Here's my original review of the series:
Uglies Download (Thanks, Scott!)Uglies is the story of a dystopian world where children are raised by the state and subjected to mandatory cosmetic surgery at 16, wherein they are rendered physically "perfect" on the basis that symmetrical, statistically average people with giant eyes are charismatic, convincing, and are afforded advantages by their peers; in the twisted logic of the Westerfeld's state, imposing this surgery on all creates an egalitarian basis for society. No one is heeded merely because she is beautiful; no idea is disregarded because it originates with someone who is ugly.
The novels tell the story of Tally Youngblood, a 16-year-old small-time rebel who becomes embroiled in a scheme to avoid the surgery, leading to her exile and eventual encounters with outsiders, secret police, and the gradual, sinister unravelling of the dark secret of the compassionate society.
The Uglies books are the perfect parables of adolescent life, where adult-imposed milestones, rituals, and divide-and-rule tactics amp children's natural adolescent insecurities into a full-blown, decade-long psychosis. They're the kind of book I loved reading at 15 or 16: damned fine science fiction and damned fine yarns. Having read the first two, I can barely wait for the third, Specials, due out in May 06.
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Interesting, but eerily similar to the classic 1950's Twilight Zone episode, Number 12 Looks Just Like You.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_12_Looks_Just_Like_You
Well, did you love "Specials" as much as you thought?
This is fantastic! The Uglies series was (and still is) a huge hit with the teens at the school I work at. YA fiction has come a long way from when I was a kid.
Sorry for not being as hip as the rest of you, but what the heck is "YA"?
YA = Young Adult
I bought this for my niece based on your review. I believe she has read the entire series three times now. She assures me they are among the most awesome books ever written.
YA = "Young Adult."
YA = Young Adult Literature. For teens 12-16ish.
this series is amazing. I got most of my grade 7 female students hooked on it after Twilight. They now appreciate good writing and plot lines.
And YA isn't "hip," it's just book lingo. Used a ton in libraries and book stores.
"The Uglies books are the perfect parables of adolescent life, where adult-imposed milestones, rituals, and divide-and-rule tactics amp children's natural adolescent insecurities into a full-blown, decade-long psychosis."
?
Sorry to rain in your parade, but not everybody has such a view of adolescent life and societal restrictions.
If you feel victimized, fine, but please don't state your situation as a matter of general fact.
There is a more than passing resemblence between the process of becoming a "pretty" and being "capped" in John Christopher's "The White Mountains."
Thanks.
You have to provide a "zip code" to get the download link, but "90215" seemed to work perfectly well...
It's easy for beautiful people to say, "thank God we're allowed to be ourselves." It's comforting for average people to say, "being average is better than everyone being forced to be the same."
What about the actual ugly people? Not deformed, diseased people, but people who are just plain unattractive and suffer real consequences for that?
I'm not sure they'd really agree that mandatory plastic surgery is all that horrible. We all think we value what is true over what is pleasant, but the truth can be very painful, and deception can be very sweet.
Awesome!
I love how it still has the stripped book warning in it! :)
Didn't We by Yvgeny Zamyatin pretty much cover this? And Brave New World?
May '06, Cory?
----
@Lobster (#8): the government *ordering* you to change your physical appearance, your body, is never okay. Have the option for those unlucky people, but never, never force it upon them.
Isn't the central idea just a kind of retread of Logan's Run? Same society of the "young and the beautiful" but with surgery to bring you in line instead of death to weed you out?
On the other hand, Westerfeld's adult sci-fi, which I don't think he does anymore, can be quite good. "Succession" is a great piece of work.
Cheers.
Is it just me or wasn't this book already written? I wish I could rememebr exactly, but I swear I have already read this novel except it was adult.
Oh I'd hate to live in a world without real deformity, the kind that completely shatters and challenges the attractive-unattractive spectrum, the kind that disables. The kind that this novel appears to neglect.
"What about the actual ugly people? Not deformed, diseased people, but people who are just plain unattractive and suffer real consequences for that?
I'm not sure they'd really agree that mandatory plastic surgery is all that horrible. We all think we value what is true over what is pleasant, but the truth can be very painful, and deception can be very sweet."
Don't we already have manditory plastic surgery for them? Or rather, socially encouraged.
This reminds me of Boris Vian's (absurdist) novel "et on tuera tous les affreux" or something. We'll kill all the ugly people. Our two protagonists are not part of the eugenic world, and are ultimately repulsed by the ubiquitous beauty, preferring what's different - the ugly chicks. Dig it. He wrote a lot of funky stuff.
But it's evolution pure and simple. And too bad if you're very ugly! It's one of those facts of life, like my haemmorhoids. Just have to survive it. The ugliest bloke will, given the choice, 99.99% of the time select a nubile Angelina Jolie over the ugly bird. Sorry, but it's true, so let's carry on from there. He factually will not extend his sexual desires or service to the ugly bird, unless it's through perversely attributed sympathy.
