As a general disclaimer, this is not the type of book I usually read. I'm very much a realistic contemporary girl, and this is...not that. But I'm trying to push myself out of my reading comfort zone, and ultimately, I'm really glad I did with this! To give some context, here is the summary from Amazon:
Graduating from high school is a time of limitless possibilities--but not for Glory, who has no plan for what's next. Her mother committed suicide when Glory was only four years old, and she's never stopped wondering if she will eventually go the same way...until a transformative night when she begins to experience an astonishing new power to see a person's infinite past and future. From ancient ancestors to many generations forward, Glory is bombarded with visions--and what she sees ahead of her is terrifying: A tyrannical new leader raises an army. Women's rights disappear. A violent second civil war breaks out. And young girls vanish daily, sold off or interned in camps. Glory makes it her mission to record everything she sees, hoping her notes will somehow make a difference. She may not see a future for herself, but she'll do anything to make sure this one doesn't come to pass.Amazon also describes this book as a "masterpiece about freedom, feminism, and destiny," and I would generally agree with that. Those aspects of the story were by far my favorites, although at times I felt like the feminism from Glory's POV (by which I mean some feminist statements that came up in her internal narration) were a little heavy handed and didactic.
Part of my conflict with this is that I'm not even sure if I think that's a bad thing, because I think it's great that these messages of independence and agency are being exposed to teens. At the same time, I felt that those moments sometimes pulled me out of the story because they didn't sound like a seventeen year old. One thing that does save it a little bit, though, is that it seems like as much as she does believe those feminist ideals, they're on some level just repeated, because she seems to have some very judgmental thoughts about her friend Ellie's sexuality that doesn't quite line up with the brand of feminism she's preaching (which I actually liked because it made Glory seem more realistic).
Within the vein of Glory being realistic - and before I go into what I loved about the novel - I want to talk briefly about Glory's voice. I personally did not buy into Glory's voice until probably about 2/3 of the way into the novel. To me, she seemed edgy and quirky in a very deliberate way; she felt very written. This might just be because she's so outside of the realm of how I think/how my friends think, and I wasn't able to relate to this as much. It could be that she put on that affect as a protective wall as a result of the trauma she experienced at a young age. Whatever it was, it wasn't my personal cup of tea.
There were, however, moments that I loved Glory's voice, and those moments were primarily where her humor or blunt perspective came through. For example, on page 37:
"Did you know nearly every serial killer in history had a porn addiction? Helped them dehumanize people so they could kill them," she [Ellie] said.Another thing I loved was Glory's friendship with Ellie. I think friendships in high school are some of the most intense - for better or worse - that people will have in their lives, ever. There's just something about being stuck with the same people and bonding out of necessity, the misery that is high school, and sometimes genuine, profound bonds. Sometimes there's a little bit of all of those things in high school friendships. Glory and Ellie have a little bit of all of those things and so much more, and the back and forth that Glory goes through between not wanting to be around Ellie and being around Ellie because it's so habitual and wanting to push Ellie away but never quite getting to the point of actually pushing her away - it's all just so genuine.
"You didn't learn that at homeschool."
"Rick told me. He's got all these books about serial killers."
"Wow. That's not creepy at all."
"Stop it."
"Okay," I said, but I still thought it was creepy.
The other thing I loved about the book was the visions, or transmissions, as Glory calls them. Some of these are about people's pasts and ancestors, but primarily they are visions of the future, and eventually they start being compiled into short "Glory O'Brien's History of the Future" sections. These were my favorite parts of the book. It was these sections that kept me thinking about the book when I wasn't reading it, particularly after I watched the first GOP debate leading up to the 2016 elections. After that, the History of the Future sections had a little bit more of underlying panic and heaviness. The only thing I wish is that there had been more of them. I found myself rushing through Glory's narration to get to the History of the Future sections, and I got the sense that there was a lot more than Glory knew about that wasn't actually imparted to the reader, and I wish it had been (although for a YA novel, I guess it could have gotten too dark if it had gone into too much more detail).
Overall, I'm very conflicted about Glory O'Brien's History of the Future. Mostly, I think it's just not my type of book, but I'm also really glad that I read it. And even just for the History of the Future sections, I think it's an important read. I know that it will definitely stick with me long after I put it back on the shelf, which to me is the mark of an author's job well done.
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I agree with your thoughts on this book. I'm a huge fan of A. S. King, but couldn't really connect with Glory. However, her visions of the future were haunting, especially because several GOP debates aired while I was reading the novel.
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