Tally is an Ugly. She is almost 16 and will soon have the operation that will turn her into a Pretty. It is many hundreds of years in the future and the world now operates like this. From the time you are born until the time you turn twelve, you are a Littlie, and live at home with your parents. At 12, you go to school with other Uglies until you turn 16. Then you have the "operation." Your face is reconstructed, your skin sanded down, and your bones reset to be of uniform height. Everyone becomes pretty. Everyone is about the same height, and has the same skin color. There are no fights over race, religion, or really much over anything. Anything you need comes out of the wall of your house. Food, clothing, gadgets.
Tally wants more than anything to be Pretty. Her best friend Peris turned 2 months ago, and she is one of the last in her age group. But then she meets Shay. Shay has the same birthday as Tally, and the get into all sorts of mischief before their birthdays, including visiting the ruins of the "Rusties". Shay tells Tally about The Smoke, a secret place where Uglies sometimes run away so they don't have to be Pretty. Tally can't imagine why anyone wouldn't want to be Pretty. But when Shay disappears right before their birthday, she leaves behind directions for Tally to follow. When Tally gets hauled in for questioning about the disappearance of her friend, she doesn't tell them anything. But the authorities find the directions and give Tally an ultimatum: lead them to the Smoke, or stay Ugly forever.
This futuristic story was engrossing - the technology was cool, and the idea of everyone being pretty was appealing at first. But seeing how the Pretties behave (Dreadfully) and seeing the lives of the objectors in the Smoke made you think about having things too easy. Tally makes an interesting transformation in this book, and it isn't as pretty as you might think.
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