Tolog Review: Uglies

Uglies
by Scott Westerfeld 
reviewed by 

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, is a book set in the undetermined future, in a society divided through appearance. Be that as it may, Uglies is set in a society in which if the rules are followed, everyone becomes the same. Within the society, people are divided into two communities or types, the “uglies” and the “pretties.” Nearly everyone is born an ugly, because although everyone goes into extensive surgery to make themselves into “pretties” they still carry their “ugly” genes. All the “uglies” look forward to their sixteenth birthday, on which the government grants you a surgery that transforms your body and face into a perfect, healthy, gorgeous version of your former self. After the surgery, you join the “pretties” community in which all the pretties enjoy lives of indulgence and fun.

The leading character of Uglies is Tally Youngblood, an ugly. Tally is the typical ugly, who loves to sneak out of her dorm to play “ugly” tricks and ride her hoverboard. After losing her older best friend, Peris, who becomes a pretty earlier than her, Tally befriends another ugly named Shay. The typical ugly yearns for their sixteenth birthday and the promise of the pretties lifestyle, which was a stereotype that Shay broke. She did not want the operation to become a pretty because she believed that someone’s value does not lie in their appearance, but in their personality and character. To escape the pretty surgery, Shay runs away before her sixteenth birthday to a rebel civilization of runaways, called the Smoke. Because the government controls everything in the society, when Shay ran away, they knew to interrogate her best friend Tally about where Shay was. The government offers Tally an ultimatum: track down Shay and give up the location of the Smoke, or stay an ugly forever.I believe the purpose of Uglies by Scott Westerfeld is to show the importance of someone’s character, regardless of their appearance. This book really speaks to adolescents because many teens focus on how they look, and the moral of this story is to focus on someone’s inner worth and to look past appearance. I thoroughly enjoyed this book because of its theme of insurgence, and because of its complex storyline involving the science of attraction, the importance friendship, adventure, and unorthodox romance. 

I would definitely recommend this book to my friends and other adolescents because of the book’s engaging nature. The book offered a vivid depiction of a dystopian future, which can serve as someone’s escape, as it did for me.