Uglies a Pretty Good Read

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
New York : Simon Pulse, 2005.
1st Simon Pulse ed.
425 p. ; 18 cm.

Uglies is the first of the trilogy by Scott Westerfeld exploring a utopian/dystopian future where everyone is surgically made beautiful when they turn 16.  In the tradition of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, all is not perfect in the perfect world of those who are turned into "pretties" and set to live out a life of fun, beauty and light-hearted distraction.

The main character, Tally, discovers that there are those who opt out of becoming "pretty" and live in a hidden settlement called the Smoke.  Tally's interest in the Smoke brings her to the attention of the ultra authoritarian Specials who run her society, and leads Tally into some serious ethical dilemmas.

There is a lot of substance to Westerfeld's Uglies.  The book holds an uncomfortable mirror up to our current social situation with its obsessions with appearance, shallow pursuits, conformity, and social controls.  The plotting of Uglies is deft and draws one in quickly so that you really want to know what's going to happen.

Another positive aspect to Westerfeld's Uglies is that there is something for both male and female readers in this novel - relationships, romance, thrills, danger, violence, excitement and a creatively imagined future world. Lastly, my experience in a high school library is that the book is popular and circulates frequently - as do the follow up books to the trilogy: Pretties and Specials - and there's nothing ugly about that!

Dessen Does Not Disappoint

Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen
New York : Viking, 1998.
281 p. ; 22 cm.

Novels by Sarah Dessen are popular at UHS Library and I've been meaning to read one of her novels for a long time. After finishing The Handmaid's Tale for our book club, I decided to pull Someone Like You off the shelf and take it home to read.

The novel focuses on two senior high school friends, Scarlett and Halley who are neighbors and best friends. Early in the novel Scarlett is pregnant and Halley is changing from her parents' "good girl" into a young woman interested in serious dating, and breaking rules. Halley's coming of age is complicated by having a mother who's professional life is being a writer/expert on raising adolescents. It sounds all rather boilerplate and boring, but...

Dessen has an extraordinary ear for dialogue and for subtlety that escapes many less capable YA authors. Her strength is very rich character development that avoids stock characters and stereotypes. Additionally her plotting is interesting and moves along briskly; I found the book hard to put down. Probably the most refreshing aspect of this book was the way in which almost all the characters in the book are sympathetic, but imperfect. Reading it, I found my sympathies shifting between characters as they developed and confronted situations that showed their deeper qualities...

I would definitely recommend Sarah Dessen to anyone interested in the "problem novel" who wants a well written, complex, character-driven but enjoyable story.