I have become entranced in a series of books written by Scott Westerfeld. This series is on the New York Times Bestselling list and is entertaining and thought provoking for people of all ages. In the Uglies series, a post-apocalyptic society is presented in which the society is broken up into different sections in order to ensure stability. Families live together until the children turn twelve, at which time they are taken to this containment camp until the age of sixteen. At sixteen, they will undergo a procedure in which their bodies will be made into perfect forms, ie. all ugliness will be taken from their appearance. After the sixteen year olds are turned into "pretties", they are transferred into a city, New Pretty Town, where they can sleep all day, party all night, and dress in the latest fashions. This is exactly what the main character, Tally Youngblood, wishes for each and everyday. The first book, Uglies, focuses on Tally's journey from ugly to pretty, the people she meets, and the decisions she makes that end up having a permanent effect on the rest of her life.
Uglies opens up with Tally sitting in Uglyville eagerly awaiting for darkness to fall so that she can sneak into New Pretty Town and meet up with her friend Peris, who had already been changed into a "pretty". Tally missed Peris so much that she was willing to face the repercussions of the "invasion" to see her best friend again. This really stuck out to me because it shows how looks can so easily affect a friendship. It is very difficult for a person considered "ugly" to be friends with an individual considered good looking. This action of Tally's, however, also demonstrates how much she wants to be changed into a pretty. Tally makes it into New Pretty Town and finds Peris, but after doing so realizes that he is a pretty and she is still an ugly. Because of this, Tally figures out that no matter how much they wanted to remain friends, they were separated by their looks and where they lived. She would have to wait for a couple more weeks until she was changed into a pretty.
Once Tally returns to Uglyville, the whole story changes. Tally meets a new friend, Shay, who shows her how far the boundaries of being ugly can be pushed. Shay introduces a new way of thinking to Tally and becomes the impetus for the rest of Tally's actions. During the book, the questions of loyalty, friendship, right versus wrong, good versus evil, and love versus hate are all looked at and examined via the characters. The author, Scott Westerfeld, does a fantastic job at writing about all of these issues from different characters perspectives. Westerfeld is a native Texan, born in Dallas, who now lives in Sydney, Australia and New York.
This series is a gripping tale that holds onto the reader, entertaining them and keeping them guessing. The series continues from Uglies to books entitled Pretties, Specials, and Extras. It is a fascinating adventure that spurs you to question how much you judge people by their appearance rather than their character and personality.
"Is it not good to make society full of beautiful people?" -Yang Yuan, New York Times
"There is not excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion." -Francis Bacon, Essays, Civil, and Moral, "Of Beauty"
"Beauty is that Medusa's head
Which men go armed to seek and sever.
It is most deadly when most dead.
And dead will stare and sting forever." -Archibald MacLeish, "Beauty"
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