Uglies by Scott Westerfeld Series: Uglies #1
Published by Simon & Schuster (1.1.2005)
Genres: Dystopian, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Format: Paperback, 425 pages
Source: I own it
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Tally Youngblood is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait for the operation that turns everyone from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to party. But new friend Shay would rather hoverboard to "the Smoke" and be free. Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world and it isn't very pretty. The "Special Circumstances" authority Dr Cable offers Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.
My thoughts
I hated Tally. She dug herself into such a deep hole of her own lies and it really pissed me off. She knew what she was doing was wrong, yet she continued to do it. In keeping up the farce, she screwed things up. Royally. Every time she told a new lie I wanted to throttle her. As if being a compulsive liar wasn’t bad enough, she also made a move on her best friend’s crush. Yep, quality traits right there.
Speaking of best friend – I liked Shay. She actually saw the wrongness of the operation, while Tally was perfectly fine with looking and acting just like everyone else.
As for the love interest, I didn’t really care either way. David didn’t really inspire any emotion in me. I was very glad that the romance took a backseat to the action.
I would have like to be able to connect with the characters a little more.
This is one of my favorite series. It’s been a long time since I read it though. Great review!
I own this series in PDF, but haven’t read it. I want to, though because I have a younger cousin who has started to read them and I want to be able to discuss them with her. I have one comment/question though. You mention that the main character is ok with the procedure to make her pretty and that bothered you. While I understand that, at the same time, with what I know from our own society and from reading other dystopians wouldn’t that be understandable? Society is telling you day in and day out that you need this procedure, that you have to have this procedure. It’s hard to change your mindset to think that maybe that isn’t the right thing or that there are other options out there. I don’t know, just a thought, maybe I’ll think differently after I read the book.