Uglies

A couple years ago, I found myself in a bookstore, at a loss, and called a friend to ask for any good books she’s read lately. She recommended Uglies by Scott Westerfeld.

I looked it up in the bookstore and read the cover — “In a world of extreme beauty, anyone normal is Ugly”. and “Everybody gets to be supermodel gorgeous. What could be wrong with that?” – and Iremember thinking it was such a sick concept.

Because I’m not really into sci fi, dystopia, or any of those spoiled, rich-kid, sex-crazed YA novels that seem to have proliferated over the recent years, I didn’t buy the book. I added it to my BookMooch wishlist though, in case it would come up and I could find out what the fuss was about.

Shortly after, it did come up on BookMooch, and I got to mooch a copy. Then it was  in my TBR for about a year when I decided to bring it with me on an out of town daytrip for a meeting with one of my clients a few weeks ago, and finally settled down to read it.

Uglies (#133 for 2009) is the first book in a trilogy (the two other books are Pretties and Specials) by Scott Westerfeld. It’s set in a superficial world where being pretty is everything, and as soon as a person turns 16, he or she undergoes surgery to make the transition from a worthless Ugly (living in Uglyville) into a stunning Pretty (living the sweet life in New Pretty Town).

The protagonist, Tally, is about to turn 16, and looking forward to leaving her ugly self behind. But she can’t resist a few more adventures as an Ugly, especially with her radical new friend Shay.

Shay isn’t like anyone Tally’s ever met. Shay doesn’t want to be pretty, and often talks about life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally thinks that’s the last she’ll see of her friend, but has no time to be distraught, as she’s finally turning sixteen.

As the day she has waited for all her life has finally come, Tally finds that turning Pretty will be harder than she thought: the authorities have learned of Shay’s disappearance, and Tally must find Shay and turn her in, or stay Ugly forever.

I know a lot of people have been raving about this book, but I have to say that while it wasn’t as bad as I thought, I wasn’t very impressed with it.

The writing was okay. It had a slow start, and dragged on until the middle, when it picked up and became interesting enough for me to finish the book, but it didn’t really speak to me. It’s  meant to be a commentary on today’s society, and how superficial human nature has become, but I think that’s hovering in the background without really much substance to drive it in, and drive it deep.

While the premise had a lot of potential, a lot of the book’s elements are trite — systemic brainwashing, an all-powerful group controlling the system, a renegade group led by the hot, rough-around-the edges guy that the protagonist falls for (and picks her over the best friend who has been in love with him for the longest time), and — drumroll please — a nothing-special (or so it seems , as she is oblivious to her special qualities *coughBellaSwanncough*) girl who rises to the occasion in a plot to overthrow the system — and it’s too predictable to really take seriously, even for young adults. The plot was cartoony, reminding me of watching cartoon series like Totally Spies or Kim Possible,  with all the flashy gadgets, “roughing it” in the backwoods, and in-the-nick-of-time sequences.

I also wanted a lot more character development than the book provided, because  it’s largely plot-driven. Tally starts off annoying, and although she matures somewhat towards the second half of the book, I still couldn’t feel any affinity towards her character, and when I read the preview chapter for Pretties, I wanted to bonk her on the head. The rest of the characters, who are revealed to the reader only as Tally sees them, all read the same way: flat.

All in all, it was a light read, but I don’t think I’ll miss much if I don’t read on in the series; the plot summaries seem to sufficiently tell me what happens next. As YA novels go, I’ve read so much better.

***

My copy: trade paperback, international mooch

My rating: 3/5 stars

*cover photo from sxc.hu