Uglies
2005
- young adult fiction
- teenage girls
- juvenile fiction
- fiction
- science fiction
- personal beauty
- friendship
- children's fiction
- friendship, fiction
- graphic novels
The story
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. A very action-paced book; and a truly great read.
What it’s like
Brisk, bright and slightly unsettling, like a sunlit city glimpsed through a chain-link fence. The prose is quick and conversational, first person and close, with short paragraphs and chapter endings that tug you forward, so it reads fast on a long-haul flight or a lazy weekend afternoon. The world is glossy and sensory: hovercars and sleek towers, clinic-white rooms, the fizz of bubbly drinks and endless parties, set against the grit and scrub of the wild outside. Its tone is playful and sharp about appearance and conformity, with a steady current of friendship and quiet unease beneath the fun. The emotional arc follows a teenage girl wrestling with what she wants and who she trusts, moving from eager naivety toward hard-won independence. Violence is present and action-driven, with chases, fights and some injuries, but it is not gory and stays largely within YA bounds. Sexual content is absent beyond light romantic tension. It suits readers aged around twelve and up, and anyone who wants a propulsive, idea-led dystopia with a fresh, unpretentious voice.
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