Uglies (Uglies, #1) in The Alternative Worlds

May 05, 2008 Hirondelle (not getting notifications) rated it did not like it

Shelves: young-adult-and-middle-grade, not-my-cup-of-tea

I heard the concept of this series was inspired by a Ted Chiang short story I loved "Liking What You See" (then again, I have loved all of Chiang´s short stories). The inspiration seems totally superficial, what was thought provoking and deep in the short story is on Westerfeld´s series just a plot wheel.

I can not understand how somebody (i.e. Westerfeld) have the sense to read and love "Liking What You See" and then write something so banal and literal. You were missing the bloody point! The p ...more

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Jun 28, 2007 Wealhtheow rated it liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, ya

Set in a utupia that has done away with discord and ugliness. The main character is thrust into a situation that forces her to reexamine beauty and the lies upon which her society is built. Like all of Westerfeld's work, the main character is really interesting and the plot is fast-paced and well-crafted. ...more

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Sep 26, 2007 Jackie "the Librarian" rated it really liked it

Shelves: sciencefiction, youngadult

Uglies is teen SF, where everyone gets plastic surgery when they are 16 to become perfectly beautiful. Oh, and dumb as rocks. It's the perfect book for teens - addresing the importance of appearance, and how it trumps everything else.

Tally's best friend already turned 16, and is living in Prettytown (not making this up), partying every night. She can't wait for her turn, crashing the parties in disguise (she's still an Ugly kid, see). Tally can't wait!

Then she meets Shay, who tells her about a ...more

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Aug 10, 2009 Kara Babcock rated it liked it

Shelves: young-adult, own, post-apocalyptic, utopia-dystopia, science-fiction, 2010-read

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. With Uglies, Scott Westerfeld creates a creepy adolescent dystopia where "pretty" is decided by committee, and everyone at sixteen receives an operation to become pretty. Until then, one exists as an "ugly," good only for learning and playing pranks, banned from the parties and glitz of New Pretty Town. Of course, being a dystopia, there's more sinister workings afoot. Being pretty isn't all it's cracked up to be.

In many ways, Uglies reminds me of The Giver . It has the same type of a dystopi ...more

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Mar 10, 2011 Maree rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ebooks

Great story, can't wait to see what happens next!

I love how the book plays with the ideas of pretty and ugly. It actually reminds me a bit of the last section of Gulliver's Travels, where the Yahoos are grinning apes with their smiles described as grimaces. The uglies can only see and think of themselves as not being pretty, not being perfectly what's expected, and to them, that's enough to make them ugly, regardless of how the author actually describes them.

I also appreciated how they discussed ...more

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Apr 19, 2011 Thermopyle rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, ya, adventure, 2010

A well told adventure set in a future where the populace is contained in idyllic enclaves devoted to a luxuriant yet regimented lifestyle. This becomes a somewhat typical story of how the heroine learns more about the secrets behind those cities and how they work to subvert them. However, the story never lags and the use of cosmetic surgery to produce perfect faces and bodies (based on human evolution) adds a unique touch. Recommended if you enjoyed the Hunger Games (though it was written prior ...more

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Nov 21, 2011 Melissa Ruhl rated it liked it

Shelves: sci-fi-and-speculative-fiction, childhood-and-age

I'd like to think there are more problems in the world than the disparity caused by appearance. That said, I know that as a teen or tween this story would have rang all too true to me. And it certainly is true that we base many of our actions on the appearance of others. As adults, it can be confidently said for the majority of the population that we give space to those who look homeless, we are more likely to help someone who is beautiful, we are most likely to marry someone from a similar ethi ...more

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Apr 23, 2012 Suz rated it it was ok

Shelves: dystopian, science-fiction, audiobook, young-adult, post-apocalyptic, trilogy-sigh

I'm really not sure where the author was going with this book.

Sometime in the future, in a post-apocalyptic dystopian world, thanks to government/societal mandate, children grow up, hit a birthday and are shipped off to have mandatory radical plastic surgery so that everyone can be a "pretty." Apparently, looking different (or not pretty, according to whatever parameters have been set by the future rulers of society) is what has caused all of the problems in the world.

We have Tally (our protag?) I'm really not sure where the author was going with this book.

Sometime in the future, in a post-apocalyptic dystopian world, thanks to government/societal mandate, children grow up, hit a birthday and are shipped off to have mandatory radical plastic surgery so that everyone can be a "pretty." Apparently, looking different (or not pretty, according to whatever parameters have been set by the future rulers of society) is what has caused all of the problems in the world.

We have Tally (our protag?) and Shay, who are both "Uglies" (those that are too young and have not been surgically "enhanced" yet) as the two main characters. Tally is yearning for Pretty life, because her best friend "Peris" aged out and was made Pretty and lives with the other Pretties. Shay meets Tally and becomes her new BFF and questions the conformity of it all.

Apparently, the progression goes Pretty ("New Pretty" actually), Middle-Pretty (middle age) and Old Pretty ("Crumblies). Uglies are young and in school, they play pranks and general act out and are kids. New Pretties are mindless celeb types who just party all of the time and don't seem to have any sort of responsibilities. Middle Pretties seem to be the work force, they've now been enchaned so they show their ages but are still "Pretty", they have the jobs and the kids (Littlies, who seem to live with their parents until about 12). Crumblies are the geriatrics, and I'm not exactly sure what they're up to - the book doesn't go into them as much.

So anyway, The story covers mostly Shay and Tally, two uglies who escape and find an outside-the-city encampment of those who have rejected the conforming way of life and are trying to encourage and gather others that are not so keen on the government rule. They use and try to recreate old technologies (from the "Rusties", who are presumably based on our society, which has fallen) to supplement their way of life, so we hear a bit about that as well (and the environmental destruction that caused the fall of civilization as we know it). The bad-gov't guys are trying to find people and keep them in line. Along the way, we have a love triangle, so Shay and Tally can cat fight about a guy, because that's what girls do.

There are plenty of themes through the book, but none of them are very strong. Westerfeld seems to be going along with a "government dictatorships/conformity/beauty standards" are bad, but doesn't really go there all that strongly. More like he is using that idea to help fuel the story, which is otherwise fairly weak, imo. The characterization isn't strong, but I wouldn't expect it to be for a book that seems to be about messages, but the messages and plot aren't that strong either.

I'm not sure where the series is going, but I'm pretty sure I won't be reading any more of the trilogy.

It was merely Ok for me. ...more

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Jul 01, 2014 Tatjana rated it it was ok

Shelves: fiction-ya, fiction-dystopian

This is definitely a tween-level book.
I'll try it again. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood. It seems more simplistic than many of the tween and YA novels out there, though the idea is good.
I chose it because it gets checked out a lot and was on my recommended list (I read a lot of YA- especially for work). Totally missed the boat on this one.
...more

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Nov 24, 2008 H. R. rated it liked it

Shelves: apocalpyse, science-fiction, fiction, young-adult, authors_scott_westerfeld

Suzanne Colins is superior in her characterization and plotline. Westerfeld as a hit with young adults, it's a best-seller, is a win. The 'dystopian' concept of a rebuilt civilization nicely fits into the modern teenage world, 'uglies' 'pretties', all now generations that everyone has experienced in high school. Will read the rest of the series. ...more

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