Book Review: Pretties by Scott Westerfeld
January 3rd, 2009
I started reading Pretties as soon as I finished Uglies, and it marks the 4th book that I have read for the From the Stacks challenge. I am positive that I will be able to complete this challenge as I have already started reading Specials, the third book in The Uglies series.
I have to say that I enjoy Scott Westerfeld’s books. Both The Midnighters and The Uglies are teen series, and they read very quickly. Both have worlds that are somewhat unique, and he has developed terminology, mythology, and slang within those worlds. The Uglies is told from the third person limited point of view of Tally, and I appreciate how the language changes as Tally changes in the series. I recommend this series to those who enjoy light science fiction and to those who enjoy thinking about the flaws of utopian societies (as well as the flaws of modern day society).
WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW
Uglies ended with Tally turning herself into the authorities and requesting to be made Pretty. Pretties starts about a month after Tally’s pretty operation. Tally is not only Pretty in appearance, but she is also “pretty minded” where her biggest concerns are what to wear to the night’s party. I was somewhat annoyed by the language at the beginning of the book as it reflected Tally’s vapid new existence. As the novel progresses, Tally regains her clarity or “bubbliness” and the language transforms from valley girl back to normal. I thought that this was clever. Tally and her Pretty friends struggle to find a cure for their brain lesions, the ones resulting in brain damage to make the Pretties complacent. Turns out that becoming pretty has a cost as learned in the first novel, but the beauty of it is that you don’t know the difference when you’re a pretty bubblehead. Hrm, would you rather be intelligent or pretty?
I enjoyed Pretties, but I do have one problem with the series so far. The Pretties live their lives in a fog but have moments of clarity brought upon by boosting adrenaline. Alcohol causes their thinking to be even more muddled, which makes sense and is a good message to the intended audience (teenagers). The parts that I thought were wrong involved eating disorders and self mutilation. Tally and Croy starve themselves for weeks and this helps their clarity (though it is not their sole purpose in starving themselves as they are trying to remove tracking cuffs). One sect of Pretties called the Cutters determines that they clear their minds by cutting themselves. I didn’t like how cutting was glamorized in the series. This seems like a poor and reckless message to teenagers. I have not seen any consequences to the cutting in the series. I thought that this was worth a mention as it bothered me due to the targeted age group.
Overall, I enjoyed Pretties and am enjoying Specials so far. I am planning to read other Westerfeld novels as well.
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January 22nd, 2009 at 1:49 pm
I have a few comments regarding the cutting. I agree that it’s not described in a bad enough light. You don’t want your teen readers to think it’s cool, and the end result of the series seemed to take a ‘whatever’ approach to cutting.
However, i do want to say that i think the effect that cutting has on these characters, to feel “real” and “clear-headed”, is probably pretty close to the true reasons why real life people cut themselves. I had a couple of friends in high school who were cutting together, and had some sort of friendship-cutting-pact. There was an intervention-type event with some of us b/c we were worried about them. In trying to understand what was going on, i learned that for some people (especially those with bigger problems than i ever experienced), life can get to a place where it feels numb. Cutting is a way for them to reassure themselves that they are real, and to really feel something. In that sense, the Cutters in the books do represent what some real teens will be trying to do.
But i agree that it is never really discouraged, and i think that teen books should try to lead our teens in good directions.