Uglies

Uglies is the first book in the quadrilogy by Scott Westerfeld. The book is written in third person, but the main character is a sixteen year old girl named Tally Youngblood. In her world, there are Uglies and Pretties. When someone turns sixteen, the are able to get three operations to make them into Pretties. All the Pretties live in their own compound, don't have to work, and shun the Uglies.

Tally is really excited to turn pretty and can't understand why her friend Shay wants to run away to Smoke, a town full of runaway Uglies. When Shay disappears, Tally is blackmailed by Dr. Cable to find Smoke and the missing Uglies, or else the doctor won't let her have the surgeries.

The first couple of chapters seemed to drag on, but then the pace picks up. The books shows that no matter where you live or in what decade, people will problems with self image. It shows how far some people will go to look perfect in every way, very reminiscent of the Hollywood mindset. The only time we hear of Tally's parents is when they come to her dorm for her birthday. I think this book would be appropriate for any read who has a problem with body image.