'Uglies' by Scott Westerfield Book Review

Non-spoiler Section:

Short summary of the plot:

Three hundred years in the future, the government provides for everything, including plastic surgery operations. Everyone on their sixteenth birthday receives the “pretty” operation which transforms them into the society's standard of beautiful. After the operation, new Pretties cross the river that divides the city and lead a new life with no responsibilities or obligations. Like every other teenager, Tally is excited to finally turn 16 and join her friend in New Pretty Town. She meets Shay; a girl her age who is just as rebellious. In contrast to Tally, Shay doesn't want to become pretty and decides to run away to the mysterious Smoke; a community outside of the city not controlled by government. Eventually Tally follows her, but not with pure intentions...Long story short, Tally realizes that what the government is doing is wrong and that she is pretty either way. In the Smoke, she found out dark secrets and the unfortunate truth behind the pretty surgeries, but at the end has to pay for her lies dearly.

I would rate this book a 6.5/10

For those that already read this book:

Let's talk about something first. You cant tell me that Scot Westerfield couldn't come up with better names than New Pretty Town and Uglyville? I mean, I know that people from the future are supposed to be without imagination, but really?

Uglies by Scott Westerfield already had many checkpoints of a successful YA book; some lukewarm romance, some brutal critique of society and the way we treat our planet, an evil government and a decent female protagonist.

Ah, Tally Youngblood. At least she is not a Mary Sue. In fact, I was very frustrated with her for most of the book. She did so, so many things wrong. And all the lies. Every time she lied to one of her friends I just wanted to throw the book across the room. However, I do believe this was a good move on the author's behalf.

It was refreshing to see a protagonist in a YA book that isn't perfect. She knows what the right thing to do is from a moral standpoint but she doesn't always end up doing just that. Every argument she had with Shay proved that. It's nice seeing how she gradually started to change her mind and realize that looks aren't everything and that uglies can also be beautiful. I don't know how to feel about the fact that she only believed it after David told her, but I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder and she needed someone else to show her another point of view, not the crap they brainwashed her into believing about evolution at school.

She will (hopefully) face the right consequences and make up for what she's done as much as possible.

I wasn't a super big fan of Tally's and David's relationship. I mean, sure, it's a teenage romance, that much is true. I just don't think it was very convincing. Especially that Tally had feelings for him. Sure, there were a few cute moments, smoochie smoochie, you're not like other girls Tally, you're serious. They didn't really have ups and downs in their relationship, if you don't count Shay, which I don't, because neither of them really cared about Shay's feelings and it was pretty obvious that they'd end up together. There was no "will they or will they not". The only time they had a fight (before the big reveal about Tally's betrayal at the end) was in the cave during the storm and we weren't even given an opportunity to see this in detail. It was just "me and David had a big fight. I don't remember what it was about. Then we cuddled for a while". I'm not saying that relationships like theirs don't exist in the real world, they do, they are just very boring to read. It didn't feel like they had chemistry. I respect the authors decision to not make romance an essential part of this story but he could have made it at least a little bit more compelling.

If we disregard their relationship, David was always very resourceful, clever, helpful and on the whole likeable character. BUT. He was naive to trust Tally so easily and show her his parents and everything they knew about the brain seizure control thingies. I also don't like that he put Tally in a position where she had to choose between Shay and him. He should have told Shay very clearly that he didn't have any feelings for her.

Talking about the big reveal of her lies, what Tally offered to do was pretty noble. It's nice that she finally gathered the courage to tell David, although it probably would have been more dramatic had they all found out at the same time from someone else while Tally was in the room, for example Dr. Cable. This is better though. It sets a good example for once.

I didn't like Shay in the beginning for some reason, although she really was the only sane person in Tally's vicinity. I think it just threw me off that she was so high and mighty about how the operation and being pretty is bullshit but not doing anything about it because she was too much of a chicken. My opinion of her improved after she made up her mind to leave. Sadly, after her jealousy trip, she once again lost me. Although I think both her and David and Tally have a valid point. According to the girl code Tally should have seen the signs and told David to stay away. David should have told Shay right away that they weren't going to work together. Nevertheless, when Shay realized that her friends were in love and that there was never going to be anything between David and her besides comradery, she should have let them find happiness. I felt bad for her at the end, though, after she turned pretty. No one deserves that done to them by force. Very confusing emotions about Shay. She isn't my favorite character, but to be fair, these people are all teenagers though we forget this fact sometimes when we read about all the challenges they have to face. And finally, as we reach the end of the book we encounter the last of our controversial questions; does Shay have a point? She is happy, safe and contempt and is having her version of fun. She could live a long and quiet life. But it's not her brain anymore. Her will to fight for her rights is gone. Her brain is not the same. However, she is also not jealous, or angry, or hurt, and doesn't experience any negative emotions past annoyance and worry for your friends. Could you really blame her for not wanting to take the medicine?

The worldbuilding was pretty okay. I could imagine some of the things in this book actually being true in the future, like the biodegradable plastic and the abolishment of fossil fuel and the hoverboards. To be fair, I do think designer babies would be more likely to be reality than operations that shave off a part of your bones.

This book, although set in the future, has many parallels to the present way of thinking and honestly made me question my own values. Like Tally, I also think I'm ugly or compare myself to celebrities and influencers and other famous people all the time. It's very hard not to be surrounded by beautiful faces all the time and not getting to that conclusion. Are FaceTune and pretty operations really that different? People often say the basic "what's on the inside matters" and most of the time I hear it I agree but inside I know that in a practical sense beautiful people are treated better, and those insecurities stay there no matter what people say. This book really made me reconsider and realize that we can all be beautiful in our own way, as cheesy as it sounds. It was a solid dystopian YA read, though nothing exceptionally captivating or outstanding. Just fix the names, please.