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A review by jenbsbooks
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
3.5
So I read this many years ago ... I did read one sequel, but then didn't continue on with the series. I picked it up again because this is required reading for my son's English class. I figured I'd give it a read through, and had my son print out some of his assignments so I could see some of the the things that were being discussed. Reading my initial review, I still feel the same way. I think adding another decade to my own life, this felt more YA to me than my first read. I didn't love it ;) My son just hasn't been at all interested in discussing it with me though. He's not really a reader, and I hope he's getting his assignments in.
I read the physical book originally - this time I went with the audio edition, and grabbed the Kindle copy. I also happened upon a physical copy at a local Little Free Library so I grabbed it. It is always interesting to me to compare formats. No table of contents in the physical ... I don't understand not having a TOC! The Ebook and audio had chapters. I found it helpful to glance at the TOC and see the three parts, and the 50 chronological chapters with their headings.
Updating on GoodReads, I noticed some additional "Uglies" books ... graphic novels. I went ahead and checked out Shay's Story from the library ... liked it fine. It has to handle the "how do you draw PRETTY" ... I thought Shay was pretty beautiful to begin with. That's the thing, there are so many ways to define beauty (in Uglies it has it's set of criteria, which includes big eyes, a symmetrical face, no color differentiations). I read it's going to be made into a Netflix series, so it will be interesting to see how they handle that. The ebook also noted "this novel was shaped by a series of email exchanges between myself and Ted Chiang about his story "Liking What you See: A Documentary." So I might need to check out that short story (found here ... https://waldyrious.neocities.org/ted_chiang/liking-what-you-see-a-documentary).
****Original Review 11/2012 **********
hmmm, 3 or 4 stars ... I liked it. I'll often try not to read super similar books back to back, yet reading this on the heels of "Across the Universe" there were some distinct similarities. The regulated society creating people who all look the same (pretties here in this book, described as monoethnic in "Universe"... not necessarily "pretty"). Also, the "simple" happiness of the people who don't really think for themselves.
I did wonder about how the kids were born in this society ... did women get pregnant and give birth (to little uglies), would pregnancy be considered beautiful, or ugly, because the physical form is different than the norm? Would stretch marks and excess fat be zapped away after? This was never really addressed (unless I missed it)...
I wonder if this COULD be made into a movie ... in a book, you can talk about "uglies" and we the reader realize that they are your average (or even pretty) "normal" people. I think visually, it would be difficult to see an attractive person as the "uglies" ... and I wonder what the "pretties" would look like (and if we "normal" people, not actually IN this world) would consider the pretties "pretty". I guess for me it's easier to imagine, whereas a movie would actually have to come up with defined visuals.
I liked the symbolism of the orchids ... a rare and prized flower, known for its extreme beauty. Then, man steps in ... suddenly there are orchids everywhere. While they are still beautiful, they are no longer unique and actually disrupt the ecosystem, ultimately needing to be destroyed.
So ... I've heard some mixed reviews on the sequels, but I bet I'll want to continue on and find out what happens ... and if the orchids are mentioned again, or if that was limited to this book.
I read the physical book originally - this time I went with the audio edition, and grabbed the Kindle copy. I also happened upon a physical copy at a local Little Free Library so I grabbed it. It is always interesting to me to compare formats. No table of contents in the physical ... I don't understand not having a TOC! The Ebook and audio had chapters. I found it helpful to glance at the TOC and see the three parts, and the 50 chronological chapters with their headings.
Updating on GoodReads, I noticed some additional "Uglies" books ... graphic novels. I went ahead and checked out Shay's Story from the library ... liked it fine. It has to handle the "how do you draw PRETTY" ... I thought Shay was pretty beautiful to begin with. That's the thing, there are so many ways to define beauty (in Uglies it has it's set of criteria, which includes big eyes, a symmetrical face, no color differentiations). I read it's going to be made into a Netflix series, so it will be interesting to see how they handle that. The ebook also noted "this novel was shaped by a series of email exchanges between myself and Ted Chiang about his story "Liking What you See: A Documentary." So I might need to check out that short story (found here ... https://waldyrious.neocities.org/ted_chiang/liking-what-you-see-a-documentary).
****Original Review 11/2012 **********
hmmm, 3 or 4 stars ... I liked it. I'll often try not to read super similar books back to back, yet reading this on the heels of "Across the Universe" there were some distinct similarities. The regulated society creating people who all look the same (pretties here in this book, described as monoethnic in "Universe"... not necessarily "pretty"). Also, the "simple" happiness of the people who don't really think for themselves.
I did wonder about how the kids were born in this society ... did women get pregnant and give birth (to little uglies), would pregnancy be considered beautiful, or ugly, because the physical form is different than the norm? Would stretch marks and excess fat be zapped away after? This was never really addressed (unless I missed it)...
I wonder if this COULD be made into a movie ... in a book, you can talk about "uglies" and we the reader realize that they are your average (or even pretty) "normal" people. I think visually, it would be difficult to see an attractive person as the "uglies" ... and I wonder what the "pretties" would look like (and if we "normal" people, not actually IN this world) would consider the pretties "pretty". I guess for me it's easier to imagine, whereas a movie would actually have to come up with defined visuals.
I liked the symbolism of the orchids ... a rare and prized flower, known for its extreme beauty. Then, man steps in ... suddenly there are orchids everywhere. While they are still beautiful, they are no longer unique and actually disrupt the ecosystem, ultimately needing to be destroyed.
So ... I've heard some mixed reviews on the sequels, but I bet I'll want to continue on and find out what happens ... and if the orchids are mentioned again, or if that was limited to this book.