Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

#1 in Uglies Series
Published in 2005 by Simon Pulse
3 Stars

Goodreads Summary
Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her license -- for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there.


But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to be pretty. She'd rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world -- and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.


Review:  Uglies is the first book in a science fiction series that makes some not-too-subtle comments on societies views on beauty, the environment, and government mind control.  Uglies is a warning that getting what you want might not be all it's cracked up to be, and that people need to be more conscious of their decision making as independent beings, not drones who will follow the crowd. 


The main character in Uglies seems very one dimensional to me, but I think this might be more of the culture in which she was raised.  Her main focus throughout half of this book was to become pretty, no matter the cost.  However, some of her actions contradicted  this way of thinking.  She is willing to betray close friends and condemn them to prison or perhaps death, but she also breaks rules and does a lot of silly things that could put her chances of having the surgery in jeopardy.  Why would she take any risks if being pretty was so important to her?  I also did not like her supposed "best friend" Shay.  If Tally cared so much about her, why would she be willing to betray her?  Also if Shay liked Tally so much, why wouldn't she have tried harder to convince Tally to follow if she truly believed in what she said she did?  The minor characters, such as David's parents, were much more interesting and I found myself wishing for more back story to how this society even came to exist.


There were also some glaring plot holes.  Tally watches old black and white movies, but has no idea what train tracks are, thinks the name "David" is unusual, and she had no idea what magazines were.  This I found confusing and could have easily been fixed by having Tally watch movies made in her time.  I also thought the whole idea of the society was a bit ridiculous.  It made no sense that once a person becomes pretty they get to go party hard all day and have absolutely no responsibilities.  How do they prepare for the jobs they take when they reach middle age?  The set up of the entire society seems forced.


There were parts of this book that I really did enjoy.  I loved all of the technology and reading about how society has advanced and adapted.  There is a real focus on renewable resources such as solar power that I found interesting.  I also liked the language of the book.  There were some really fun slang words like "bubbly" to express something that is fun and interesting (I have read in other review that people found this really annoying but I think it adds to the mindless nature of the pretties).  There was some very interesting contrast between those who accept the pretty lifestyle and those who reject it.  I also really enjoyed all of the sweet hoverboarding and the technology behind how the machine works.


Overall Uglies is the first book in a series that has an intention to comment on society's values under the guise of a science fiction thriller, but falls somewhat short of the mark.  This series seems to make a stronger argument for the "bad" lifestyle, missing the author's objective.  I will be interested to see if this theme develops more strongly in the later books of the series or continues to fall apart.