From the Bookshelf of YAholics Anonymous!…

Uglies (Uglies, #1)

Scott Westerfeld

Start date: September 1, 2013

Finish date: September 30, 2013

Discussion: Group Read

Why we're reading this: Dystopian BotM
[close] Dystopian BotM

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 9 topics — 90 comments total

Group Read

December's Book of the Month: The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski
By Riya · 2 posts · 6 views

last updated Dec 06, 2014 07:58PM

December's Book of the Month: Where She Went by Gayle Forman
By Riya · 1 post · 6 views

last updated Dec 06, 2014 06:03PM

showing 10 of 14 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Jun 13, 2013 Jessica Andrews rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I first want to say that I absolutely love this book! I got it on wednesday and if I hadn't had college taster days I would have finished it yesterday! because I just devoured it so easilly. It was really quick to get into since unlike a lot of Dystopian novels Westerfeld didn't start the book with a lot of world building and no actual content, which I think is great as we got to know the world as we followed Tally around it. In case you don't know the book is set in the future where everyone is I first want to say that I absolutely love this book! I got it on wednesday and if I hadn't had college taster days I would have finished it yesterday! because I just devoured it so easilly. It was really quick to get into since unlike a lot of Dystopian novels Westerfeld didn't start the book with a lot of world building and no actual content, which I think is great as we got to know the world as we followed Tally around it. In case you don't know the book is set in the future where everyone is born an uglie and once you turn 16 you undergo major surgury in order to become a pretty. Tally is just a regular girl in this world who is so ethusicastic about becoming pretty, in the beguinning until she meets her friend Shay she's just annoyed that her birthday is so later than her best friend Perises, who by the way annoyed me because other than to be a common thing between Shay and Tally since they're both alone I don't see the point of him other than to push Tally to do things that she wouldn't have done without him. but Maybe he features more in the other books in the trilogy. So as an ugly Tally is rebelious and plays cool tricks and stuff. and Shay teaches her how to HOVERBOARD!! that's so cool! But I loved how the technoloegey that this world has is aboslutely amazing and futuristic like in a lot of other books set in the future but it isn't without flaws. for example the hoverboards need to constantly be near metal so flying them outside the city is somewhat difficult for Tally and Shay. I love that not every bit of technolegy is perfect like it would seem. I just loved the premise of this book really. I thought the characters were all really interesting. Tally was a typical teenager (including me) she didn't really understand until it was shoved in her face what was happening, she really wanted to be a pretty but she didn't want to betray Shay and the Smokies, really she didn't know what was going on or what she was going to do about it until she had to do something. I liked Shay because she was more forward thinking and really saw what the operation did to people even before they had had it. Like that it made them feel bad about themselves because of their branding of 'uglies'. But my favorite character has to be David, who I won't tell you much about because he's not mentioned in the synopsis or anything but I'll just say he's different to everyone else in the book and I love him! Even though he's an Uglie I still think he's adorable just the way he is around Tally. Another thing I loved was the classification names, like children are called littlies, teens are Uglies, pre-ops are Pretties, middle aged people are Middle Pretties and old people are Crumblies (How cute it that!) it did really make things a lot clearer. But one thing that confused me the whole way through although it wasn't a massive deal to the plot or anything was how families work in this world. From what I understand children don't live with their parents, only on school breaks. They live in their parts of the city which are classified by which group you are in. Tally doesn't even call her parents mum (or mom) and dad, she calls them Ellie and Sol. and she's surprised at David's family when he does call his parents mum and dad. She's also even surprised that David looks like his father (sorry if that's a spoiler about David ). It did confuse me why families were split up like that but since Tally's parents aren't there an awful lot it didn't really effect how I understood the book as a whole. Now I can't wait to get pretties!!! ...more

Like · see review

Feb 10, 2014 Lynette rated it liked it

"Not just your face was changed by the knife. Your personality -- the real you inside -- was the price of beauty." ---- Page 406

Aaaaand that basically sums up the world-building aspect of this book. There's "Pretties" and "Uglies". And "Uglies" who don't want to be "Pretties" so they run away to live off the government's radar. "Uglies" are made into "Pretties" by going under the knife for some insane plastic surgery once they turn over their sixteenth year. Until this Prettification is done, pe "Not just your face was changed by the knife. Your personality -- the real you inside -- was the price of beauty." ---- Page 406

Aaaaand that basically sums up the world-building aspect of this book. There's "Pretties" and "Uglies". And "Uglies" who don't want to be "Pretties" so they run away to live off the government's radar. "Uglies" are made into "Pretties" by going under the knife for some insane plastic surgery once they turn over their sixteenth year. Until this Prettification is done, people are pretty much dirt biding their time until they turn sixteen and can suddenly have plenty of opportunities simply because they are now aesthetically pleasing. This whole system disgusts me.

So there's Tally, who wants to be "Pretty" and is missing her best friend, Peris, who just went under the knife and was accepted into Prettyland. She meets Shay (who is also "Ugly"), and they start hanging out. Shay doesn't want to be "Pretty".

I found Shay more interesting than Tally. To me, Tally seemed shallow. Of course, that is (I believe) the point. The "Uglies", by rule, long so badly to be "Pretty" that it throws everything else in the background. They have been so brainwashed, they don't think they will amount to anything until they receive their long-awaited plastic surgery. Still, I thought she seemed annoying.

Anyhow, Shay runs off to live with the "Uglies" who don't want to be "Pretty" (namely, the Smokies). The government isn't too happy about that, and sends Tally high-tailing it after Shay to bring her back and lead the powers that be back to the Smokies' camp (which is, of course called the Smoke).

Now, Shay has a hopeless crush on David (who also resides in the Smoke), which presents a problem because David develops a hopeless crush on Tally. David starts up a relationship with Tally, and Shay apparently has to just deal. Tough luck.

David was more interesting than Tally, as well.

To me, Shay and David saved this book.

I'll read the sequels, but I don't believe this will be one of my favorite series. It just doesn't seem to be headed that way. ...more

Like · see review

Dec 16, 2013 Sarah rated it liked it

What makes you "pretty?" In Tally's world you are not born pretty. When you turn 16 everyone gets a surgery that changes everything about them to make them pretty. But what happens when Tally meets people who have decided not to become "pretties" and tell her the truth about the surgeries?

I enjoyed the book and will be reading the next book in the series. ...more

Like · see review

Feb 25, 2013 Shugufa rated it it was ok

I liked the whole idea of the futuristic theme but I didn't really understand a lot of it cause the author's explananations of futuristic things were way too fast paced; I mean I wouldnt have probably really understood what a hoverboard if I hadnt watched the second Back to the future movie. I liked the idea of this book but the explanations needed way more detail ...more

Like · see review