Hundreds of years from now, the long-awaited sixteenth birthday takes on a new importance. It is the point at which a teenager gets to completely change. Yet, this transformation is not in an emotional sense, but a physical one.
Scott Westerfeld describes such a society in his novel Uglies, in which he offers up a world when one’s appearance reflects their placement in society.
When teenagers in this sci-fi turn 16, they receive intense cosmetic surgery to reconstruct every flaw in their face and figure. The change from a self-conscious Ugly, someone who does not receive the surgery, to a well-respected Pretty is what one’s entire life is based upon.
Tally Youngblood is a teenager caught up in the battle between society’s rules and rebelling against them. In her city, everyone awaits the fateful day of their surgery.
Tally has always anticipated this day, until she meets Shay, a girl who makes her consider if the surgery is really necessary for the life she wants. Her plan to run away makes Tally consider whether that is the life she would like to have
As soon as Shay runs away to a mysterious place called The Smoke, a hidden camp filled with unchanged Uglies, it forces Tally to rethink which side she is on, the ways of society that she has always known, or her new friends’ revolutionary ideas.
The creativeness of Uglies’ alternate reality makes it a worthwhile read and the twists and turns of the plot do not fail to create suspense. The insight into the character’s minds reveals their emotions and makes them relatable, interesting people to follow.
Through Westerfeld’s imagination, the reader is allowed to take a step away from reality and enter a world that is completely different from what they know.
Molly Sonricker, Staff Writer
