We Ride Upon Sticks

In 1989, a field hockey team from Danvers, Massachusetts (formerly called Salem Village, where the 1692 witch trials took place) makes a deal with dark forces to win the state championship their senior year. The story goes through their fall semester (the field hockey season) as they try to appease the “dark forces” to keep winning.

Quan Barry does not stick to one narrator, or protagonist, instead bringing us through the minds of all 11 players. It’s usually narrated with an omniscient “we,” which got frustrating at times. (As the Times book review pointed out: “ Because of Barry’s determination to provide the complete gamut of female teenage experience, the novel lacks an emotional center: a teenage girl to latch on to. To love or hate, or even to root for.”) There are nods and parallels to the Salem Witch trials — the girls themselves are aware of the history of the place — and overall a fun novel about girls becoming women and sports. With a dash of witchcraft, naturally.

Barry, who was born in Saigon and raised near Boston, writes in the author’s note that any resemblance to actual events or persons is a total coincidence, but the “1989 Danvers Falcons Women’s Varsity Field Hockey Team was, is, and will always be totally awesome.” While there’s nothing on the internet saying Quan herself was on the team, that note makes me believe that this story is an ode to a very special team.

Rating; ★★★★. Get it here.