Uglies is the first book of a trilogy (later expanded to 4 books) that takes place in a dystopian (yay!) world where teenagers grow up in Ugly-town until they are 16, at which time they are moved across the river to Pretty-town where they undergo extensive plastic surgery to make them pretty. In this case, being “pretty” means looking pretty much like everyone else on the planet and becoming an empty-headed socialite in the process. One rebel group of citizens decides being pretty isn’t their life-goal and go into hiding, setting up an ugly-camp where people appreciate their differences rather than longing for sameness. Everything seems pretty peaceful, with everyone getting pretty much what they want, until the powers in pretty-town figure out where the uglies are hiding their camp and attack them. It turns out not every is happy with the idea of “live and let live” and there are obviously some darker forces at work here. The book ends more or less mid-battle with a very blatant segue into book two, “Pretties”.
The book is an enjoyable, teenage dystopian novel similar in vein to The Hunger Games and Divergent. I haven’t read Pretties yet, but only because other reading obligations have gotten in the way – I fully intend to read the entire 4-part trilogy, probably during a vacation. Certainly the idea of people being beautiful in their own skin is something that more teenagers, especially girls, need to hear more of. I applaud the author for undertaking this theme.
Rating: Borrow it, or buy it and then give it to a teenager you know.
Believe it or not, I read the “Pretties” a few years ago and once I got over the whole concept of “surg”, as they call surgery, I liked it. I don’t know if I would read the entire series, but urge you to read the Pretties before stopping…..