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Uglies (The Uglies) [Kindle Edition]

Scott Westerfeld
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (678 customer reviews)

Print List Price: $9.99
Kindle Price: $7.99 includes free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
You Save: $2.00 (20%)
Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc

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Book Description

Everybody gets to be supermodel gorgeous. What could be wrong with that?

Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her license -- for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there.

But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to be pretty. She'd rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world -- and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.



Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Playing on every teen’s passionate desire to look as good as everybody else, Scott Westerfeld (Midnighters) projects a future world in which a compulsory operation at sixteen wipes out physical differences and makes everyone pretty by conforming to an ideal standard of beauty. The "New Pretties" are then free to play and party, while the younger "Uglies" look on enviously and spend the time before their own transformations in plotting mischievous tricks against their elders. Tally Youngblood is one of the most daring of the Uglies, and her imaginative tricks have gotten her in trouble with the menacing department of Special Circumstances. She has yearned to be pretty, but since her best friend Shay ran away to the rumored rebel settlement of recalcitrant Uglies called The Smoke, Tally has been troubled. The authorities give her an impossible choice: either she follows Shay’s cryptic directions to The Smoke with the purpose of betraying the rebels, or she will never be allowed to become pretty. Hoping to rescue Shay, Tally sets off on the dangerous journey as a spy. But after finally reaching The Smoke she has a change of heart when her new lover David reveals to her the sinister secret behind becoming pretty. The fast-moving story is enlivened by many action sequences in the style of videogames, using intriguing inventions like hoverboards that use the rider’s skateboard skills to skim through the air, and bungee jackets that make wild downward plunges survivable -- and fun. Behind all the commotion is the disturbing vision of our own society -- the Rusties -- visible only in rusting ruins after a virus destroyed all petroleum. Teens will be entranced, and the cliffhanger ending will leave them gasping for the sequel. (Ages 12 and up) --Patty Campbell

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 6 Up–Tally Youngblood lives in a futuristic society that acculturates its citizens to believe that they are ugly until age 16 when they'll undergo an operation that will change them into pleasure-seeking "pretties." Anticipating this happy transformation, Tally meets Shay, another female ugly, who shares her enjoyment of hoverboarding and risky pranks. But Shay also disdains the false values and programmed conformity of the society and urges Tally to defect with her to the Smoke, a distant settlement of simple-living conscientious objectors. Tally declines, yet when Shay is found missing by the authorities, Tally is coerced by the cruel Dr. Cable to find her and her compatriots–or remain forever "ugly." Tally's adventuresome spirit helps her locate Shay and the Smoke. It also attracts the eye of David, the aptly named youthful rebel leader to whose attentions Tally warms. However, she knows she is living a lie, for she is a spy who wears an eye-activated locator pendant that threatens to blow the rebels' cover. Ethical concerns will provide a good source of discussion as honesty, justice, and free will are all oppressed in this well-conceived dystopia. Characterization, which flirts so openly with the importance of teen self-concept, is strong, and although lengthy, the novel is highly readable with a convincing plot that incorporates futuristic technologies and a disturbing commentary on our current public policies. Fortunately, the cliff-hanger ending promises a sequel.–Susan W. Hunter, Riverside Middle School, Springfield, VT

Product Details

  • File Size: 757 KB
  • Print Length: 448 pages
  • Publisher: Simon Pulse; Reprint edition (May 10, 2006)
  • Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B000GCFY0I
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • X-Ray: Enabled
  • Lending: Not Enabled
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,876 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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Customer Reviews

This is truly a book I would recommend to any fan of young adult fiction and/or sci-fi. C. McIntyre  |  96 reviewers made a similar statement
This was a good YA story-- good characters, good plot, good writing. nfmgirl  |  103 reviewers made a similar statement
When I started reading this book it was interesting I couldn't put it down!! Connie Ryder  |  79 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
169 of 177 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't Put it Down September 1, 2007
Format:Paperback
I am a middle school English teacher and enjoy reading Young Adult literature. I also have seen the Twilight Zone episode, with a very similar story line, and it was an episode that has lingered hauntingly in my thoughts....so when I heard of this series, I was very eager to read it. I don't frequently write reviews, but I had to react to the negative reviews that I saw on this site. Though the story line may not be original, the author writes beautifully, using specific vocabulary and beautiful similes, without, at least in my opinion, holding back the story line. Tally is a well-developed character, thoughtful and fully understanding the consequences of her actions. I saved this book for a three-day weekend but read it all last night and this morning. I was unable to put it down and am planning to read all three books this week. I highly recommend this book for readers who enjoy thinking about what our future will be like. I plan to share the first chapter with my Junior Great Books class. I think it will be great fodder for intellectual discussion.
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105 of 116 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Can't wait to read the next one... December 14, 2005
Format:Paperback
I have not read other novels by the author, but I will be after reading this one. This was an incredibly well written book. The setting was well created and the characters were believable and well developed. There are no great leaps of faith that one has to make with some science fiction attempts. The story line makes sense. You're wondering how could this all work, and just about when you get to the point were you have to have some type of explanation or you're going to get frustrated, the author gives it to you. And I liked the explanations and the logic behind how the world got to this point.

