Alexia’s Letter Essay #6:Uglies

I recently finished reading Uglies. Scott Westerfield, the author of the series, has also written and published many other young adult books such as Afterwards, Goliath, and Leviathan. Uglies was published February 8th, 2006. I read this book for book clubs, so I didn’t have a choice. However, I realized that I really enjoyed reading it. The constant twists and turns in the plot made the book interesting and hard to predict.

Tally Youngblood, an average teenager from Uglyville, wants nothing more than to turn pretty and see her best friend Peris again, to live a care free life of partying in New Pretty Town. But her plans change when she meets a new friend, Shay, who thought otherwise. She told Tally  the ugly part of becoming a pretty and what it meant. However, because Tally refuses to believe the truth she stayed behind to become pretty while her new and only friend Shay had run away into the unknown world instead. But when a certain problem arrises in Tally’s plan, she finds herself chasing after Shay, her pretty dream on hold. The only way to make her ‘dream’ reality was to betray the people closest to her. But when Tally has a change of heart, she gets a rude awakening to the perfect society she thought she knew. So when Tally finds herself between a rock and a hard place, she has the choice to sacrifice everything for the sake of her friends.

I was interested in Tally and Shay’s friendship because even though Tally had everything at her access, she was willing to loose everything for Shay, however, she had also betrayed so many of the people who cared for her at the same time. After reflecting upon the book it was hard to tell if Tally did some things out of guilt, like she owed Shay back for everything else she’d done to hurt her, or it was pure friendship. I’m mostly sure it was out of care and friendship though.

I was surprised at how the author created the concept of the book around many of the things we do now, like the fact that the entire society revolved around physical appearances was unbelievable to me and many others even though that is basically how a lot the things in our modern day world revolve around as well.

“Cities worked very hard to stay independent of one another, but the Pretty Committee was a global institution that made sure pretties were all more or less the same. It would ruin the whole point of the operation if the people from one city wound up prettier than everyone else. (31.5)

I thought that this was a great way to bring more attention to the situation but the book was based around a much larger scale.

(Spoiler)I was disappointed in the end when after all Tally did decide to become pretty. This was most disappointing because after learning the true secrets behind the surgeries that take place before a person became pretty, I personally realized that Tally turning pretty would basically mean the end of the book and the same as when a the main  character dies mostly because of the fact that once they are pretty, they are brainless too. However, in spite of the situation, it was not a total loss because Tally was able to save her true best friend(who was not Peris).

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7 thoughts on “Alexia’s Letter Essay #6:Uglies

  1. Alexia,
    I’m glad you liked the book. And, technically, you did have a choice: you chose five books out of 10 and I made sure you read one of them. . . . Anyway, you did a nice job on this letter-essay. I especially liked your elaboration on one of the sentence starters in the Reflection. Just remember: when Reflecting, use three of those sentences starters. Thank you.
    Sincerely,
    Mr. Jockers

  2. Dear Alexia,

    I read this book a while back and (also have the graphic novel version if you wanted to borrow it) and I COMPLETELY AGREE ABOUT THE ENDING. Though i did enjoy the story the ending did bug me and make me not want to continue the series. The only thing i wish you did differently was chose a longer passage to get a better feel for the writing style and such but other then that i thought your letter essay was very well written and you gave a great description of the book.

    —Melissa Colasante

  3. Alexia,
    Your letter essay was well written and I enjoyed reading it. Uglies sounds like a good book and I think I will try to read it. I wish you chose a longer passage and what would you rate this book? And I though you did a good job on your summary.

    -Maddy

  4. Alexia,
    You wrote a fantastic letter essay, it was well written the ending/the rest of the book sounds interesting. I am reading it now in class as a second book club book. You had a great background of the author and you analyzed the book very well. I just wish you quoted a longer passage and make it clearer with quotes. And also leading the reading to the passage, for example: In this passage Tally… You also would want to include what you would rate the book.
    -Madigan

  5. Alexia,
    Your letter essay was very good, i have read this book and i’m reading it again for our book clubs. I agree with you with the ending it is disappointing, because the author could have ended the book so many other ways. I curious to know what you would rate it, you didn’t include that. But overall great job.
    — Sarah

  6. Lexi! I am actually reading this book for book club now! I have really enjoyed it; like you! I loved your letter essay. It was really well written! I Agree with Sarah: What would you rate this book : ).? Great Job on your summary!

    _ IZZY

  7. Dear Alexia,
    I really enjoyed reading your Letter Essay. I can tell that you read/searched up a lot of information about the book and author. It was very well written. I also like how you explained the characters. Nice job!

    -Zoe W.

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