In a world filled with breathtaking beauty, what is there for a normal person?
Set several hundread years after a major shift in life as we know it, the world hides from nature in large cities segregated into two major factions. Uglies and Pretties, the names speak for themselves.
Around the time of puberty, children set off for Uglyville to continue their education as well as await the blessed day they turn 16. No longer does this bring coming of age things we know like driving or dating. At sixteen you get initiated into the Pretties, leaving your ugly self behind forever.
A series of operations intended to not only make you beautiful, but to also bring everyone into the visual norm. No differences to set people apart means no differences to make people feel superior or inferior to others.
The society at large seems pampered in their lifestyle. Uglies have their needs met, Pretties give the appearance of vapid lives of ease.
However pretty the world seems from the outside, though, there is an ugliness hidden just below the surface.
Follow the story of Tally, an Ugly anxiously awaiting her sixteenth birthday so she can join the ranks of the Pretties in New Pretty Town. Her friend runs away, spurning the usual desired Pretty lifestyle. Tally, given an ultamatium, sets off to find her friend lest she suffer the worst punishment the society could inflict… left ugly forever.
The first in a series of novels for young adults, this sets the way we look at things on its head. Causes one to reflect on the way we treat the world around us, our own dependence on technology, the way society views one another, and the lengths people will go to maintain the status quo.
The author channels George Orwell and Ray Bradbury in a Judy Blume-esque book quite well. You take aspects from a Twilight Zone episode and mix in a little 1984 and just about any Bradbury book I can think of and you get yourself Uglies. Best of all, the social commentary follows a vein that not only speaks to youth in a way they relate, it also takes on the question of beauty which is so hot right now.
Shows like What Not To Wear and Extreme Makeover combined with America's Next Top Model along with websites like Hot or Not glorify the shallowness of a person's physical beauty. I once heard a quote, "Be your own kind of beautiful", that goes against the grain of modern society. In the society created within the pages of Uglies, the last thing desirable is a person to find their own inner beauty or uniqueness.
Engaging and quick to read, the story grips at your heart. Especially good for teens suffering through the pains of adolescence where so much of the world around them focuses on Uglies and Pretties, I highly recommend this book to all.
–Lady O
Originally posted on ladyozma.vox.com
Lady Ozma's Journey 
swampfaye said:
I started reading this… but so far, I’m not personally impressed. Maybe I’m too old?
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Lady Ozma said:
I liked it
But I probably liked it because of the Twilight Zone, Ray Bradbury, and Orsen Wells vibe… 🙂 Keep reading it. It is good. I will admit though it did dumb aforementioned things down quite a bit.
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java_fiend said:
Society today caters to the “pretty people.” Is it any wonder we have a generation of narcissistic, egomaniacal, self-absorbed, self-important people who think they’re entitled to anything and everything? In other words, is it any wonder we’ve got a lot of screwed up people in our society. What society values and what society marks as a priority are just repugnant to me.
Wonderful post, as always.
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Lady Ozma said:
No joke
It’s all about pretty and not about if you can accomplish anything. And we teach people exactly what this books says… if you are pretty people will want to be with you, like you, take care of you.
Thank you for thinking it is a wonderful post. I really want to get the next in the series, Pretties. I just can’t afford it right now. I checked on paperbackswap.com and it is not there. *SIGH*
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java_fiend said:
Re: No joke
if you are pretty people will want to be with you, like you, take care of you.
That is so, so, so true. We value style over substance. It’s so lame.
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Lady Ozma said:
Re: No joke
It is lame. I hate it. It is especially bad in hollywood. Who needs to act anymore? As long as you are what people are liking to look at this week you are golden.
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java_fiend said:
Re: No joke
So true, so true, so true. LA is definitely all about the glitz and glam. Are you in California too?
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Lady Ozma said:
Re: No joke
Nope, DC. 🙂 Where apparently you can be old, ugly, and annoying and be in the supposed second highest office in the land. President is OK. He’s no worse and no better than the last few we’ve had, but ugh on the Veep. Can you tell who I hate more? ROFL But we won’t even talk about the people over in the other building. Yuck. Thankfully we’ve got a few that are OK, but for the most part I don’t like them either.
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java_fiend said:
Re: No joke
lol… yes, we do tend to have a very ugly governmental body, don’t we?
Personally, I hate the Veep and the Preznit equally. In fact, I hate their entire Administration equally. I’m an equal opportunity hater. 🙂
I’m dying to see DC though. There’s so much history there.
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Lady Ozma said:
Re: No joke
Yeah. I mean the worst though was Clinton. My gosh. Every morning I’d be trying to eat and they’d put him on my TV running with his scrawny chicken legs and his plastic hair. I always lost my appetite. GROSS. And people wonder why I was so thin then!!! Hello? Ugly dude running? EWWWW
I’ll take president bush any day. ROFL. I don’t think we’ve had an attractive president in my lifetime. Blah. And the other dudes really aren’t much better. I have to admit though, Obama’s not too bad. If we could get some combo of him and Edwards in the white house, that would at least boost the attractiveness value. LOL
I’m equal opportunity here. I figure the current admin has done some crap. They’ve done some good, too. So did president chicken legs. ROFL. But, being here, I tend to watch what’s REALLY going on instead of just watching the TV and getting sound bytes.
DC is awesome. I really live in the NoVA area. But it is far easier to say DC. 🙂 My husband works in DC though. I love going there. I post pictures on my photoblog. Darn, speaking of that, I need to figure out what from my last jaunt (christmasy time in the evening) i want to post.
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