A review by wardenred
We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry

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

4.0

We were teen girls. Look up the word “blasé” in Merriam-Webster’s and you’d find a picture of us, our eyes burning through your soul from the page.

This was definitely one of the weirder books I've read lately! I feel like it's the kind of novel that is more about shape and vibes than story, and it's rather interesting at that. The prose was simply enchanting; it pulled me in even when little was happening. I was fascinated by the use of first person plural POV—it's always "we," the field hockey team being the real main character. There are definitely downsides to this, such as never getting to delve deep enough into each specific girl's mind to really get to know her, but at the same time, it definitely made managing all the numerous characters easier and created a cool effect that was both intimate and cinematic. 

The premise itself is super cool: a field hockey team of high school girls in the 1980s resorts to witchcraft to start winning games. Or do they? All the witchy parts are deliberately ambiguous and surreal. Maybe there's really magic happening here, or maybe it's just a thing the girls choose to believe—because they're growing up so close to Salem, because it gives them the excuse to do shit they find liberating, because why the hell not. It's not really about witchcraft, anyway, it's about girlhood. It just so happens that the two have a lot in common.

I've made a bunch of notes about the book's structure and highlighted plenty of quotes, and I'm pretty sure I'l lb e thinking about this one for some days or weeks to come. The vibes really stuck with me. My one complaint is, I wish there was a little more in the way of actual plot.
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