Uglies reminds of The Giver, in that the people feel as though they are in a utopia, and the reader thinks this is great to start out with, and then it all starts falling a part at the seams once you begin really thinking about the plot. I like this book because it raises some of the same questions; how much control should we give the people in power, should you question the world around you, what's with all the rules, conformity, but it does it with the whole idea of receiving cosmetic surgery and hoverboards. The science and technology added to this story make it easier to swallow then The Giver.
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60 of 67 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Uglies, anything but August 28, 2006
Format:Paperback
I bought this book on the recommendations I found online and I'm really glad I did. The synopsis has already been well described here. I just want to add my "thumbs WAAAY up" to all the other glowing reviews. As I read this book, I kept thinking of how the concept of beauty changes so much over time. I wonder what will be considered beautiful in 300 years (about the time this series is set). I was also wondering who got to decide what was beautiful when the operations started, and had it evolved over time. Interesting things to ponder as you read...but making you think is what really good fiction should do.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars Cover
I like that the book is in good condition, but I ordered it thinking that it would have the same cover as in the picture. Read more
Published 3 days ago by Tally
4.0 out of 5 stars Amazon.com editorial review is misleading.
In the review written by Amazon.com, the reviewer refers to David as Tally's newest lover. This is wrong since there is no sex in the book at all. Read more
Published 3 days ago by avidreader43
4.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous book!
I thought Scott Westerfield wrote an amazing story with a very interesting future society. It is a major cliffhanger although it's totally worth it! Read more
Published 5 days ago by KatRamm
5.0 out of 5 stars Wow!!!
I loved this book. In a way it was a lot like The Hunger Games. Scott Westerfield is a genius! Can't wait to start the next book!
Published 7 days ago by Michele McKay
5.0 out of 5 stars I LOVE THIS SERIES
This captivating novel had me reading under my desk in class. In a society where if you are not perfect you are ugly, and it is almost imposible to run away, Tally is forced by... Read more
Published 12 days ago by Elizabeth Berry
4.0 out of 5 stars Bought for English
Daughter liked the book and bought it for English class so she would have one herself and enjoyed the book
Published 13 days ago by Wendy Curts
5.0 out of 5 stars Human Beings.... inner reflection as a species
Makes you reflect on the human experience and the way we as a society attempt to control the ugly in all of us.
Published 14 days ago by LilDeb
5.0 out of 5 stars Uglies: An Amazing Book
This book was so amazing. It's about a dystopian world where your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that makes you pretty. Read more
Published 20 days ago by Jenna Smith
1.0 out of 5 stars Not good.
Not good at all. Very weird book. Quite disappointed. Wish I didn't spend the money. On to the next book.
Published 23 days ago by Stephanie Lake
5.0 out of 5 stars Great read
I had a hard time putting this book down. My 15 yr old daughter felt the same way & loved the book. Reading the next one!
Published 23 days ago by K. Nelson-Miller
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More About the Author

Scott Westerfeld's teen novels include the Uglies series, the Midnighters trilogy, The Last Days, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and the sequel to Peeps. Scott was born in Texas, and alternates summers between Sydney, Australia, and New York City.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#23 in Books > Teens
#23 in Books > Teens

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How appropriate is this book?
It is a lot better than some of the other YA books I've read, because it doesn't resort to graphic violence, swearing, or any of the eyebrow-raising content you mentioned. I rate it PG-13 for futuristic setting, mild if any swearing (I couldn't remember reading any bad words, especially not any... Read more
May 14, 2006 by Holly |  See all 15 posts
Uglies-another quesion
Nothing graphic, no foul language or sexual content. Yes I as a mother myself would let my daughter read at age 10
Sep 2, 2011 by WV |  See all 3 posts
Please loan :)
Do you know where your city library is?
Jun 12, 2012 by Samantha |  See all 2 posts
do no purchase Be the first to reply
Has anyone thought of the similarities?
That is the first thing that I thought of upon reading this book. In fact, I lead a book discussion group for teens. We're discussing "Uglies" this month. I'm also going to show them a clip from that Twilight Zone episode. (Volume 25)
Oct 16, 2006 by E. Schirota |  See all 5 posts
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