Uglies...

So I was skeptical when I first heard about Uglies. I thought the basis was a little too cheesy, but with JoyLyn’s encouragement I decided to read it. I enjoyed the book, as it’s such an exciting story, but I also appreciated some of the points made by the underlining story.

The messages about beauty were most apparent. I think of today how many millions of dollars are spent on beauty products, invasive cosmetic surgery, as well as designer clothes. I think about poor women that are so confused as to what society expects of them that they will starve themselves to harm just to try to find approval from society. In a day like today when so many people are searching after true beauty at any cost, the ideas in that book raise some very good arguments. I enjoyed Talley meeting David and the others at the smoke, as this made beauty more of an objective quality, which not only is very true, but also missing in our society.

I have always been a sucker for any book set inside a totalitarian society. 1984, Fahrenheit 451, as well as others have been among my top favorites since reading them. This is such an important issue, even here in America as more freedoms are lost all the time. It is important for the end goal to justify the means. I have no doubt that all of these controlled societies are much safer, and better at some level for overall human living conditions. But when they take away freedom of thought, speech, and other basic human needs, I believe humanity is lost. In Uglies, humanity was lost by literally lobotomizing the general public in an effort to make them more controlled. This solution distroyes what makes us human in nature, and turns us into little more than cattle, to be hearded around at will. The solution of being able to think out of this surgury is a brillant one. I couldn't help but marvel at the connection between those in the story who were content to just sit back and assume that everything is for the best, and the appathy that exsists today among too many of us.

I enjoyed this book because it addresses so many of today's issues and problems in the western world, as well as giving it an exciting fictional narative.