Wednesday, October 12, 2011

BOOK REVIEW: THE UGLIES by Scott Westerfield

by Scott Westerfield
Simon Pulse
425 pp.
Young Adult

SUMMARY:  
Tally Youngblood is about to turn 16. She yearns to join her friend Peris in Pretty Town where everyone is Pretty and everything is fun. But for now she's an Ugly, and she'll be an Ugly until her birthday when she gets the operation that will make her Pretty, too.  Then she meets Shay, a wild and carefree girl who doesn't want to be Pretty. Shay decides to run away and tries to convince Tally to come with her, but all Tally wants is to be Pretty. But then Special Circumstances tell her she cannot have the operation unless she helps them find Shay and the other Uglies that have run away. What choice does she have but to comply? But after spending some time in The Smoke among kids like her, kids are who are happy being who they are, Tally must make a choice: betray her friends or live as an Ugly for the rest of her life?

REVIEW:
I've had the entire Uglies series on my shelf for several years. My daughter read them all and loved them. I don't know what took me so long to pick it up. The Uglies is an engaging dystopian story about the dark side of being pretty and happy all the time. Mr. Westerfield is a master as creating a very vivid picture of this society without being heavy-handed in details.  The end is a real cliff hanger and I can't wait to pick up the sequel, Pretties. There are four books in all including Specials and Extras. Uglies is a must read for anyone who likes dystopian or science fiction books.

Rating:      4 out of 5 stars
Profanity: None
Violence:   Mild
Sex:           None

1 comment:

  1. I haven't read this book! I've heard the title but didn't realize it was dystopian. Thank you!

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