Uglies - The sad truth & book review
Book: Uglies
Author: Scott Westerfied
Rating: 5/5 Stars
After it being a book I have wanted to read for a long time, I finally got round to reading the book 'Uglies'. Set in a dystopian land, at the age of 16, everyone goes into surgery which turns them 'Pretty' - an extreme case of cosmetic surgery which is not optional. The book follows Tally Youngblood - a young girl who leaves her town of 'Uglyville' after her friend Shay who didn't want to turn pretty. When Tally finds out the downsides of having the operation, she decides to rebel with the help of her friends - but it doesn't quite go to plan. Without giving anything away, the book has so many twists that this is quite unlike any book I have ever read. It may sound like 'The hunger games' or 'Divergent' but in reality, they couldn't be more different.
Without giving any spoilers out, the surgery people go under at ONLY 16 YEARS OLD is...completely insane. From details given in the book, people have their bones broken then repaired so they are bigger - making people taller - they have new skin, different hair styles and colours, different eye shapes, sizes and colours, a better complexion...All quite big things to have done on young adults. What makes it worse is that this isn't an operation which isn't just done once on a person - they do this 3 times in every persons lifetime - once when they are 16, again when they are a bit older - around 25, then once more when they have finished growing - assumedly around the age 40.
There is a review on the back of my book - it says 'the want for a fairytale face has never been so sinister' and quite frankly, that's very accurate. The fact that people don't even know the risks and are excited to go in for this kind of surgery at such a young age to look pretty is terrifying. The way the book is set in a dystopian land - dystopian meaning set in the future - gives me the idea that this is a thing that has a chance of turning from fiction into a reality. Maybe not in a couple of years - that's too drastic; it certainly won't be compulsory. But I think, in 100 years maybe, then girls (and some boys most likely) are going to want to get life changing surgery - when they shouldn't - and this is something which makes me both sad and ridiculously angry.
It sounds like one big cliche - because it is - but people should be happy with who they are and shouldn't want to change themselves so they seem more appealing - a personality is more important than looks. I think that's mainly the reason I liked this book so much - that's what it's about - the reason Shay didn't want to get surgery is because she couldn't see the point - it's changing someone even if they don't want to be changed for no reason. The whole reason they rebel is to stop this happening over and over again.
The book series started off as a trilogy but there are now 4 in the series - I am very much looking forward to reading the rest as the one I have just finished ended on a major cliffhanger! I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone!
Author: Scott Westerfied
Rating: 5/5 Stars
After it being a book I have wanted to read for a long time, I finally got round to reading the book 'Uglies'. Set in a dystopian land, at the age of 16, everyone goes into surgery which turns them 'Pretty' - an extreme case of cosmetic surgery which is not optional. The book follows Tally Youngblood - a young girl who leaves her town of 'Uglyville' after her friend Shay who didn't want to turn pretty. When Tally finds out the downsides of having the operation, she decides to rebel with the help of her friends - but it doesn't quite go to plan. Without giving anything away, the book has so many twists that this is quite unlike any book I have ever read. It may sound like 'The hunger games' or 'Divergent' but in reality, they couldn't be more different.
Without giving any spoilers out, the surgery people go under at ONLY 16 YEARS OLD is...completely insane. From details given in the book, people have their bones broken then repaired so they are bigger - making people taller - they have new skin, different hair styles and colours, different eye shapes, sizes and colours, a better complexion...All quite big things to have done on young adults. What makes it worse is that this isn't an operation which isn't just done once on a person - they do this 3 times in every persons lifetime - once when they are 16, again when they are a bit older - around 25, then once more when they have finished growing - assumedly around the age 40.There is a review on the back of my book - it says 'the want for a fairytale face has never been so sinister' and quite frankly, that's very accurate. The fact that people don't even know the risks and are excited to go in for this kind of surgery at such a young age to look pretty is terrifying. The way the book is set in a dystopian land - dystopian meaning set in the future - gives me the idea that this is a thing that has a chance of turning from fiction into a reality. Maybe not in a couple of years - that's too drastic; it certainly won't be compulsory. But I think, in 100 years maybe, then girls (and some boys most likely) are going to want to get life changing surgery - when they shouldn't - and this is something which makes me both sad and ridiculously angry.
It sounds like one big cliche - because it is - but people should be happy with who they are and shouldn't want to change themselves so they seem more appealing - a personality is more important than looks. I think that's mainly the reason I liked this book so much - that's what it's about - the reason Shay didn't want to get surgery is because she couldn't see the point - it's changing someone even if they don't want to be changed for no reason. The whole reason they rebel is to stop this happening over and over again.
The book series started off as a trilogy but there are now 4 in the series - I am very much looking forward to reading the rest as the one I have just finished ended on a major cliffhanger! I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone!
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