The Uglies

I have finished Youth in Revolt  by C. D. Payne and have moved on to The Uglies by Scott Westerfeld.

Youth in Revolt took a downhill turn from when I last posted. For all of you who like happy endings, you will be glad to know that the story goes back uphill on the happy-scale and ends on a good note. Like a stereotypical romance novel, the boy gets the girl. In addition, Nick Twisp becomes rich. He does not get his inheritance from Mrs. Ulansky, but he does become even richer through a different method. Revealing that method would be a plot spoiler, so you'll have to read and find out for yourself!

The Uglies takes place in a future post-scarcity dystopian world. There are the littlies, uglies, and pretties. The people from our time frame have been labeled at "The Rusties." Littlies are people younger than uglies and you turn "pretty" when you reach the age of 16. You turn "pretty" by cosmetic surgery. All flaws are removed and everything is perfect. The recently turned "pretty" live in New Pretty Town and they have fun all day and all night. They are constantly laughing and having fun with no worries. The uglies are trained that they look horrible and are flawed, all they want is to become a "pretty."

Tally Youngblood is the protagonist and she can't wait to become pretty. Her other name is "Squint" because of her eyes. She is the youngest of her friends by 3 months, she's the only one left. On a night adventure when Tally sneaks into New Pretty Town to see her "pretty" friend, Peris, she meets Shay, an ugly, on her trip back to Uglyville. Shay's nickname is "Skinny" because of her weight; she is skinnier than a "pretty". Shay and Tally share the same birthday and therefore would become "pretty" on the same day. Both girls love to break the rules and pull tricks. One time, they left the boundaries of the city and traveled to the Rusty Ruins. This is where our society lived. It is called so because all of the metal structures we obsessively built, collapsed and rusted. Our world had collapsed because of the creation of an "oil bug" that caused oil to combust when it came into contact with oxygen.

Shay is always talking about how she thinks she looks fine and nobody is actually ugly. She thinks that becoming pretty changes more than your looks, but also your personality. "Pretties," in Shay's opinion, are boring air-heads. One week from turning 16, Shay proposes that she and Tally run away, farther than the Rusty Ruins. Some of Shay's older friends escaped becoming "pretty" by running away; one of these people is David. Tally refuses to go, so Shay goes on without her.