For the record, I'm actually rather good looking. One or two distinctive details a little wrong - a mole here, a grey hair there - but that just adds character. I'm often pursued on the tube.
This sounds like a very old B&W episode of The Twilight Zone from the 1960s in which people who reached a certain (young) age were forced to have surgery to make them look "normal". It was a blatent allegorical tale about communism and the perils of making everyone the same.
These books are damn addictive. They do that evil thing where the first chapter of the next book is included in the back of the previous.
I once met Scott Westerfeld at DragonCon just before a new release; a grown woman shrieked and ran out of the YA panel discussion for fear of spoilers.
What's fascinating about this series is not its look at appearance (ugly vs pretty) but at uses of technology and methods of social repression. Of course, these have been done before, and better, but YA Lit takes some risks that adult fiction shies away from. A down-played but interesting look at what happens after oil, too.
And, yeah, Specials came out quite a while back (like a couple years ago), what's up with that?
This is a great series and it wasn't at all what I would have expected from reading the cover blurb. In fact, I wouldn't even have picked it up if I hadn't read so many good reviews of it - it looks like a YA novel about supermodels. It reminded me (in a good way) of Logan's Run.
Oh, how I miss my full-blown decade-long psychosis.
Happy days.
#12, WalterBillington:
You really should buy a ticket. And try to look less like a terrorist.
What's more, the (half) girl on the cover USED TO BE BLACK!!!
http://boingboing.net/2009/07/23/race-and-book-covers.html
There was a Twilight Zone episode with that same premise. Not the pig people one, a different one. Of course, the girl who didn't want the "everyone looks the same" procedure (actually, I think they got to choose from a handful of different bodies) was already pretty cute. And in the end they force her to get it, and she loves it. At least I think that's how it ended; it's been a long time.
Thematically related: baby plastic surgery + detective tale = Lorelei Armstrong's In The Face.
Yeah, that Shakespeare dude was a rip-off artist, too. Writing talent is, of course, irrelevant.
Also, it's clear that most of y'all have never had plastic surgery. It's expensive. It hurts. You look like road kill for a long time. It's not a casual decision for the majority of people who have it. The people who have to scrimp and save for five years generally don't regret the decision. The ones who get boob jobs for their sixteenth birthday, well....that's another story.
"May '06, Cory?"
and
"Specials came out quite a while back (like a couple years ago), what's up with that?"
Uhh, perhaps you missed the second paragraph that says "Here's my original review of the series?" Meaning, looking back, this is what I wrote when I first reviewed this book? Sheesh.
@TZCTLP & @Lobster: the surgery described in the series goes beyond simple modifications to make everyone beautiful. There's interference with brain function so nobody questions the "ideal" society and so everyone gets along. Ultimately, the books deal with questions of free will, desireability, and how logical thought can be overriden by biological presets. Still, cracking good fiction and well worth the read/download/listen whatever form of consumption you prefer. (Personally, these would be incredible as anime, IMHO.)
Reminds me of a short story by Alejandro Jodorowsky, (from his "Cuentos Pánicos"). The one that decides against being "beautified" becomes the most desired by standing out from the beautiful crowd.
Sweet! I'll have to snag this ASAP.
In other news, the lady at the Borders today asked me if I wanted to donate books to some children's hospital up here in Seattle. They had a bunch of meh books at the counter and I asked if I could pick anything in the store to donate, and they said I could. So I said I would donate a whole boxed set of the Uglies. (They asked if I cared that Extras wasn't in the set, but I figure three books is enough to start with.)
-PFish
whoa, movable type is broken, can't sign in!
boy do I feel dumb, it seems like it signed me in.
On topic, I really like this book (series). Sometimes I don't want serious fiction, I just want to have fun and read a book that's entertaining. This book fit the bill well, and still kept my mind interested and curious about the story. Bravo, Scott Westerfeld. I'll read your next series. too.
"There was a Twilight Zone episode with that same premise."
Yeah there was. 'Marilyn' (IIRC) wanted to refuse the surgery. They 'talked her into it'.
Yeah ... here it is
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_12_Looks_Just_Like_You
I'm sorry to say this, but I read this book recently and it sucks :(
The "futurist" tech was (I found) very predictable, and the characters were very...plain.
Well written, but just boring. I'm happy to see it's a DRM-Free download though, I'm sure others might like it.
i just borrowed this book from a friend. I though it was a great read.
FAIL for cheesy Hollywood trailer voice-over line on the cover: "In a world with / without (x)..."
It looks like the PDF of that book is no longer available at the link provided. Managed to track down a copy here though.