A review by puffinread
Uglies: Shay's Story by Scott Westerfeld, Devin Grayson, Steven Cummings

5.0

Wow. I had forgotten how much I liked Uglies when I read it the first time. While it's maturity level seemed to decrease from that reading to this (more like I grew up, but the feeling is the same), I still found myself enjoying the read, breezing through it in next to no time at all.

There are so many incredibly deep arguments being made in Uglies regarding disability; and I'm not entirely sure Westerfeld is aware of all of them. I started this reread because I'm thinking to use the Uglies series for my honors thesis, on disability representation in science fiction, after stumbling on a quote by disability activist Rosemarie Garland-Thomson that reads: “…our unmodified bodies are presented as unnatural and abnormal while the surgically altered bodies are portrayed as normal and natural [speaking on corrective/reconstructive surgery]" ("Integrating disability, transforming feminist theory" pg. 12). I couldn't think of a series that discussed the issue of corrective/reconstructive surgery better than this one does! And I'm finding so much great material. Aside from being fun, this book really is deep.