Monday, July 27, 2009

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

From Barnes & Noble:

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.

My Thoughts:

I honestly felt that I might be the last person on the blogsphere to read this book. But I finally picked it up and am glad that I did. The world that Scott Westerfeld creates is completely new and unique to anything that I have previously read about. Tally begins the book completely obsessed with becoming pretty and the life that comes along with it. As the book progresses though, things change and Tally begins to grow and evolve as a main character. That isn't to say that Tally makes the best choices...in fact, there were times that she frustrated me like crazy. But it was such an interesting take on the importance of beauty to society and I couldn't help but like this book. I can't wait to see where Tally goes from here in the 2nd book and would recommend this to anyone looking for a good YA read!

My Rating: 4 out of 5
Challenges: 100+ Book Challenge, YA Challenge, New Author Challenge, Support Your Library Challenge

10 comments:

  1. Nope, I haven't read it either. I kind of didn't want to because I hate the high school popularity thing of pretty versus ugly, but I've heard it is much more than that. Guess I just need to get over my high school prejudices! Glad you enjoyed it, Sam.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I read this last year and thought I was the last one to read it! I really enjoyed it and plan on finishing the series this year.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You're definitely not the last person - I am. lol. I've had this out from the library a few times to read but never get around to it. The series sounds good and I'll read it one of these days. I'm glad you liked it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nope, not the last person to read it ... I haven't read it either. Actually, I hadn't even heard of this book before I saw your review, but I put it on my reminder list to remember next time I head to the library.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I read this series this year and really enjoyed it! The second book annoyed me a bit, but it was overall really good.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Trish- It definitely is more than that...although the characters can be a bit childish at times...I'll be interested to hear your thoughts if you do read it.

    Rhinoa- I'll be interested in hearing your thoughts on the 2nd book...I haven't had a chance to pick it up yet but I will soon.

    Dar- LOL! I returned it unread from the library a few times myself. Glad I finally read it though.

    Talesofabookaddict- You'll have to let me know what you think once you read it!

    Kailana- I've heard that about the 2nd book which is why I didn't rush out to read it. I wanted to give myself some space before trying it so I didn't read the books too close together.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Sam - I haven't read it either, so it's still on my personal wish list to pick up. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I read Songs of the Missing. It was good, but not great IMO. Did you get to read it?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Kimberly- That suprises me as you read so many books in this genre :)

    Diane- I haven't had a chance to read it yet but I still have it checked it out...I'll let you know my thoughts once I get to it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I'm reading the last book in the series. I think this series is really good. In the pretties, it took me awhile to get interested in the book. I still loved the series though. My favorite book in the series right now is the Extras even though I'm still reading it.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. I appreciate each and every one of them :)