“Pretties” is the sequel to the futuristic sci-fi novel “Uglies,” reviewed by me previously. As I stated in that review, I’m not really a sci-fi fan, but these books are fascinating to me.
Tally Youngblood lives in a society where beauty is the ultimate goal. When the people in her town reach the age of sixteen, they are given surgery to make them incredibly beautiful, but at the same time, their brains are altered to make them less aware of what’s going on around them. They are being controlled and kept from uprising. Only a few have escaped the surgery, and they are living out in the forest, scraping by.
Tally Youngblood has tasted life on the outside but now she has returned to Prettytown to infiltrate it from the inside. She has had the surgery and remembers very little about her plan to thwart the powers that be. She spends her time going to parties, drinking, and wearing beautiful clothes. She occasionally catches a glimpse of what her life was like before, but it’s only when an Ugly from the outside sneaks in and gives her the cure for her brain fog that she remembers what she was sent to do. A little at a time, she convinces the other Pretties that they need to escape with her to the outside so they can all be cured and live their lives in freedom. She manages to get a certain number of them out to safety, but she herself lands in the middle of an anthropological experiment being conducted by the Special Circumstance agents, and she realizes that they’re all just part of one big science experiment.
I love how this book is constructed. When we start the book, Tally has no memory of life before the surgery, and so the narrative tone is very light and air-headed. As Tally’s memory returns, the narrative becomes more mature and intelligent, and we can always tell by the narrative how Tally’s cure is progressing. These books are clear statements on the importance of the human intellect, our right to choose, and the power we all have to create our destinies.
I’m excited to read the third installment in this series, “Specials,” and will be sure to review it then.
(This book was published in 2005 by Simon and Schuster.)
Related Blogs:
Tristi’s Picks: Best Novels Read in 2007