I have recently read the first three books in the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld, and I have the last one on hold at the library. When Uglies came out, I thought I should read it because it looked interesting and everyone said it was really good, but I didn't. Same with the rest of the series. Finally, a couple weeks ago I saw that my sister had the first two books so I borrowed them from her because I've been looking for a good book.
I quickly read through the first two books, then got the next one, and now I'm impatiently waiting for the last one from the library.
This is a teen dystopian series. The premise is that when people turn sixteen, they have extensive plastic surgery done to become beautiful. Everyone wants it, everyone gets it, or so Tally thinks until she meets Shay. Her world is suddenly turned upside down, and the books get really interesting.
Another good book dealing with the concept of beauty and ugliness is Fairest by Gail Carson Levine. Aza is ugly, but she has a beautiful singing voice. She has some interactions with the prince, and it starts a grand adventure.
All of these books made me think a lot about beauty and the affect is has on people. Do we really let beauty affect how we interact with people. Sadly, yes we do. Can it be over come? Happily, yes it can!
Personality will go a lot farther than good looks for anyone. You can be beautiful but a terrible person and people will eventually hate you. You can be ugly but an amazing person and people will eventually love you.
Honestly, we all judge books (people) by their covers, but smart people learn to read the words underneath and get to love the characters.
love the series! i totally heart Zane!
ReplyDeleteI've listened to that whole series--excellent although I did get frustrated at Tally's choices and some of the other characters but I had to find out how it ended :D
ReplyDeleteI really liked David at first, but I think I liked Zane even better, but it's so sad he dies. I kept thinking they would find some way to bring him back from the dead with a surgery.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't read Extras when I wrote this post, but now I have. Tally can be a little frustrating sometimes. I kept forgetting she was only 15/16 years old. It was interesting to see Tally from an outsiders perspective. If the chapters in Extras with Tally in them had been written from her perspective, I think she would have seemed more like the person I thought she was in the first three books. But the Tally that Aya gets to know is a little scary and almost seems mean.
It makes for a weird shift when you can't hear Tally's thoughts and reasonings, but it makes you think that maybe you would/wouldn't like other people more if you could be inside their heads hearing all the reasoning behind what they do.