Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Discussion questions to come. Would you like to post a comment about this book? Tell us what you liked or disliked about it!

Comments

[CS Ms.Schleider's 10th grade class Atlantic Technical HS]

I would say that this book was a great book i was very interested in the context and exploring in the book. It was based on the future and what teen girls view of themselves as far as being ugly and pretty. its readable with a convincing plot that incorporates futuristic techonologies and the fine line between beauty.

[Jess]

This book has a new sci-fi twist that makes you wonder about how life today will affect life somewhere near 200 years in the future.

[WS Mrs.Schleiders 10th grade class, Atlantic Technical Magnet HS]

This book was one of the best books i have read. I was very interested in how tally was living her life as an ugly and making changes for the future in the smoke. This story was set in the future which made it very interesting and puts an idea in your head of how things might be in the coming years. Ever since i finished reading this book i continued to read Pretties, and soon Specials and Extras because they all end with cliffhangers that go with the next book. I love these books they are great.

[K.S: Ms. Schleider's class/ 10th grade/ ATCMHS]

This book was a great book. It was adventurous, funny and it teaches a good moral lesson. I also like how in the book the author made a little love story out of it.

[B.C.Ms. Schleider's class/ 10th grade/ ATCMHS]

This book was set in the future. Ir kinda makes you wonder and worry a little. I didn't really like this book in particular. It wasn't really my favorite book that i ever read.

[C.S Ms.Schleiders 10th grade reading class ATC magnet high school]

I would say that this book was a great book I was very interested in the context and exploring in the book. It was based on the future and what teen girls view of themselves as far as being ugly and pretty. It’s readable with a convincing plot that incorporates futuristic technologies and the fine line between beauties. This relates so much to this generation of teens because it’s all about beauty these days. Everyone wants the perfect body but need’s to realize there are consequences and responsibility, this book shows the fine line between those consequences and struggles. What I really want to know is why not live your life the way you are especially if your happy with it? Just like the one girl in the book who was happy with how she looked but that society in pretty world didn’t accept her,(more like the society today, seeing as though this book takes place in the future) Since her society didn’t accept her she ran away. I would definitely recommend this book to teen girls of all ages, so that they can see that it’s ok to look the way you look.

[Eris, 11th grade]

Uglies is a book aimed at those people who like so-called "distopian" fiction, though it is more modern than most literature of the genre. It is set in a future where society as we know it is extinct, destroyed by its dependency on oil. Surviving humans live in small, isolated cities and have no control over their lives. People are segregated into age-specific groups and kept docile by the promise of full-body cosmetic surgery. Once people go through the surgery as a birthday present, the city leaders have other, more sinister, though less obvious ways to keep their citizens in line. The main character, Tally, accepts the life set out for her until she meets a friend who encourages her to question whether the "birthday gift" is all it's cracked up to be. Though this book does explore the role of beauty in society, it has several other themes. Uglies makes us think about whether or not humans need randomness and conflict to stay human, and what extent our government can go to control us.

[K.N.]

I am intrigued by the previous comments. I started to read this book as part of my self-assigned summer reading (I have systematically been reading the books on this list) but could not get through it. I kept thinking about another book - The Giver, by Lois Lowry - and how magically Lowry revealed the world of her story. I felt that Uglies was repetitive in the way the setup was revealed. Maybe I read it with too critical an eye, but I was bogged down by the pacing and in the end put the book down in favor of books that moved along at a brisker pace.
I hope that my students read this book so I can find out what they thought -- maybe I'm just the wrong audience for this book.