reading a 2000s ya dystopian series about beauty, tiktok face, and lookism | the uglies 

Oh my god, why is it such a THING to have vague memories of this book??

"I don’t know if the fourth one is like an extra" made me giggle knowing the fourth book is literally called Extras

I remember reading the opening line about the sky looking like cat vomit when I was like 11 years old and thinking "holy crap this is gonna be amazing!" lmaoooo

TALLY-WA AND SHAY-LA THIS DREDGED UP SUPPRESSED MEMORIES

One thing I always thought was interested about this series is that the writing changes as Tally changes. Like it gets ‘better’ when she’s evil, worse when she’s pretty, etc. The complexity of the writing style changes as her complexity changes! So cool!

whispering "siri" felt dystopian haha

My teacher read the first book to my 5th(?) grade class. I distinctly remember Tally thinking "why is that Ugly so happy?" when she saw an old Rusties ad with a swimsuit model. Blew my 11 year old mind that a modern model would be considered an Ugly

Scott Westerfeld also did a series called Midnighters where only certain people experienced a secret 25th hour of the day. Its pretty good from what I remember. There were monsters that only appeared in this extra hour and it was such an original idea

This book actually traumatized me lmao and I didn't realize until I was older. I have this REALLY specific fear of not taking all of my required pills if they're like antidepressants or something and when I explained it to my sister I was like "Well, because....because of the nanobot pills. In the Uglies?"

Girl I’ve been saying “sad-making” and “happy-making” for years and years and couldn’t remember why 😭

The only thing I remember from Uglies is all the SpagBol they eat.

NO WAYY Im so excited your reading this book, I read this as a tween and noone ever talks about it!!! I always thought of it more in the same vein as Giver but less academic

cari: this book was written in the mid 2000s also cari: this book was really timely even though it was written ten years ago 😭😭😭😭😭

I love the language in this series only because it’s so much like things are now. Happy-making or something-making is JUST like looks-maxing now. And people use ___-maxing for everything. Language is so cool

You should definitely read “Unwind” by Neal Shusterman. It’s about a dystopian world where they allowed parents to sign an order for their children between the ages of 13 and 18 to be "unwound" - taken to "harvest camps" and dissected into their body parts for later use. It was soooooo good

Scott Westerfeld somehow managed to write three book series that I still think about to this day. The Midnighters and Leviathan trilogies were truly my whole personality as a teenager

You just made me google “when was MySpace popular” as if I didn’t live through that era 😂 turns out it started in 2003

Blast from the past. There’s supposed to be an adaptation coming this year too so this is a great way for me to revisit the world

Why is the roller coaster hover craft scene seared into so many of our brains??! I swear that and the first line about the sunset were some of the only specific memories I had of this book. I loved this revisit to a childhood classic! Nostalgia at a 10/10 💕

I enjoyed these books but hated Tally's toxic friendship with her "bestie" Anyways, I've always wanted this book to turn into a TV series. With the cgi we have today, it would make the characters look so cool!

Unlocked a core memory with this one 😭😭

the novelette is literally how i experience the world as an aroace person! its crazy that my reality is so specific its a thought experiment

Croy is the craziest name for a character and using Troy’s picture makes me wheeze! Great video 🍝

I read this series as a 7th grader and it affected my whole personality for like a year afterwards in good and bad ways 😭Can't wait to watch this video!

I used to be OBSESSED with this series!! you should read Extras, that one was WILD and you might be surprised how that one hits now. Scott is a very nice man, I met him and his wife who is also an author when I was in middle school! a highlight of my young years!

The plot of this book kind of reminds me of the bizarre beauty standards set in Korea

I picked this up ages ago because my sister had this book. I remember very clearly that the first sentence has something about cat vomit and I immediately closed the book and was like nope, not for me. 😂

to 12 year old me this series ate DOWNNNN

I’m so sad that you didn’t mention Zane’s death!!!! That had me bawling when I was a teenager!!!

