Uglies is a YA novel by Scott Westerfeld and is the first in
a paranormal trilogy. Set in the future, society has changed and now young
people go under an operation to become “beautiful” and leave Uglyville to go
and go live in Prettylive. The protagonist is Tally and she longs to join her
friends who have already undergone the operation, and from her perspective
Prettyville is a teenage utopia full of dreams and no responsibilities. Yet
when Tally meets Shaw, a rebel girl who has no desire to be pretty, Tally is
faced with some serious ethical dilemmas as she decides if she is going to turn
this girl over for not following the system or follow Shaw to the Smokies (the
remnants of our world) and discover that Prettyville isn’t all that perfect.
The novel is easy to read, the characters are believable and
the audience does not have to make great leaps in order to be able to
understand the science fiction concepts within this book. It also poses some
great questions for young readers, particularly girls (who stereotypically are
more image conscious then their male counterparts). For example, who get’s the
right to decide what is considered attractive? What is it like to be labelled
as ugly? What are the societal
ramifications of such as body-obsessed world?
As much as I would like to say it’s purely science fiction,
I think many readers will see loose parallels to our current hyper-consumerism
and tabloid culture which idolises beautiful people and sees plastic surgery as
acceptable.
Scott Westerfeld has created a fascinating concept and
readers will not lose interest in this fast paced book – you will want to read
the sequel!
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