Uglies takes place in a world where normal looks are considered, well, ugly. At the age of sixteen, people undergo surgery to look "pretty." Before hand, the teenagers may choose to "custom design" their own face (choose the color of their eyes, face shape, etc). After surgery, the new "pretties" are allowed to live in "new pretty town," a place off-limits to all uglies.
The story focusses on Tally Youngblood, who has waited her whole life to get the surgery. Being the youngest in her group of friends, Tally has watched as each member of her group received the surgery and abandoned her. Just recently, her best friend Paris underwent the procedure.
Then Tally meets Shay, who also is the youngest in her own group. Shay teaches Tally how to ride a hoverboard and opens her mind to new experiences. However, while Tally can't wait for her surgery, Shay is trying to avoid hers.
As the surgery approaches, Shay confides in Tally the existence of Smokies: uglies who never received the procedure and instead worked the land (hunting, fishing, growing crops). Shay wants to run away to the Smoke...and wants Tally to join her.
As it becomes clear that Tally does not want to leave, Shay runs away alone but leaves a set of coded instructions for Tally to follow her. But when Special Circumstances (cruel pretties in charge of the city's security) try to convince Tally to use those instructions to hunt down, not just Shay, but all the Smokies, Tally must choose between friendship and loyalty or the surgery she's been waiting her entire life for.
This is one of my favorite books (and favorite series) of all time. It is wonderfully written with a shocking view of a society's emphasis on physical beauty. Uglies reflects the emotional and physical changes an adolescent goes through on a journey to find herself.
5 out of 5 stars
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