Literally read this series when I was 15 and I was OBSESSED! Wanted a movie so bad

“even though it was written 10 years ago” The pain i felt when i realized it was almost 20 years ago 😅 I read this series when i was younger and i loved it!!! the hover boards has been a constant in my brain almost since then

the imposter series by the same author is quite good too. I have not read the last book but till then, its REALLY engaging. Set in the same world as this, the imposter series is like post-ugly world. There is a man who is like very powerful (if i remember correctly, he was the president or something? like the ruler of the place) and he has a daughter- or that's what people think. Actually he has TWO daughters and they are twins. But the thing is the no one knows about the other twin because she is being made a weapon, a shield for her twin sister. If they have to go to a dangerous place or anything, SHE is sent in place of her in order to keep the other one safe. Now she is being sent to a place to live with these people (who are rulers of some other place or something) and like impersonate her sister. Its really good to read.

Lawd, the way 14 yo me loved these books. I was so heartbroken over Zane. Also, the way the breaking of that ice rink is burned into my brain. And im with you on the hoverboards too - etched into my memory for some reason 😅

I constantly bring up the uglies series (ESPECIALLY EXTRAS) and how it’s so relevant to influencer culture today!!! I’ve read it so many times as a kid, but going back as an adult in 2018 blew My Mind.

"I don't know if the fourth book is like an extra or what" made me laugh so hard 😭😭😭

I remember these!!! Not only the series, but my library actually had a guide book for like. The world of the uglies. I want to say it was called "From Bogus to Bubbly"? I have vague memories of bringing it on vacation one time and reading it to my grandma

regarding 'lookism' i really recommend the book "disfigured" by amanda leduc! it's a nonfic but traces back why we see "ugly" or disabled people as inherently less than pretty/abled people and a lot of it stems from the fairytales/media we were exposed to from a young age!

I TELL EVERYONE ABOUT THESE BOOKS they haunt me to this day!!! And nobody in my friend circle has read them. This is healing, thank you.

The fact that the hoverboards work with a belly button ring lives rent-free in my brain. I also have lots of vague memories of the series. One of the vague memories that I like the most is the city that lets people decide how they want to look and I remember how freakish those people looked to tally. And if I had a choice, that would be the city I want to live in.

I loved these books. I read them when there were only three of them and Tally's journey just really hit me in an empowering place. I loved how her role in the society changed for each book and that changed how she interacted with the society in general. The fourth one is kind it's own thing, there's a timeskip involved, but I thought it was good for what it was.

When I tell you that first line haunted every single sunset of my high school years... So excited to be revisiting this amazing series with you! I remember being genuinely hooked by the story and messaging, it's so good! 💖

It blows my mind that people will say things like "after a certain age your face is only ugly if you're a bad person" without hearing how deranged and hateful that sounds

Loved this series when I was freshman. My friend group shared the books and it was the first series that made us have book related discussion, I'll always appreciate it for that. I remember in the book instead of the characters saying something made them happy, they would say "thats happy making" and that stayed in my vernacular for a loooong time lol

I have a vivid memory of freshman year of high school hiding my Kindle behind my textbook pretending to study for finals, but I actually speed reading through this whole series. I was obsessed

I remember in 8th grade (which was like late 2010s for me) that the Uglies was one of the choices we had for our monthly book in English class 💀

FINALLY SOMEONE TALKS ABOUT THIS SERIES IVE BEEN WAITING MY WHOLE LIFE YALL

Oh my gosh, i can’t believe you’re reading these. 😭 I also have a vague memory of solely the first book, despite knowing there are more. I can’t wait to hear your takes. Also, I like the original covers so much more!

this series was HUGE to me as a kid omg..... I don't think I ever read it multiple times like I did with other series, but scenes and concepts from it are still rattling around in my head to this day!! god. huge fricking throwback!!!

