GLORY O'BRIEN'S HISTORY OF THE FUTURE

An indictment of our times with a soupçon of magical realism.

The daughter of a gifted photographer who spun out Sylvia Plath–style, Glory seems bent on following in her mother’s footsteps in more ways than one as she finishes high school. But after Glory and her lifelong frenemy and neighbor Ellie make a reckless late-night decision, they are cast headlong into a spell that allows them to see the pasts and the futures of the people who cross their paths, stretching many generations in both directions, and Glory’s life changes course. As with King’s other protagonists (Please Ignore Vera Dietz, 2010; Reality Boy, 2013), Glory’s narration is simultaneously bitter, prickly, heartbreaking, inwardly witty and utterly familiar, even as the particulars of her predicament are unique. The focus on photography provides both apt metaphors and nimble plot devices as Glory starts writing down her visions in order to warn future Americans about the doom she foresees: a civil war incited by a governmental agenda of misogyny. Glory’s chilling visions of the sinister dystopia awaiting the United States are uncomfortably believable in this age of frustrated young men filling “Pickup Artist” forums with misogynistic rhetoric and inexperienced young women filling Tumblrs with declarations of “I don’t need feminism because….”

With any luck, Glory’s notebook will inspire a new wave of activists.