Book Review: Uglies

One of the characters in my unfinished novel is absorbed in a popular teen book.  At the moment, I still don't know what that novel is.  I want it to be pertinent to the story as a whole, but when I look back at my own young adult reading, I can't really remember a novel which would fit.  So, I googled top teen reads of 2005 (the approximate setting of my novel) and happened upon this title, Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld.  I don't think I realized it was the first in a trilogy.  Now, to find out how the story ends, I'm going to have to bite the bullet and read the follow-up novels, even though I don't think this is the novel my character gets engrossed in and I doubt I'm engrossed enough to want to go on.

Tally Youngblood is about to turn sixteen.  In her world, this marks the point where her life will truly begin, because in her world once you are sixteen you are given an operation which turns you pretty and the purpose of your life becomes one big party.  Sounds inviting, right?  Who wouldn't want to be pretty and fun?  Well, Tally's friend, Shay, for one.  Plus, there's a whole group of runaways who have chosen exile rather than undergo the operation which might change more than just your appearance.  Tally must decide which side she's on.  In fact, she's forced by the Special Circumstances unit to reveal Shay's location or remain an "ugly" for the rest of her life.

Although I can understand the appeal of this book for young readers, I found it a bit too convoluted.  The premise was interesting, but the execution was less so.  The characters didn't reel me in.  Plus, so much of it seemed unbelievable and inconsistencies bothered me (they keep saying that Tally is the only one to find the runaway hideout on her own, yet Shay left alone just a few weeks before Tally).  The idea that a whole society would consider themselves ugly unless fine-tuned with cosmetic surgery was a bit much for me to swallow. Still, I did find it somewhat compelling.  I read the whole thing in the space of a few days.  And, I felt disappointed that the loose ends weren't tied up more for the conclusion of this first installment.  At this point, I can't say whether I'll give the rest of the series a whirl or not, but I do know the character in my novel is not caught up in this particular book.