Many decades after a massive disaster that seemed to reshape
the world, Tally is about to turn 16 and go into surgery in her isolated,
disconnected city. The surgery will make her a “Pretty” and deliver her to “Pretty
land”where all they do is party and have fun. Once Tally makes a new friend
Shay, Shay runs away putting Tally in a difficult position as to find Shay and
turn her in, or not turn pretty at all.
Firstly, I am extremely surprised going onto good reads and
seeing some of my favorite book reviewers rating the book as a 4 or a 5. I was
actually expecting the book to be brutally ripped apart.
The Uglies was basically just a beach read. Its one of those
books I call “junk-foods” Books that don’t even get the worst readers to check
the dictionary. The writing is terrible, for one. I actually think I have read
much better writing reading my peers short stories in grade 6. The Uglies is
like a book I would read after battling a classic like The Scarlett Letter, or
To The Lighthouse by Virginia Wolf, something to relax with so that
intellectual and emotional difficulties are no problem. It wasn’t completely
awful to read, relativalely enjoyable even though I had to ignore some
incredibly obvious plot holes like how Tally watches old movies from our time,
but still doesn’t know what a train is? Or a rollercoaster? What was so
extremely bad about trains and rollercoasters that this new shaped world
completely avoids it?
The plot starts off slow, then quickens too fast. In less
than 10 pages, the book got from Tally casually being friends with Shay..
wandering around the town having fun and creating trouble, to Shay running
away, Tally being captured by the city leaders, and being told to find her good
friend. It got from being watery soup, to a thick custard.
I also don’t understand Tally and David’s romance. Not only
is it completely random, but it has a bit of a Bella and Edward reference. They
dive right into it. Readers like the build up, but there is absolutely none of
it in this case. The main reason I actually cringed when David and Tally shared
their first kiss.
What bothers me most about this book however, is the
terrible writing. This book has so much potential, it actually physically
hurts. The plot, other than the super deep holes, isn’t bad. And if it was
given to another author that turns words into visuals like John Green, this
book would be incredible. Anyways, I actually think Uglies would be much better
as a movie. Although I don’t think I take the book seriously enough to actually
read the other three.