If, for some reason during these terrible days -- of quarantine/social isolation, COVID-19, an economy in free-fall, violent protests, political unrest, murder and mayhem -- you want to read a novel that is seriously disturbing, depressing and hopeless, this is the book for you.
Set in a vague dystopian future in some unnamed country, here is another tale that involves the subjugation of women centered around control of their reproductive systems. At menarche, the young teens are taken to a center where they are required to take a ticket that will inform the rest of their lives. Blue = career and freedom while White = love, home, children/family. Calla, age 14, "felt no great fidelity to the concept of free will." She gets the Blue Ticket, puts it in the locket that had belonged to her dead mother, and is discharged from the center with only "a bottle of water, a compass and a sandwich." They are meant to make their own way alone to the place of their choice, a city, where they will figure out a career and do whatever else they want. They are not, however, allowed to get pregnant. Ever. The path cannot be changed and the decision was made.
As expected, Calla lives life large for about 10 years and then she decides that she wants -- must have -- the thing that has been denied to her. Motherhood. NO SPOILERS.
Let me just say that there is nothing uplifting within these pages filled with first person narrative and no dialogue. It's hard to discover any real emotion even though riddled with angst. Calla rebels, yes, but at what cost? It just made me angry to keep reading a book where, once again, it's only the women whose lives are proscribed while men are allowed freedom of choice. That world sounds like hell on earth but there's no mention of how things got this way. I had so many questions but got no answers. I wish I could say that I finished, shut the book, and will never think about this story again. I'd be lying. I'm sure this will haunt me and I can't say I liked it, but I think there's definitely a niche readership for this type of novel and I look forward to reading more reviews.
Thank you to Doubleday Books for this e-book ARC via Edelweiss for me to read and review. I am sure this would be a fantastic book club selection as there would be lots of lively discussion and debate.
This is a standalone and is not part of any series.
Genre - Dystopian, futuristic, reproductive control
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