Uglies Reviewed By Simran Singh

Uglies Reviewed By Simran Singh

Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld, is a 2005 science fiction novel. It is set in a future where humans have a new system set up.  It is a world in which everybody is turned “Pretty” by getting cosmetic surgery done, once they reach the age 16. The novel Uglies tells the story about a young teenager named Tally Youngblood who goes against the rich and pretty society’s rule­s, after she meets her new friends Shay and David who show her the ugly side of becoming a “Pretty”.  

The novel Uglies deals with individuality and the emotional and physical changes of teenagers. In Pretty Town, a person under the age of 16 is considered an “Ugly”, but after the operation you become a “Pretty”, which means you look the same as everybody else, with big eyes, full lip, high cheek bones, and small noses. Not only that, but their brains are also made “pretty” by putting lesions in their brains which brainwashes them to think that their only job is to party and have fun. At first, Tally wants to be a part of the Pretty Town but then it comes down to deciding if looking beautiful is worth more than her friendship with Shay and her other friends at the Smoke. Tally is at the crossroad of choosing between staying with “perfect looking Peris” or a “normal looking David”. Later she realizes that beauty is more than skin deep.  Tally also showed her braveness by running away from home, and traveling to an unknown place called the Smoke by herself. Tally rode on a hover board into another part of the world that she had never known before.

Scott Westerfeld did a great job in terms of talking about the issues of teenagers in third person from the perspective of Tally Youngblood. The issues of individuality, emotional and physical struggles are major issues in todays society. Teenagers are struggling to fit in with the community by changing their looks, by dieting, and sometimes trying to fit in with the cool group of kids just like when Peris got his operation done, that made Tally want to fit in with everybody around her, by criticizing others and pointing out the negativity in everybody. Shay did not agree with Tally’s philosophy that everybody had to be “Pretty” so Shay moved to a place called the Smoke and in the Smoke nobody cared how you looked.  

The novel teaches a lot of important lessons about life, friendship, and what real beauty is and it sends a message that to fit in the society you don’t need to be controlled by computer chips in your brain that’s what Tally realized when she came to visit Peris and got stuck in the elevator, “She signed, closing her eyes. Without an interface ring, she was nobody. The elevator would not listen.” (p.15) The novel sends a good message that you should be confident and proud of who you are, and not change yourself if you want others to know your true self.