by A.S. King
This book made me feel all of the feels and I don’t even know where to begin. Maybe I’ll start with the plot. That’s usually a pretty good place to start.
So Gloria O’Brien is this nobody who’s about to graduate from high school and break up with her best friend as soon as she works up the courage. They find this dead bat that appears to have been perfectly preserved for no reason they can identify. Glory’s best friend, Ellie keeps it in a jar in the shed until her mom finds it and incinerates it. Then Glory and Ellie have a little too much to drink, Ellie mixes the bat’s ashes with some beer, swallows half of it, and coerces Glory into drinking the rest. It’s off to a weird start, I know but just stay with me here.
After ingesting the bat, Glory and Ellie both start seeing things when they look at people (except each other). When they look into a person’s eyes, they see their whole past and their whole future. For some reason, Ellie sees a lot of naked people, while Glory sees war. She sees several wars that will happen throughout the history of the future, but in particular she sees a war that will happen towards the end of her lifetime and will be fought largely by the generations of her children and grandchildren.
The war starts with the passing of a federal law that requires women to be paid the same rate for the same job as men. Sounds good, right? Until one state gets the moronic idea to bypass the law by forbidding women to work at all. Several other states come up with similar laws and break off from the U.S., calling their crazy new country “New America”. They come up with other seriously anti-women laws and it’s really quite scary until, of course, the people decide they’ve had enough and rise up against New America’s dictator.
I don’t think this fictitious future could ever really happen, but it’s important to remember that there are still a lot of people out there who would like nothing more than for these anti-women laws to come into being. Just because we have jobs and can go out for a girl’s night, suddenly people think sexism doesn’t exist. It’s over. We won. Bullshit. That’s no more true than the assertion that racism is solved because the president is black.
Anyone who thinks that sexism doesn’t exist should take a look at what’s happening in the gaming community right now. It is terrifying. Women are not only not treated as equals, but when they speak out against the inequality, they are harassed to the point of fearing for their lives. Seriously. Women have fled their homes as a result of death threats. Death. Threats. In 2014. Does that sound like victory to you?
Aside from the blatant threats, there is a lot of sexism in our culture that goes unnoticed and I love King’s book for pointing them all out. An excellent example is what Glory sees when she looks at bottles of shampoo: “Use me: Grab a bottle of conditioner, too, and then men will totally look at you. Also, wear shorter shorts and unbutton your blouses about two more buttons. You may also want to get a tan. And shave your legs more often.” THIS IS TOTALLY WHAT WOMEN HEAR EVERY SINGLE DAY! Every time we turn on the television or look at a magazine or go outside, we are bombarded with these messages on how to get (and keep) men’s attention.
How many magazine articles do you see where men are advised on “How to please your woman”? Or “How to lose belly fat in just ten days”? Or “How to keep your woman happy”? Personally, I don’t see it. All I see is advice on how women can keep men happy, always with the implication that this should be our top priority.
King gets it. Glory gets it, and I was so happy to read a book that spoke directly to me. Right down to the best friend losing her virginity before Glory. Apparently, all Ellie can ever talk about is boys, dating, sex, etc. Glory isn’t interested in any of that, except she’s a teenager, so of course she’s interested in all of that, she just doesn’t want to admit it. A.S. King, why were you stalking me in high school? And in my head? Get out of my head!
The book covers so many other things I can’t believe she fit it all into 307 pages. Of course, when you get right down to it, it’s about growing up, but with a focus on what it means to grow up a woman in America. And King nailed it.