Uglies
The first installment of Scott Westerfeld's New York Times bestselling and award-winning Uglies series--a global phenomenon that started the dystopian trend. Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. In just a few weeks she'll
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Community Reviews
Sometimes you need a light dystopian chick lit novel. This is fast and easy, and the story has all the basic things, but nothing particularly special or exciting to it. Tally lives in a world where at 16, you get extensive plastic surgery to be pretty. The young "ugly" kids and the "pretties" live separately. Tally finds out little by little that this isn't as utopian as it first appears, and then no spoilers but [adventure happens], [more adventure], and then as Tally embarks on [the third adventure], the book ends. So there you are.
"You have a huge, honkin' nose, your lips are as thin as angel hair pasta, and your eyes are *shudder* too close together. You're gross. Disgusting. Repulsive. But don't worry, we have surgery for that."
Normal reaction:
Reaction in this book:
Oh, I know! Tee hee tralala. I am disgusting, and I cannot wait until I turn 16 and can get this surgery so that I can look absolutely stunning like pretty much everyone else who is 16.
The book plows into this concept pretty quickly. Our main gal, Tally (is it terrible that I kept thinking of "tally wacker," a penis reference my dad uses? ANYWAY...), is anxious to turn 16 and become a "pretty." This means that she will get a surgery that will give her looks that are pleasing to the eye. Speaking of eyes, we are about beat over the head with the idea that "pretty" eyes are big and sweet. Like these:
Or like these:
She is close just sosoclose to being pretty. And then something happens. And then more stuff happens. I don't want to give anything away. I kept reading and hoping for a little more depth. I wanted more shock factor. I understand that this is YA, but if [b: Unwind|764347|Unwind (Unwind, #1)|Neal Shusterman|https:d.gr-assets.com/books/1297677706s/764347.jpg|750423] could make me shudder, why couldn't this one? Is the shock factor supposed to be in what the world has become in this dystopian one? I mean I get it...I understand how our world looks at "beauty" and what is considered to be "pretty." I also understand how we are wasteful with our resources (this was sprinkled in there as well as to why our former world no longer existed and why people were now using hoverboards and having rooms that speak to them). It's not shocking but thankfully it also avoids being preachy.
This book is good, and I did like it (hence three stars for "I liked it"). This book probably seemed a little more original when it came out 10 years ago. This book is definitely YA, and I had this (very frightening moment) when I thought to myself, "Am I just getting too old for YA?" I'm hoping it was just this book.
Normal reaction:
Reaction in this book:
Oh, I know! Tee hee tralala. I am disgusting, and I cannot wait until I turn 16 and can get this surgery so that I can look absolutely stunning like pretty much everyone else who is 16.
The book plows into this concept pretty quickly. Our main gal, Tally (is it terrible that I kept thinking of "tally wacker," a penis reference my dad uses? ANYWAY...), is anxious to turn 16 and become a "pretty." This means that she will get a surgery that will give her looks that are pleasing to the eye. Speaking of eyes, we are about beat over the head with the idea that "pretty" eyes are big and sweet. Like these:
Or like these:
She is close just sosoclose to being pretty. And then something happens. And then more stuff happens. I don't want to give anything away. I kept reading and hoping for a little more depth. I wanted more shock factor. I understand that this is YA, but if [b: Unwind|764347|Unwind (Unwind, #1)|Neal Shusterman|https:d.gr-assets.com/books/1297677706s/764347.jpg|750423] could make me shudder, why couldn't this one? Is the shock factor supposed to be in what the world has become in this dystopian one? I mean I get it...I understand how our world looks at "beauty" and what is considered to be "pretty." I also understand how we are wasteful with our resources (this was sprinkled in there as well as to why our former world no longer existed and why people were now using hoverboards and having rooms that speak to them). It's not shocking but thankfully it also avoids being preachy.
This book is good, and I did like it (hence three stars for "I liked it"). This book probably seemed a little more original when it came out 10 years ago. This book is definitely YA, and I had this (very frightening moment) when I thought to myself, "Am I just getting too old for YA?" I'm hoping it was just this book.
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