Uglies

The only other book that I had read by Scott Westerfeld was So Yesterday. Eventhough I still can't get that annoying Hilary Duff song out of my head when I think of the title, I really enjoyed it. I have always been interested in the whole advertising/marketing to kids thing, as well as the idea of "trends". One of my husband's friend's ex-girlfriends used to work in fashion and decide on trends for her company. She would tell me a year in advance what to buy, which colours would be "in" etcetera. It was pretty weird.

My friend Jen had been talking about Uglies for months and all the girls at our school (MS and HS) who took it out loved it. So then other day when I was loading up on books, I decided to buy myself a copy (and was appreciative of the original paperback format...cheap!)

This was a fun book to read, in that big brother 1984 style. It actually reminded me slightly of Feed, by Anderson. Tally is an ugly, but not for long. Her 16th birthday is approaching and that is when she will finally get the operation to turn her into a pretty. You know....the evolutionary positives. Large open eyes, high forhead, full lips, ideal height and weight. Her skin will be replaced, bones shaved and padded. The ultimate extreme makeover.

A couple of weeks before her birthday, she meets one of the only other senior uglies in her dorm. Shay is full of tricks, just like Tally and they really hit it off. But Shay is different. She is not looking forward to being pretty. Tally doesn't understand. Why would anyone want to be ugly?

This is the first part in a trilogy, and is fast paced, interesting and fun. I just gave it to my niece for her 15th birthday, and she asked my sister how I could possibly know exactly the kind of thing she liked to read!