything, her journey becomes one of life and death and a seemingly patriarchal world becomes clouded in darkness and cruelty. 

Mackintosh manages to create a world that is, in one word, irresistible. The narrative voice of Calla and her actions seem to challenge the heavy cliches we all experience being women; the political choices we make, our relationships with manipulative and violent men, the idea of motherhood and our resistance against things out of our control. Everyday we are poked and prodded with lesser-known ideas on what it means to be complacent and ritualistic in our decisions and yet the very possibilities that lie within our freedoms sometimes seem so innocent and true: 

“I loved the ritual, the film of the alcohol on my lips, the hairspray smell, how we lifted up each other’s hair to spritz perfume at the soft skin where the neck met the jaw. I even loved how sometimes I fell before we had reached the bars, kerb coming up to the sky, and my friends rallied around to pull me back up, a skinned knee maybe, my shins permanently bruised. No judgement. Bringing me back up to where I should be.”

There are moments of strength strewn throughout, and to be honest, the whole idea of the novel had me hooked. With patriarchy at the helm, this alternate world didn’t seem too far from the truth - various articles over the years have been written on the lasting impacts of childbirth and feelings of depersonalization felt by many mothers soon after. Mackintosh nails this. I mean hands down; this was a 5-star read that I finished in one day. And I’m still not over it. Here’s to another Mackintosh novel because I’m such a fan. 

“I remembered comfort in bodies - comfort in my own and others. Desire was a leveller. It put us on the same plane. Allowed forgetting and forgiveness.”

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