Barnes & NobleUglies (Uglies Series #1) by Scott Westerfeld

Interesting

Weak Characterization

I am reading this book for a book club in English. To say the least, I hate this book. It may be partly because I had such high hopes for this book and when they were not fulfilled, I was disappointed. I read the plot and I was so excited! It sounded like a really great book. However, quite far into part one, my teacher asked me to take a personality test AS my character. I realized that all I knew about Tally was that she was sad because she wasn't a Pretty yet and that she didn't know what to do with Shay and Peris and the decision she had to make. This book lacked characterization on SO MANY LEVELS. If you are a low level reader, you may not notice this but I did. I was so very disapointed.

BUY IT

I finally finished this book it was such a roller-coaster but so good just go ahead and buy the whole series because I got mad when I realized I need to buy the other books to get the full story. Best book I've ever read worth every second.

Thrilling Introduction to Dystopian Fiction

Tally Youngblood is almost 16, misses her best friend who has already had his operation, Peris, and is eager to have her life-changing operation to become a pretty. However, the actions of a friend she made when pulling an “ugly trick”, could be the one thing that sends Tally spiraling. Uglies, a dystopian novel, tackles subjects like self-worth, beauty standards, and friendship, and we get to witness how the ideas that were ingrained in Tally’s mind cause her to betray her friend. As soon as a child is born, they are surrounded by pretty faces, and children would make different versions of what they wanted to look like after their 16th birthday surgery. The surgery that they would undergo on their 16th birthday would be to turn them into a pretty: they would have big eyes, a small nose, big lips, a symmetrical face, sharp jawlines, and perfect bodies. When we compare this to the beauty standards today, there isn’t much of a difference. In fact, most of the features listed in the description are what people nowadays would consider “perfect”, and this is what made the book so applicable to my own life. As someone who has struggled with body image and unhealthy eating patterns, the way Tally was able to casually say that she was ugly as if it was an undeniable fact reminded me of me and others who do the same thing. I will mention that the exposition of this book is quite long, but in the exposition, we get to see how imperfect Tally and Shay’s friendship really is. Tally, who had to sneak out just to see her best friend and dreamed of the day she would become a pretty, thought that uglies were exactly what their name implied, and she was appalled at the idea of an ugly being any other than ugly. On the other hand, Shay, who had many rebellious friends who never got their surgeries, thought that uglies weren’t always necessarily ugly, and she didn’t want to get her surgery just like her friends because she felt that she was already pretty. Having this contrast between opinions made the girls’ friendship tense and uncomfortable, and this would set the scene for the big decision Tally had to make. Ratting out Shay or staying ugly forever. Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies is a remarkable book, and I would recommend that readers getting into dystopian novels read because it’s not too out-there when compared to our real world.

Great First Book in Dystopian Series

I enjoyed this first book in the Uglies series. Tallie grew a lot in this book. I wasn’t sure if I would like her at first but I love her! I need the next one now! I would recommend this book!