I’m a little afraid to hear your thoughts because this was the series that really got me into reading as a kid. Also, the fourth is literally called extras 😂 and there have been a couple cover changes but the first set is the best.

This series was my--heck, everything Scott Westerfeld wrote--entire personality in hs. Entire.

Babe wake up, Cari just posted

I reread this recently as an adult and the most striking thing to me (aside from the young writing) was that each book has the same plot?? Tally goes to the wilderness, they get caught, she’s changed. Rinse repeat

You should read the cold awakening trilogy if you can. I read it like in 2008 or 2009 but the book stuck in my head for some reason. It’s YA and sci-fi and dystopian as well. Here’s the book description of it: The Download was supposed to change the world. It was supposed to mean the end of aging, the end of death, the birth of a new humanity. But it wasn’t supposed to happen to someone like Lia Kahn. And it wasn’t supposed to ruin her life. Lia knows she should be grateful she didn’t die in the accident. The Download saved her-but it also changed her, forever. She can deal with being a freak. She can deal with the fear in her parents’ eyes and the way her boyfriend flinches at her touch. But she can’t deal with what she knows, deep down, every time she forces herself to look in the mirror: She’s not the same person she used to be. Maybe she’s not even a person at all.

I just realized what this concept reminds me of! there was an episode of Adventure Time where Finn and Jake had to help Lumpy Space Princess in Lumpy Space (I think she was losing her lumps)... in order to fit with the party her friends dragged her to, Finn and Jake had to touch an orb that gave them lumps and the vapid talk... lol!

Omg!! This is one of the first series I've ever read where I remember waiting and waiting for the next book. And all i remember now are the hoverboard scenes, so excited to watch this 🤭 a lil refresh ❤

I remember my older sister reading it and even though I was very much into the dystopian YA book wave, I never got around to reading these. I'm feeling nostalgic so now I'm kinda interested 🤣🤣🤣

seeing more creators revisit books they loved when they were younger and I'm so here for it!! this unearthed such a specific memory of me reading book one and then being so irritated with book two i couldn't finish it lol

I way I was absolutely obsessed with these books when I was in high school 😂 I reread them when I was like 29 and actually still enjoyed them. Maybe that’s because of the nostalgia factor, but it felt like they stood the test of time lol. Love listening to your commentary and remembering a time before social media was so pervasive, and also feeling like the author predicted the future a little bit.

I vaguely remembered reading and loving the first book and maaaybe the second one from high school too so last year I read the whole series and holy nostalgia. I think it’s so wild they’re now making it into a movie.

Ahhhh this is my FAVORITE series. I return to it probably once a year. So happy to see you talking about it!

honestly THIS was theeeeee ya series for me. Like, idk i went back to this one more than even the hunger games

Omg ! I remember I saw this in middle school ! The nostalgia 😭😭

I have a signed copy of this book and it was such a fever dream book. i really like the themes tho and feel like it’s applicable today

The hoverboards come back to mind at LEAST once a week. Especially driving in the winter, thinking about wouldn't it be great to have magnetic transportation so I didn't have to worry about ice 😅

This has been my favorite book series ever since i read it 15 years ago when i was 13. Ive been dreaming of it being made into a movie and it finally is! I could cry 💗

i love watching your videos bc i’m lowkey a slow reader and i get into reading slumps easily, but u explain most of the books you read so i get motivation to read them or i get to know about the book through you, either way i love this channel

people living in the reservation in book two was my core memory. i remembered tally being so stunned by them and their culture. then i re-read the books like two months ago and its wild ✨

I remember getting to Specials and had to stop reading because reading from an evil perspective was so hard lmao. But now I regret stopping because this series was iconic.

With all that's going on today, the concept of this book hits different.

This was one of my favorite series as a teen! I'm so excited to watch this❤

This series (except Extra) was my favorite when I was in my teens!! I just hunted down all four books in their original covers and one of them was signed!! Love them

I was obsessed with these and let’s be honest, still am. They had so many issues for sure, but so good for the time and had a huge impact on me. I have a whole creative writing degree now lmao. Can’t wait for the movie!

