Uglies (Uglies, #1) in What's the Name of That Book???

Mar 24, 2008 Lisa Vegan rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, z2008, zz-4star, rollercoasters, readbooks-male-author-or-illust, young-adult, goodreads-author, groups-buddies, speculative-fiction, novel

I’d seen this book and the next two books in this series of three books (Pretties and Specials) but did not know what they were; the covers & titles didn’t appeal to me.

I read this because it was the May 2008 selection for the Goodreads’ YA Book Club, and I was pleasantly surprised.

This is a very good sci-fi book for young adults. The created world and characters are interesting and it’s thought provoking about such subjects as perfection, self esteem & appearance, and questioning authority.

3 likes · Like · see review

Jul 27, 2007 Lisa rated it liked it

Shelves: 2016

I enjoyed this book quite a bit. Pretties, the sequel is on the tbr. And Specials is waiting to be read also, they are all part of a trilogy.

2 likes · Like · see review

Jul 05, 2007 Chelsea rated it really liked it

Shelves: youngadult, own, 2007

A great premise, with a relatable and realistic main character. I think this is the best of the series - the next two books seem to go off on their own, as if Westerfeld lost focus midway through his series. Also, this had the most David in it, so I was happy. A great read for young adults, boys or girls, and it will bring up some interesting topics - self-image and self-confidence, the idea of perfection, questioning authority, etc.

1 like · Like · see review

Sep 26, 2007 Kate rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, teen-book-club, age-ya, 2008, dystopia

I've been hearing about this book for a while--the premise sounds very sci-fi (a future world where everyone undergoes an operation at age 16 that makes them "pretty," which supposedly has stopped all war) but it wasn't too sci-fi for me. It reminded me of M.T. Anderson's Feed in a way; the main characters are teens who are fairly similar to today's teens--the jumps in technology are logical enough. In Feed it was the idea of text messaging in your brain; here it was things like hoverboards (thi ...more

Like · see review

Jun 01, 2017 Tiffany rated it really liked it

Shelves: teens, dystopia

I expected this to be a light, easy read. Nothing too heavy, good to read on the bus, but nothing I would really remember after. Your basic YA dystopian fiction. And yet ... I *really* enjoyed it! It was a good story, and I kept turning the pages, and yearning to read it during work.

As a lot of reviews imply (or say outright), this book is basically a metaphor (or not... Parable? Not-so-hidden moral story?) of the "ugly" world: how people view each other, with imperfections deemed "ugly," and t I expected this to be a light, easy read. Nothing too heavy, good to read on the bus, but nothing I would really remember after. Your basic YA dystopian fiction. And yet ... I *really* enjoyed it! It was a good story, and I kept turning the pages, and yearning to read it during work.

As a lot of reviews imply (or say outright), this book is basically a metaphor (or not... Parable? Not-so-hidden moral story?) of the "ugly" world: how people view each other, with imperfections deemed "ugly," and the goal of being a Pretty, whose face is perfectly symmetrical, body is perfectly toned, mind is perfectly ... bland. Differences -- physical and mental -- are deemed as ugly and unacceptable. Why would you want to be like that? Be a Pretty! But of course, the moral is that differences are good, not everyone looks perfect, you can look imperfect and still be a good person or an interesting person, etc. Through the things that others tell Tally, the main character who wants so desperately to be a Pretty, we're reminded that it's okay -- and even a good thing -- to be different. Her new best friend, Shay, and the new boy, David, along with others, show her that we don't all have to be perfect, and that our differences can make us intriguing. Etc. You get the idea. At times, it's sort of heavy-handed, but because it's written as people trying to convince Tally of these things, so it has to be heavy-handed because she doesn't believe it. But it makes you think. Some might call the writing too heavy-handed, but I appreciated it. I saw it as a good moral for teens, and well-written because it's character dialogue and characters trying to convince another character, not just the author trying to convince the readers and beating us over the heads with it.

Then there's also the apocalyptic aspect: something destroyed the way the world used to be. "Rusties" (basically, us) had their world of cars with gas (whereas the current world has hovercars and hoverboards that run on magnets), some wind power (A character says, "Not all Rusties were dumb," or something like that. Yes, some were smart and used wind power.), factories, etc. And imperfect bodies. But something wiped them out. Some even died amidst the panic, in their cars, trying to flee. There are other things mentioned that touch on that apocalyptic/save-the-world aspect, too, such as non-native, invasive plants that destroy an ecosystem, etc. Those apocalyptic touches are another thread of moral story running through this book.

Thinking about the rest of the trilogy, when I was about 60 pages from the end, I thought to myself, "Okay, this was a decent book, but I don't think I need to read the rest of the trilogy. I think I'm good at one book. Good book, but don't need to read the rest." Then, five pages from the end, CLIFFHANGER! I thought to myself, "How is he going to wrap this up in five pages?" He didn't! Damnit! CLIFFHANGER! Now I *have* to read at least the second book! ...more

Like · see review

Jun 24, 2010 Liz rated it really liked it

Shelves: children-and-young-adult

Solid young adult book. The structure was really good at explaining things to the characters (but really the target audience). I read this in one day because I am a show-off (and I needed something to do while Dan and Luke played video games as loudly as possible).

Like · see review

Aug 26, 2013 Carmine rated it liked it

Shelves: young-adult, dystopia

Yep, I know everyone else read these in 2005 or 2006, but a paperback wandered across my path.

Entertaining. Check your brain at page one, don't ask questions and enjoy the ride. ...more

Like · see review

Nov 16, 2010 Erin rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2010

This is generally considered teen fiction - I can see why, based on the subject matter, but the writing itself seems very middle reader. Oh well.

Like · see review

May 28, 2008 Maggie rated it liked it

Shelves: young-adult, read-2009, 2009-summer-challenge

I wasn't sure I was going to like this book. I'm definitely not usually into dystopia, sort of sci-fi books, and this one has been on my to-read shelf for a long time.

I think this was really well done, it was a little cheesy and predictable at times. But I also think it had some really great life lessons. Of course, it left you with a major cliff-hanger at the end, so now I'm going to have to read the next in the series!

I think I would have liked this book a lot as a teen, and hopefully someday ...more

Like · see review

Apr 30, 2008 Pam rated it liked it

3.5 stars. I felt the ending was not what I expected at all (though I don't know what I expected. I didn't know where this was going) and maybe me want to read the next book.

I don't care for the characters. I didn't like Tally. I didn't like David. Shay was okay. I'm ready for the next one. ...more

Like · see review

Feb 17, 2008 Eh?Eh! rated it it was ok

Shelves: babble-added

teen fic, interesting premise and nice set-up for the rest of the trilogy. argument for/against uniformity/central control/appearance/independence. i'd like to read this if it was rewritten for an older audience. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Mar 29, 2008 Malina rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi

This reminded me of The Alliance by Gerald Lund, one of my favorite books to read and reread as a kid. I am going to read the rest of the series, it was an easy and fun read.

Like · see review