Tagged: shay
Pretties by Scott Westerfeld
(Cover picture courtesy of Wikipedia.)
Tally has finally become pretty. Now her looks are beyond perfect, her clothes are awesome, her boyfriend is totally hot and she’s completely popular. It’s everything she’s ever wanted.
But beneath all the fun—the nonstop parties, the high-tech luxury, the total freedom—is a nagging sense that something’s wrong. Something important. Then a message from Tally’s ugly past arrives. Reading it, Tally remembers what’s wrong with pretty life, and the fun stops cold.
Now she has to choose between fighting to forget what she knows and fighting for her life—because the au authorities don’t intend to let anyone with this information survive.
When I first read Pretties, I was infuriated by all the slang the pretties used. But on a second read through, I realized that it demonstrates Tally’s drastic transformation from who she was in Uglies. The slang also shows how vapid pretties are and how much the surgery really affects their minds, instead of only their bodies.
Pretties follows Tally and her new boyfriend Zane as they try to defeat the brain lesions that impair their judgment, coordination and memory. They try all manner of things to stay ‘bubbly’ and it seems like the two pills from Tally’s fugitive friends in the New Smoke are working. But tensions rise as Tally pushes away her old friend Shay and the authorities start to catch on to what Zane and Tally are up to. Tally makes some hard decisions and old friends turn into enemies in the second book of the Uglies trilogy.
I read this book when I was twelve and it really struck a chord with me. Everyone at school was telling me I was ugly (either directly or indirectly) and Pretties gave me a bit more confidence in myself, if only for a short while. It taught me that being pretty isn’t everything and that the pursuit of perfection often leads to ruin. That’s why I recommend this book for tweens and younger teens, especially those with self-esteem problems. Scott Westerfeld deserves to be among the YA greats and the unflinching way he confronts self-esteem issues is inspiring.
I give this book 4.5/5 stars.
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
(Cover picture courtesy of Wikipedia.)
Everybody gets to be supermodel gorgeous. What could be wrong with that?
Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can’t wait. Not for her license—for turning pretty. In Tally’s world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there.
But Tally’s new friend Shay isn’t sure she wants to be pretty. She’d rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world—and it isn’t very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.
Tally is a character that many young teens can identify with. She just wants to fit in, be with her friend Paris and otherwise live a happy, normal life without drama. But everything changes when she meets Shay, a spunky rule-breaker who doesn’t want to fit in and turn pretty. In the beginning, Tally’s world seems great until Shay points out that the authorities manipulate people into thinking they’re worthless so they conform and want to turn pretty.
Uglies is one of those novels that truly deserves to be among the YA greats. Like Harry Potter, it has many different messages and means something different to each reader. On one hand, it is a commentary on our society’s obsession with beauty, but on the other hand, it is a tale of love and friendship. It’s also a dystopian science fiction novel with many elements that will be familiar to YA readers: a love triangle, a long and dangerous journey, the realization that not everything was as good as it seemed and a tough choice that sets the gears of change in motion.
Uglies is a well-written book that explores many issues teens (especially younger teens) face every day. It is a book that makes you think and I highly recommend it to people ages 12+ who love to question the status quo. Scott Westerfeld really has written one of the great novels of our generation.
I give this book 4.5/5 stars.