Uglies (By Scott Westerfeld 2005)

I know that this was one of the options for our summer reading books, but I didn't read it so I think it's OK that I am blogging about it now.

So far, I really enjoy this book. I have been wanting to read it for a while because people keep telling me how good it is. It would have been a good book to read over the summer because it really connects with the themes that we were writing about at the beginning of the year, about utopias and distopias. "Uglies" kind of reminds me of a mixture of "1984" and "Brave New World". "1984" because they have similar technology, the telescreens are like the interface rings. Also, both protagonists in the two books go against societal norms; Tally doesn't become pretty, or so far at least, and Winston does not love Big Brother. One difference, though, is that in "1984," the people are forced to work long hours in harsh conditions. In "Uglies," the pretties just have parties all the time and focus on luxuries. The book is similar to "Brave New World" because both focus on superficial things; "Uglies" on beauty and "BNW" on just material items in general. It is interesting how in "BNW," society puts everyone into different social classes based on their predetermined physical and mental skill, but in "Uglies" society puts everyone in the same class with the same level of beauty. So in the end, really no one is pretty anymore unless they are compared to the young uglies.