Aditya Singh Singh itibaren Hoşkadem Mahallesi, 52520 Kabataş/Ordu, Турция
For all of us who were ever curious about how it worked behind the scenes.
Quite a good dystopian teen novel - and I do enjoy a good dystopia from time to time. Like all half-decent teen novels this one has a lot of good ethical messages to be drawn from its pages, but overall it's a bit thin in substance, even for its younger audience. Maybe I got used to reading so-called 'adult' novels when I was younger - maybe I've grown up enough to realise that there really isn't a lot to a teen novel anyway. However, even the children's book Bridge to Terabithia had a lot of substance for an adult reader like me. On the other hand, Twilight has to be one of the trashiest novels I've ever read, even though it's aimed at an older audience than children. Personally I don't think that being classified as a 'teen' novel is an excuse for a superficial plot, which leaves Uglies falling a little short in a lot of areas. By all accounts it definitely is a compelling read (as the back cover so ernestly states) and the story is interesting enough to motivate me into the sequel (which is more than I could say for Twilight). This book is a bit like a good blockbuster movie - you know there's nothing incredible about it, but it's good fun and easy to roll with either way. The major holes for me were the lack of any serious male character development, which is understandable for a book that focuses on a female protagonist, but for once I'd like to read a tale that does justice to both genders instead of being so conspicuously directed at one or the other. Furthermore, while all the action goes whizzing by there is little room for exploring the heavier portions of the story, which provide a lot of promise for intruige and depth. Hopefully the sequel will reveal a bit more substance, but if not I'll be happy to spend a few hours in la-la land.
So I was reading this book, right? And I was thinking, "Damn! This is the best book I've read all year! Maybe, maybe it's tied with David LaRochelle's Absolutely, Positively Not, but other than that it is the BEST, for sure." And it still is, almost. The problem is the ending, which is horrifically predictable and even more horrifically executed. I don't necessarily mind predictable endings as long as they're written well and fit nicely with the rest of the book. This ending I minded. I foresaw it, but then it went beyond what I foresaw with a level of suckitude of which I would have never imagined such an amazing author was capable. At least, I call the author amazing because the first four-fifths of the book absolutely blew me away. I can't remember the last time I've been so sucked in by a book. This book was like one big giant vacuum. I wanted to read it all the time. I actually considered (CONSIDERED, okay? That's all!) attempting to read the book at the same time I was driving back to Honesdale from Rochester, NY. I couldn't get enough of it. Then there was the ending. Too bad. But even the ending wasn't enough to ruin such a mostly magnificent book. Do yourself a favor and read one of the best, most true-to-life, and funniest YA books I've ever read.