Reviews

We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry

aislina's review

funny inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

eileen_reads's review

medium-paced

2.5

nakbari's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

jess_mango's review

4.0

1989 in the Boston 'burb of Danvers, MA. We meet the 11 members of the Danvers High School field hockey team. This group of 10 girls and 1 boy form a strange bond centered around an Emilio Estevez notebook. They believe it works some charms to help them win games.

I really enjoyed this book. It was told from a 3rd person plural perspective of the team. I loved all of the 80's nostalgia, the local Boston North Shore references, including mentions of businesses that are long gone. The prose was a bit dense in parts but I plowed on through and enjoyed this one.

markcastaneda's review

5.0

such a fun book! Definitely a personal nostalgia trip for the author, and probably a little overwritten to her own interests rather than for an audience. I know very little about field hockey, but you really feel yourself pulled into the author's world. Definitely a better read if you have /some/ sort of connection to the material, mine being from MA as well, but even just understanding team sports will instill some empathy into you in order to pull you through that first little bit.

jillybeanxo's review

5.0

One of the best

ricas_library's review

2.0

The premise of this book showed a promise of mischief and magic, but I was left waiting around every corner for something BIG to happen.

The character development also held immense potential, but the execution just wasn’t there. Maybe there were too many characters. If we got to know one or two of the girls really well, then maybe I would have been absorbed into the story more, but a whole field hockey team was a lot to keep up with.

Large portions of the book were dense, and exposition-like to the point where I was skimming quickly through so I could get to the point, or the magic. It just got to the point where I wanted to get to the end to see what happens, but then the author skipped over the “main event” and fast forwarded.

Overall, I loved the premise of the book, but the execution fell flat for me.

acwyland's review against another edition

funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

yarn_chicken's review

2.0

2.5 stars for me. Really had to push through to finish this one. Not as fun as I had hoped it would be.

kellyrand's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5