Uglies

     The book Uglies by Scott Westerfeld is a science fiction novel about a dystopian society whose goal is to make everyone equal. The way they do this is when you turn sixteen, you get a surgery that turns you into what the society calls a "pretty". This book follows main character Tally and her journey to become a pretty. After her best friend Paris becomes a pretty, Tally is more or less alone. She ends up sneaking from her dorm all the way into a different town, called New Pretty Town. While she is their, she finds Paris, but ends up getting into a lot of trouble, which leads to her meeting a new friend named Shay. Shay soon teaches Tally how to ride a hoverboard, and then tells her about a place called "Smoke". Smoke is a town where uglies, like Tally, can escape to if they don't want to be a pretty. Later that summer, Shay escapes to Smoke, leaving Tally behind. Tally ends up being told by the government to go after Shay, not for the purpose of finding her, but rather finding Smoke, which the government has been searching for for a while. Tally, after a long and dangerous journey, finds Smoke. However, the question remains, will she betray Shay and everyone in Smoke by giving up its location, or will she stay there and adapt to their less modern way of life?
     Overall, the book was okay. The book is split up into three main parts; Part I, Part II, and Part III. Part I is about Tally and her journey to trying to become pretty and her life back in Uglyville. Part II is about Smoke and the journey there. Talking about Part III would spoil the book, but it has to do more with pretties. In my opinion, Part I was not good. The author is an okay writer, but I felt that too much attention was spent on Tally wanting to become pretty and her wanting to see Paris. However, once Shay and the Smoke is introduced, the book gets better. It does a good job when making believable characters, even though the society seems far-fetched. There is one other thing about it that wasn't great, though. It was on the heftier side. At 406 pages, while it isn't huge, it isn't what one would call a light read. In conclusion, if you want a lengthy book with a dystopian society that follows a female protagonist on her journey to decide what her future holds and what the government hides, this is your book.


Aidan Greenberg
#40bookchallenge