Uglies

Westerfeld, Scott. 2006. Uglies. Read by Carine Montbertrand. New York: Recorded Books. ISBN 9781428113367

Plot Summary

Tally Youngblood lives in a city where everyone undergoes an operation at age sixteen to eliminate all of their blemishes and imperfections, to make themselves into the evolutionary ideal of beauty. Like most fifteen year-old uglies, Tally is eagerly awaiting her sixteenth birthday, the day she will be made pretty and move to New Pretty Town where there is a party every night. A couple of months before her birthday, after her older friends have already become pretty, Tally meets Shay and they quickly become close friends. Shay has the same birthday as Tally, but she is not eager to be made pretty. Shay likes herself, imperfections and all. 

“A couple of months and we’ll be stuck inside the river. Pretty and boring. … Doing what you’re supposed to do is always boring. I can’t imagine anything worse than being required to have fun.” 

A few days before their birthday, Shay tells Tally  that she is running away to a place called the Smoke, a secret camp where uglies remain ugly. Shay asks Tally to come with her, but Tally is appalled at the idea. Shay leaves Tally cryptic directions to the Smoke, just in case she changes her mind.

On her birthday, instead of receiving her operation, Tally is taken to Special Circumstances, a secret security force made up of cruel pretties. The leader of the cruel pretties tells Tally that she will not receive her operation; she will remain ugly forever, unless she follows Shay’s directions to the Smoke in order to activate a tracking device that will lead the Specials to the Smoke. Tally reluctantly agrees, but upon arrival at the Smoke, she is reluctant to betray her friend and finds herself drawn to the work and lifestyle of the Smokies. Tally begins to fall in love with David, and learns from his parents that the operation changes more than looks, it also changes a pretty’s brain. Tally decides to destroy the tracking device, unwittingly activating it and bringing the destruction of the Smoke. Tally and David are the only Smokies to escape, and they set out to rescue the captives from Special Circumstances.

Critical Analysis

 

Uglies begins as an apparent utopian society where no one has to worry about being discriminated against based on looks, where everyone is attractive and healthy. It certainly seems ideal to Tally. The first definite clue that something is rotten is Tally’s initial encounter with the specials, pretties designed to look cold, intimidating, and cruel. Eventually it is revealed that there is a sinister purpose behind the operation that every ugly covets. “Teens will sink their teeth into the provocative questions about invasive technology, image-obsessed society, and the ethical quandaries of a mole-turned-ally.” (Booklist)

Tally is a reluctant hero; she is happy on her path to prettiness and does not question it. However, once she is forced to become a mole, she discovers fulfillment that she was unaware she was lacking. Tally soon finds herself torn, unwilling to betray the Smokies and afraid to reveal her reasons for coming to the Smoke. When Tally accidentally brings about the destruction of the Smoke, and the capture of her friends and David’s parents, she vows to make it right by rescuing them. “Tally inflicts betrayal after betrayal, which dominates the theme for the midsection; by the end, the nature of this dystopia is front and center and Tally--trying to set things right--takes a stunning leap of faith.” (Kirkus) When Tally is too late to rescue Shay and David’s father, she decides that she must sacrifice herself and undergo the operation in order to help David’s mom test a cure for the brain damage.

Review Citation

2005. "UGLIES." Kirkus Reviews 73, no. 4: 237.

Mattson, Jennifer. 2005. "Uglies (Book)." Booklist 101, no. 14: 1287.