“We could see everything.”
When it comes to predictions of doom, Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future by A.S. King takes the cake. High school senior Glory O’Brien is probably the only person in her graduating class who doesn’t know what to do next. Other than Ellie, of course. All Ellie wants is to get as far away from her hippie parents, their commune, and the homeschool system as she possibly can. When they find a petrified bat on Ellie's commune, they decide to toast to their messed-up lives by drinking it. After all, it's not like things can get much worse. That is, until they wake up with the ability to see the past and future of everyone they meet. Suddenly, every decision they make has visible consequences, and Glory is determined to record what she sees for posterity. Even if none of the futures she sees includes her.
Glory is in a very unique situation. An only child, she lives with her father in a quiet house with a locked-up darkroom and a hole where the oven should be. Her father, a former painter, spends most of his time eating or fixing other people’s software bugs, and together they work toward one purpose: pretending Letter N Day never happened. At the very least, they want to find a sense of closure. But losing a mother is hard enough when she isn’t the one who pulled the trigger—or, in this case, turned on the gas—and neither O’Brien has been able to move on. Through her visions of the future, Glory may be able to fix their relationship, if only she can find enough courage. Yet it is he who holds the power to changer her life, assuming she finds the strength to let him in.
As she searches for meaning in her life, Glory encounters a variety of troubles. For one thing, there’s her dad’s worry about spending too much time in the darkroom, and her own fears that her late mother’s condition is hereditary. For another, there’s Ellie: annoying, selfish, and her only friend. When secrets about Ellie’s family find their way to the spotlight, Glory must come to terms with a broken relationship from the past and decide how it will affect her present. And as she discovers more about the future to come, it is her duty to sort through the mess, no matter how terrible it may be. It doesn’t help that she only sees evil and tragedy, making her wonder why people bother working toward good if it is going to blow up in their faces. While there isn’t much of an external conflict, Glory’s inner turmoil does a good job keeping the plot going and sparking questions within a reader’s mind.
Surprisingly enough, most of this novel is dedicated to Glory's relationship troubles than seeing the future. However, the future King imagines is quite horrible: a Second Civil War, an anti-feminist madman tearing the United States in two, and human trafficking all make multiple appearances. Meanwhile, Glory and Ellie struggle to make sense of their new gift even as they deal with Ellie’s possibly-cheating boyfriend, lice in highly inconvenient places, and the truth behind Mrs. O’Brien’s death. This includes a lot of swearing, crude language, and wandering around the mall. The girls wonder about physical relations with boys, and once Glory walks into the middle of a related conversation between a pair of dating teens. When they drink the bat, they refer to it as God and joke that, by drinking it, they are becoming God. The only violence takes place in the future and is not described in detail.
I would recommend this book to teenagers interested in a well-thought-out story about an only child with a dark past, no real friends, and the ability to everyone’s future but her own. There isn't a lot of plot, and the little we do see of the future is rather depressing. However, Ellie is a great twist on the traditional best-friend-across-the-street and the story's premise is very intriguing. With a little less swearing and crude language, and fewer depressing trains of thought, A.S. King's Glory O'Brien's History of the Future could be fantastic. As it is, it is a strong tale with very solid themes and interesting characters, and deserves three stars.
When it comes to predictions of doom, Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future by A.S. King takes the cake. High school senior Glory O’Brien is probably the only person in her graduating class who doesn’t know what to do next. Other than Ellie, of course. All Ellie wants is to get as far away from her hippie parents, their commune, and the homeschool system as she possibly can. When they find a petrified bat on Ellie's commune, they decide to toast to their messed-up lives by drinking it. After all, it's not like things can get much worse. That is, until they wake up with the ability to see the past and future of everyone they meet. Suddenly, every decision they make has visible consequences, and Glory is determined to record what she sees for posterity. Even if none of the futures she sees includes her.
Glory is in a very unique situation. An only child, she lives with her father in a quiet house with a locked-up darkroom and a hole where the oven should be. Her father, a former painter, spends most of his time eating or fixing other people’s software bugs, and together they work toward one purpose: pretending Letter N Day never happened. At the very least, they want to find a sense of closure. But losing a mother is hard enough when she isn’t the one who pulled the trigger—or, in this case, turned on the gas—and neither O’Brien has been able to move on. Through her visions of the future, Glory may be able to fix their relationship, if only she can find enough courage. Yet it is he who holds the power to changer her life, assuming she finds the strength to let him in.
As she searches for meaning in her life, Glory encounters a variety of troubles. For one thing, there’s her dad’s worry about spending too much time in the darkroom, and her own fears that her late mother’s condition is hereditary. For another, there’s Ellie: annoying, selfish, and her only friend. When secrets about Ellie’s family find their way to the spotlight, Glory must come to terms with a broken relationship from the past and decide how it will affect her present. And as she discovers more about the future to come, it is her duty to sort through the mess, no matter how terrible it may be. It doesn’t help that she only sees evil and tragedy, making her wonder why people bother working toward good if it is going to blow up in their faces. While there isn’t much of an external conflict, Glory’s inner turmoil does a good job keeping the plot going and sparking questions within a reader’s mind.
Surprisingly enough, most of this novel is dedicated to Glory's relationship troubles than seeing the future. However, the future King imagines is quite horrible: a Second Civil War, an anti-feminist madman tearing the United States in two, and human trafficking all make multiple appearances. Meanwhile, Glory and Ellie struggle to make sense of their new gift even as they deal with Ellie’s possibly-cheating boyfriend, lice in highly inconvenient places, and the truth behind Mrs. O’Brien’s death. This includes a lot of swearing, crude language, and wandering around the mall. The girls wonder about physical relations with boys, and once Glory walks into the middle of a related conversation between a pair of dating teens. When they drink the bat, they refer to it as God and joke that, by drinking it, they are becoming God. The only violence takes place in the future and is not described in detail.
I would recommend this book to teenagers interested in a well-thought-out story about an only child with a dark past, no real friends, and the ability to everyone’s future but her own. There isn't a lot of plot, and the little we do see of the future is rather depressing. However, Ellie is a great twist on the traditional best-friend-across-the-street and the story's premise is very intriguing. With a little less swearing and crude language, and fewer depressing trains of thought, A.S. King's Glory O'Brien's History of the Future could be fantastic. As it is, it is a strong tale with very solid themes and interesting characters, and deserves three stars.
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