Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
Uglies: Book 1
Audience: Young Adult (some mature content)
Rating: A
Synopsis:
Tally Youngblood lives across the river from New Pretty Town. She can’t wait until she turns 16, because then she’ll get the operation to make her pretty and make perpetually happy. But then Tally meets a new friend, and Shay tells Tally that there are alternatives to the surgery. Before Tally can decide what she really wants, she becomes entangled in a battle between the world as she knows it, and the world as it used to be. This futuristic novel has a fantastic plot and an important message.
Chatter:
(Spoiler Alerts! ) Like most readers, I was immediately sucked into Tally’s vision of Pretty Town. She believes that becoming beautiful will be the best thing to ever happen to her, and her descriptions are very tempting.
I started to become suspicious when Peris, Tally’s supposed best friend, blows her off during a visit. I became still more suspicious when I learned that in Uglyville, they’re encouraged to give each other hurtful nicknames that call attention to physical flaws. I became increasingly suspicious as we learned that the pretties are given many more privileges and material goods, and that there are no conflicts in Pretty Town. Quite simply – it all became too good to be true.
Is the Smoke really that much better? It seems like there needs to be a happy medium between the two types of civilizations.
I’m not sure what I think of David. He seems rather fickle if he started pursuing Shay and then switched his affections to Tally so soon after she arrived. Also, since most of what he found appealing in Tally was the secrets she’s keeping from him about Special Circumstances, is this a valid foundation for a relationship?
Questions:
Who is the better heroine, Shay or Tally?
Who do you blame for the raid at Smoke?
Why do you think Tally’s city has such a problem with the Smoke?
Who is the better friend, Shay or Tally?
What is the best part of New Pretty Town? The Smoke?
Keep reading!
-Paige
Ezra Says:
I think the author does a great job of presenting a futuristic society without straying into unbelievable territory. The hoverboards & bungee jackets are an integral part of the story & it works…I didn’t spend time worrying about whether I believed that such things could exist. I think that Tally’s conflict & her struggle in deciding what to do is pretty believeable…which pretty much makes the story. I liked David as a character - he may come across as a bit fickle but I think that is what makes him real….as the only character in the story born outside of the “system” he is confident in his own world but unsure of himself when dealing with people from the cities. I related to Tally way more than I related to Shay. The raid was totally Tally’s fault - she should have come clean with David & his parents once her feelings towards the Smoke changed. Not sure why the Rangers were cool with the Smoke but Tally’s city had a vendetta against them…maybe because David’s parents were from that city. I think Shay was a better friend to Tally. There seem to be a lot of advantages to New Pretty City - but free will is crucial to us as humans & spiritual beings…if God wanted us to be robots or cattle he would have designed us that way. The Smoke seems to have issues of it’s own…I agree with Paige - can’t there be a happy medium? The main question I was left with after the book ended was “How is David going to respond to Tally as a Pretty?” Will he find her less interesting & desireable even after the lesions are gone & she is back to herself or will he find the operation to be an improvement? I mean…let’s be honest…changing the facial structure is messed up but if there was surgery that kept your body in perpetual perfect shape that would sound pretty appealing…I guess I’ll see if David agrees when I read book #2…
Red Sox Says:
I loved the book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lexi Says:
I really think that Shay is the better friend to Tally than Tally is to Shay, because during the middle of the book, Tally gives up Shay and all of the other Smokies to Special Circumstances, while Shay was always loyal to Tally.