I was in college when these came out, and I remember giving them serious side eye. Now, all these years later, I have you to tell me what they were really like! Seriously, I really love these videos where you explain to me a book that maybe wasn't for my demographic, or wasn't my cup of tea. I know most of your crew are probably younger, but as an old(ish), I forget that and just enjoy your videos. Thanks for making work more pleasant.

WOKE UP TO A NEW CARI VIDEO!! Perfect way to start the day 🕺

It’s wild they’re turning it into a movie and with Joey King no less???

Since the movie is happening, this was a good choice to cover.

I remember reading all four books in a row. I STRONGLY remember reading EXTRAs at age 15 and being like "Are those girls cutting themselves ? That's not a good moral for teenagers. 🙃"

I LOVED this entire series when I was younger!!

This is one of my all time favorite series. I always found the concept of the face economy from the 4th book to be kind of wild, but it's truly even more wild how closely we are creeping up to that

Yessss I’m so excited you are reading this It’s one of my favorite series and I can’t find hardly anyone who read it

I'm so glad you made it to this series. While I was watching you recap the mortal instruments (which I read at a similar time) I was kinda hoping you would eventually do this one!!! This one definitely really imprinted on me pretty strongly. Thank you for revisiting this part of my childhood and taking a thoughtful look at the complex themes it explores

This series started my obsession w sci fi fantasy when I was like 12 and I have been chasing that initial high ever since

My favorite part of the series is the Tally and David relationship, and the way it remains so strong despite who they eventually become... And I would absolutely recommend reading Extras. It's about a new city and we only get to see Tally through someone else's POV, the new main character, but it's an incredible addition to this series

god yeah i loved these books so much. while working as a school librarian i was really trying to flog these books to the new generation but ironically the original book covers were too ugly to get any uptake 😂 i will never stop trying to get teens to read these though. they've become so much more scarily relevant over the years.

Listen listen listen this whole series is unhinged yet amazing! If you think Uglies is wild you haven't seen anything yet Specials and Extras are just 🤯

yes! I loved this series. I read and reread these in middle school. I had them on my ipad and it was the first series that I read fully on my ipad

ahhh I’ve been wanting to re-read these too!! I mainly just remembered the way I pictured the world when I was reading it!

OMG!!! i read this book series around the young adult dystopian novels craze, I really liked it so this brings back memories

the way that the spagbol chapter is permanently etched into my brain is insane, i will never call spaghetti bolognese anything else

ahh so glad you covered these. I remember seeing them ALL the time in library’s YA room, but I really didn’t like the title so I never picked them up. Glad to know what they’re about 13 years later!!

Never read the series. But excited to hear you talk about it !!

I know this is so random but I would definitely listen to an audiobook voiced by you. You have such an engaging reading voice :D

Oh my gosh, you mentioned a series in your wrap up and I was thinking maybe it’d be this one!!! This was a formative series for me. ❤

i was so obsessed with this series as a kid. i was so sad the movie never released. I remember really liking Shay

I loved this series, my strongest memory of the first book was her leaving civilization and using her hoverboard to fly through the world, using the train tracks since the hoverboard works through magnets. I always wanted to go on an adventure like this and have a hoverboard

Yessss!!!! I loved this series when I was a kid, so nostalgic 😭

LOVE the Ted Chiang interlude! i just read the short story collection that has the arrival story and liking what you see and LOVED it

I remember reading this series through 7th grade in 2006/2007 holy shit😂

So fun to see you doing a video on these books! I remember when I was younger going to library and devouring these books because I thought they were so good, but then hardly anyone I knew was reading them. It’s so interesting to see how much it can be related to social media and the obsession with beauty today. I connect that when I think about these books.

Omg I was obsessed with this book!!!! Also matched, the selection, delirium, the giver….. I need to reread them all