uglies - pretties - specials

[orangerful]

I keep meaning to post about this but then it slips my mind since I'm only reading the books while at work!

I'm reading the Uglies trilogy by Scott Westerfeld and so far I'm really enjoying it! I just started book 3 last night. It's not the best written book ever, but the plot really gets you pondering as far as what is beauty, how we are conditioned to believe certain things, how we can be re-conditioned to accept the way things are no matter how horrible, and how the writers are the ones that control the way history is portrayed.

'Uglies' is set in this future society. They are on Earth but they never refer to it as that. They just live in this self contained city. In this city, you're born and you grow up and when you're about 12, you're sent away to the dorms in Uglyville. These are the years when you're one of the uglies. You play around, do pranks (or "tricks" as they call them), and wait for your 16th birthday, when the doctors will come get you and make you pretty. It doesn't matter what "imperfections" you have now - your nose too big? hips too small? legs too short? One eye higher than the other? Don't worry, they'll fix you and make your skin perfect, your height normal. and your face perfectly symetrical. You'll never be sick again and you'll be happy all the time. You'll be the spitting image of what millions of years of evolution tells us is beauty. You'll never be jealous of someone elses' looks because you will be just as beautiful.

Too good to be true? Of course. I won't spoil it anymore, you should really pick it up. It looks like a really thick book, but the font is large and the margins are generous plus it's full of action and adventure so you just go right thru it.

We're hoping to do a book discussion group for teens/young adults next year at the library and this is on my list of books to talk about. There's just so much to discuss! Someone on here should read it though because I want to talk about it now! haha.

Though, I haven't finishd the last book yet, and really the finale will be what makes all the difference. Especially when it comes to a utopia/dystopia kind of story, how it all turns out in the end will decide whether I love this series or hate it. I've spent too much time with these characters to have them fail! Nooo!

The funny thing is, when I was a "young adult" (i.e. ages 12-18) I never read anything from that section of the library. In 6th grade I read 'Jurassic Park' and went on a Michael Crichton kick, then in 8th grade I discovered 'Hitchhiker's Guide' and read all those and I never felt the need to read anything thing in the YA area (which always seemed to be more 'Melrose Place' style drama than anything cool). Now? Now I can't get enough of the YA! Go figure!

EDIT: Big surprise here - just clicked around Scott Westerfeld's site and was looking at his new book 'Peeps' and it turns out he's a Buffy fan. I KNEW I liked him for a reason haha.

Comments

[demonqueen666.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I read Uglies over the summer, and I really liked it! Glad to know that the rest of the trilogy is apparantly just as good (or at least, that's what you appear to be saying).

[mlle-chosette.livejournal.com]

Ooh, sounds good. I'll have to put those on my ever-growing 'Books I Need to Read' list :-).

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

So far so good. I've only just started 'Specials' but 'Pretties' was good too! You really should pick them up! I'll be careful not to post any spoilers ;-)

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

first, icon love!

Yes, I know that list. I have the list, and then the pile by my bed that consists of library books, and then the bookshelf next to that which is full of books people have bought for me or ones I rescued from the trash at the library (and that I'll probably never read because they don't have a due date like the library ones...)

[mlle-chosette.livejournal.com]

Hee, I just got that icon the other day, from violetterosa; along with the one I'm using now, which I love even more :-D.

Yes, I have the pile by the bed too. Made even bigger by the fact that I insist on re-reading books that I love instead of using that time to read new ones. In fact, I have several piles by my bed :-).

[bittertwee.livejournal.com]

Cool- those books sound interesting! Maybe I'll check them out. Thanks for assuring us that the font and margins are large, so we're not scared off by a Big Book. I always say that you can't judge a book by its cover, but you CAN judge it by the font size. Ha- ok, sorry, I'll stop being a smart-ass :-)

I never read YA books when I was a YA either. I think the reason so many of us A's are reading YA books now is that there has been a YA lit renaissance. I have a theory about this, the theory being that YA authors are actually writing these books for other adults, but the fact that they're YA books gives them license to have more fun and not worry quite so much about small-ish plot holes, implausibilities, etc. And they don't have to write any sex scenes, which is good, because has there ever really been a good sex scene in a regular fiction book? They always seem so perfunctory. And/or comical.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

well, when I see a fantasy book that looks a bit plump, I tend to panic. I could never get thru the Lord of the Rings books. And you can tell a lot by font size! haha. (I had a kid in the library last week who checked out our copy of 'Fellowship of the Ring' in large print. He said he could never get thru the regular version because it was so long and the print was so tiny, so he's going to give this a try!)

Yes, I think YA books are definately going in a new direction and taking the term "Young Adult" to heart. Before, when we were teens, YA fiction was just teen drama and angst and Sweet Valley High-style stories, total fluff. But these last few books I've read have had a bit more substance to them. Though there has been a fair share of "controversial" books, but the characters in those annoyed me ("Looking for Alaska" was the big one last year; I was supposed to read it but I couldn't stand the main characters at all, but apparently it had a lot of drug scenes, drinking and getting smashed scenes, and at least one "how to give a blow job" scene!)

But I agree with you - YA authors are not writing for teens anymore, I think they are just writing and seeing what their publisher calls it. I mean, 'I am the Messnger' was a fantastic book, but the main character was 18 so I think they felt obligated to make it YA. 'Book Thief' deals with the holocaust and is narrated by Death, but the heroine is a young girl, so it becomes YA. And then there's Harry Potter - I think Rowling is just writing and it's her editor who says "whoa, this should probably be Young Adult now..."

Wouldn't it be great if the last book was classified as Adult fiction?

Wow, that was a REALLY LONG REPLY! sorry, I'm in a ramblin' mood.

[bittertwee.livejournal.com]

yeah, I didn't make it through Fellowship of the Rings in high school, and as an adult I just haven't been inspired to try again. I don't know why. It's British, fantasy, lots of subtext, and the guy was a linguist- you'd think they'd be perfect for me. You know what I think it is? I think when I worked in a bookstore in the early 90's (pre-Harry Potter days), all the fantasy books seemed so formulaic- They were all a bunch of misfits in some fantasy land going on some quest. So even though Tolkien pretty much invented that genre (I think?), to my mind decades later his books got lumped in with all the imitations. Unfair, but there you are.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

oh yes, very true! I'd never read lord of the rings and I'd only seen the Hobbit cartoon when the movies came out, but all of the creatures and set up seemd familiar to me. And now that I've seen the movies, which from what I can tell improve upon the books (editing out scenes that were Tolkien just goofing off, adding some strong female characters) I feel no need to read the books. Though I did take a nice copy from the donations pile at work just in case I change my mind (it was all red and shiny and in a faux-jewel box).