LiterariLeigh

So much of society seems to put great value into being beautiful. Where would Vogue, Cosmopolitan or Glamour magazines be without it? As a teenager, I remember thinking that I should grow up to look like a model. Now I tend to look at those covers and think "That woman is too skinny. She looks unhealthy!" Then I flip through and look at the magazine anyway. Ok, I'm a contradiction to myself.

The subject of ideal beauty is what interested me in Scott Westerfield's book Uglies. Set in a futuristic society, there are Uglies and Pretties. When a teen turns sixteen, they are given an operation that makes them beautiful and then they get to live in the wonderful world of New Pretty Town where everybody parties and has fun all the time. Tally Youngblood has been conditioned from birth to believe that this is the best thing that can ever happen to a person. But after she meets Shay, another teen who proposes that the operation is an unnecessary mutilation and that people are fine the way they are, Tally begins to question her beliefs. A twist of fate turns her into a spy and she is told she must find and turn in a band of Uglies that ran away and now live in the forest, or she will never be made Pretty. Westerfield's presentation of the desire for beauty and brainwashing of teens makes for an absorbing read. Uglies is the first book in a series, followed by Pretties, Specials and Extras.