CB # 41-43 Uglies, Pretties, and Specials

Uglies
Pretties

Specials   All by Scott Westerfield (YA)

This trilogy (plus the extra book which is set in the same world, Extras, which I never got around to reading) is set in the far future. Human civilization as we know it has been destroyed by a virus that caused all the petrol to explode. Now humanity has rebuilt itself into a beautiful species.  In the first book, Uglies, Tally Youngblood is excited about her upcoming 16th birthday. Finally she’ll become “pretty,” a surgical process that will physically transform her so that she is a perfect example of the human beauty ideal - giant eyes, perfectly smooth skin, amazing hair etc. Everyone has the surgery at age 16. However, a week before her birthday, Tally’s friend, Shay tells her that she doesn’t want to get the surgery. Instead she is going to run away to the Smoke, to meet her friend David. When Tally doesn’t want to leave with her, Shay gives her instructions on how to find the Smoke. Unfortunately, Uglies aren’t supposed to leave. Instead, Special Circumstances, who police the city, force Tally to go and find out where the Smoke is, and set off a receiver so Special Circumstances can find and destroy the Smoke.

Obviously, Tally's world can't be utopian (why can't we have a utopia?), so there need to be dark secrets which Tally will discover as things go along. Also, it's a trilogy, so more and more secrets will be revealed as you go through the books.  I found the first book to be the strongest and the most interesting, but as a series it couldn't keep my interest. I took forever to read Specials and I found the plot fairly repetitive. However, I will say that I couldn't completely abandon the books. The end of each one hooks you into reading the next, even if it takes you forever to get through them. 

On the plus side, I thought that the friendship between Shay and Tally changed and was complicated in a very real way, and I appreciated it. I also think that as soft science fiction, it can be a great introduction to a reluctant reader to a really fun genre. The writing style is easy to read and Tally has really normal teenage concerns throughout.

CB # 14 Generosity: An Enhancement

Generosity: An Enhancement by Richard Powers

                I read this a few weeks ago, but misplaced my copy so I can’t quote it extensively, which is what I really want to do. The writing in this novel is absolutely beautiful. Very rarely do I make markings in books, since I think it’s just cruel to destroy innocent books for no good reason. Even if I really love a quotation, I usually just write it down as soon as I see something beautiful in it. Generosity was different; I made markings all over the place. I couldn’t start writing it all down, so I kept everything.

                I was reminded of this novel when I read this article about the discovery of the happiness gene. Generosity is all about that same discovery and what it would actually mean for humanity. Russell runs a non-fiction writing class, and is a bit of a sad-sack. He’s surprised to read the writing of his student Thassadit and discover the amount of pain and suffering that she has lived through, including the Algerian Civil War. He is so massively surprised because she is such a happy person. She brings joy to the lives of her cynical classmates and she makes them notice the beauty of the world that she lives in. A parallel narrative thread follows the scientific search for the happiness gene. Obviously, the two stories get brought together and Powers questions if happiness is really all that good for us.

                Powers doesn’t like easy answers, or even answering things. I loved Gain, which I read for a class, and focused on the connections between capitalism and cancer, as reality and as a metaphor. Generosity has a similar intent. There are things we want to be able to control with science and with commerce, but maybe all our control is leading us in the completely wrong direction.

CB #7 Pandaemonium

Pandaemonium by Christopher Brookmyre

                I loved my exchange year in Scotland. Sometimes I get homesick for it… well not exactly homesick, because it wasn’t really my home, but I start to miss mountains and that particular shade of green that only comes from daily rain. I miss Scottish accents and taking the train everywhere. I miss seeing the Wallace monument in the distance. I also miss the nightly cage around the William Wallace statue that prevented locals from decapitating it because it looked like Mel Gibson. I was feeling morose over Christmas so I picked up a book by someone who gets the accents  and the Scottish attitude right. I have found Brookmyre hit or miss in the past, but I thought that a darkly comic thriller involving the US military’s secret facility in Scotland, physics, possible demons from a Hell dimension, the Catholic Church and a group of high school students who are going on a retreat to  deal with the murder of a classmate would keep my attention. This book definitely bends genres.

 At the beginning of the novel, there’s a chart that names all of students at the retreat and puts them into little groups, like the Hard Team, Heidthebaws, the Beautiful People, and the God Squad, so that you have some understanding of the group dynamics. It was essential with about 33 characters including the teachers. Oh, and that was only the school narrative. There’s also the people in the top secret military facility who are studying the demons, until of course the system is sabotaged and the creatures escape.

I loved how Brookmyre portrayed the relationships between the high school students. I liked the  group dynamics, as well as the way that people struggled with how they are perceived both inside and outside the group. They were worried about sex and friendship and the aftereffects of witnessing a murder, but that they also just wanted to drink and have fun as well. It felt pretty realistic. Not all the students were focused on, obviously, but those that were, were distinct individuals who I cared about.

Now my problem with the book is this. I started it on January 4^th and read most of it in 2 days. Then I stopped and I only finished it today. Part of the problem is that I often read two or more books at once and sometimes one falls to the wayside, but the other part of the problem is that after all that set up, I wasn’t very interested in having these kids battling for their lives. I just wanted them to figure things out and have some fun.  I didn’t care at all about the people in the military facility and could have used less of that (even though it was incredibly important to the plot).  A final factor was that after reading two chapters I remembered one of Brookmyre’s particular interests and realized how exactly the novel would have to end. If you haven’t read any Brookmyre then it will probably be surprising, and you might love it more than I did.

Overall, I did get my Scottish accent fix, and the teens felt real. I even loved some of the fight scenes (there was a chainsaw!) but I felt that it went on a bit long and could have been tighter.