This one was tricky, and I would have to agree with the many others I've seen who were a little disappointed with this. (A.S. King is still one of my favorite authors, though.) It just didn't quite work for me. Here be rambles.
I'm definitely okay with "weird." Glory and her friend drinking a petrified bat? Sure. Getting transmissions from the future? Sure. But something about Glory's journey felt unfinished, and honestly, it's hard for me to tell you what it is. She learns more about her mother, who committed suicide when she was very young, and find some closure as to how she should view that, I think. I say "I think" because there's so much else going on. She also learns about the history between her parents and her best friend's mother. And she also sees a future that may or may not become true. But more on that later. (But honestly, I'm struggling to come up with much that actually happens, besides learning some things. She graduates and hangs out with her "best friend" and goes to the mall where she meets a couple of people who turn out to be important in this future she's seeing. That's about it..)
Aside from whatever I can't put my finger on that makes Glory's story seem unfinished and undefined, she also is...kind of frustrating. I usually do not dislike or judge fictional characters, especially female characters, unless they're inconsistent and make no sense. I'm not sure Glory is completely consistent, but I'm not going to be that picky. But honestly, I actually felt like Glory didn't change too much. (I'll tackle one viewpoint she definitely didn't change later.) She was at peace and felt in control, I suppose, but again something more powerful was missing. And as for what makes her frustrating, well, she's quite judgmental, especially toward other girls.
So this future, then. According to King, it's meant to be some sort of parody. Good, because it's really unbelievable and that distracted me for a while, as I'm naturally skeptical of everything (which is why I have such a hard time choosing a side on any issue that is remotely political; I think the answers are somewhere in the middle). It consists of this chaotic Second Civil War that begins with the passage of a Fair Pay Act, requiring wage equality for women. Apparently this makes a lot of people angry, and some states find a "loophole" which is...outlawing all women from working. Now, putting aside things like we've had a basic law like this since 1963 (with several amendments since) and nothing terrible happened then, and it's not exactly that easy to eliminate the pay gap (because it also usually reflects career choice and a more institutionalized form of sexism regarding negotiations and applications that's really difficult to stamp out, I think, especially while still maintaining consideration of character and individuality...but this is all theory, of course)...this doesn't really make much sense. It would require a majority of extreme misogynists in the legislature and either first repealing or grossly violating the Fourteenth Amendment and other discrimination laws. (Also, where the heck was the Supreme Court throughout all of this?) And it especially doesn't make sense from an economic standpoint: these employers are getting rid of female workers who they apparently used to pay less only to replace them with men who they'll be paying the same rate they would have paid women. Why would they be upset? Meanwhile, whole industries and businesses will tumble because there will be a shortage of workers.
And with an America that is becoming more socially liberal and less religious (where I'm guessing this whole "victory of for the family" thing is coming from), I'm not buying it. There's a clear correlation of each generation becoming more and more accepting and when we have grandchildren there will be even less of these extreme people elected (we are a representative democracy, after all). Sure, there are other issues like sexual assault and reproductive issues, but fair wages? That's where it all goes to hell? And what about the LGBT community, which faces a sect of people who don't believe their identities really exist or are undeserving of equal rights? Wouldn't they be the ones more likely to face a bleak future?
Ahem.What I think is actually going on with this element is that she originally feels that she has no future because her mother didn't and she doesn't have much reason to do anything, but when she sees what could happen she wants to make a change, so she sees how she will eventually become a hero. (Although I think when she first begins to realize she has a future it's when she meets her apparent future husband, which seems a little at odds with everything she stands for?) And I guess she's seeing this apparently feminist future because she's a feminist herself and believes women are all led astray by consumerism and magazines. (Which, okay. There have actually been several feminist reviewers who felt that this book was too ranty or on-the-nose, and it does feel a little forceful with regards to a few things inserted here or there, but I was more upset about what I'm going to discuss in the next paragraph.)
Sex. Glory has a problem with it that was never really resolved. Don't get me wrong, sex education is important, and that appears to be where the storyline goes at first, with Ellie knowing little and being taken advantage of and getting public lice. But then Glory, who is annoyed that she has to be the one to get the treatment because Ellie can't, repeatedly calls her a slut. In fact, Glory rarely sees value in any other female. Her classmates didn't hate her as much as she thought, but that's about it. She goes to the mall and is disgusted by young women with babies and their boyfriends with tattoos, women with "platinum blonde" hair, women who flirt. She generalizes them all (totally living up to that "the radical notion that women are people" bumper sticker) and believes they're all just brainwashed products of the consumerist patriarchy and she's the only one who's smart enough to not be (though we don't exactly know what she does to avoid these things, I mean, she doesn't make her own clothes or anything). It is understandably frustrating. And she never changes this, either, because a page from the end she reminds us that she "didn't flirt" when she calls her future husband. (Seriously, flirting is not submission. I mean, I guess it can be "trying to please your man," but it can also be taking charge, especially if the guy hasn't taken interest in you yet which is the case through most of these incidents.)
Like a lot of things I know I didn't like or don't agree with, I feel fairly conflicted about Glory O'Brien's History of the Future. It was a fast read, but I didn't particularly enjoy it and it didn't make me think nearly as much as King's other books, nor did I feel involved in the characters and the storyline.
In fact...it looks like there wasn't much at all I enjoyed, except that it was a quick read to tide me over until I Crawl Through It. Sigh.
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