Tolog Review: Uglies

Uglies 
by Scott Westerfeld
reviewed by Natalie Burnham


Scott Westerfield’s science fiction novel Uglies follows a community where a person stays “ugly” until they are sixteen, when they then have a surgery to become “pretty.” More specifically, Uglies follows an ugly named Tally Youngblood, who only ever wanted to join her best friend Peris-who was older than her- in the pretty world. Only, things start to go askew when she meets Shay, an act-before-she-thinks ugly who starts to change Tally- in a rebellious way. When I first read this book, and I’ve read it about five times now, the first thing that came to mind was “This is our society, too.” Teenagers, usually up to about the age of sixteen (give or take a few years), are considered awkward, gangly, and ugly. Then, they “miraculously” change into adults, no longer awkward or out of place. But also, the novel highlights the idea of natural beauty, especially when an ugly falls in love with Tally herself- when she’s still an ugly. The novel talks a lot about the surgery, which is the equivalent to plastic surgery, with a lot more attached. But basically, the surgery is the same as plastic surgery today. 

My thoughts are, which then continues in the next book Pretties, what would actually happen if everyone was pretty? Or, maybe just the stereotypical, “Hollywood” beautiful? Even in their world, they find other ways to become superior or inferior to one another. That would happen in our society, too, because humans (in my opinion) fall to superiority and inferiority. The next book especially, but also the first, show ways that we don’t think about when we are thinking about how our society could change. Even if we all were stereotypically “perfect”, there would still be ways to separate people. 

But, either way, this book is one of my favourite books. The characters are very relatable, because they’re near our age, and feeling (obviously) out of place, and kind of going through similar situations- though their situations are a bit more extreme. The novel keeps you interested with romance, action, adventure, and friendship. I couldn’t put it down. Definitely recommend this book to anyone!