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We Ride Upon Sticks
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Isabel Keating
- Length: 14 hrs and 44 mins
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We Ride Upon Sticks
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Publisher's Summary
"We Ride Upon Sticks . . . is for the kind of adults who watch Stranger Things and still have, somewhere, an athletic award inscribed on a paper plate." —NPR
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: NPR • TIME • BOOK RIOT • LITHUB • KIRKUS REVIEWS
Acclaimed novelist Quan Barry delivers a tour de female force in this delightful novel. Set in the coastal town of Danvers, Massachusetts, where the accusations began that led to the 1692 witch trials, We Ride Upon Sticks follows the 1989 Danvers High School Falcons field hockey team, who will do anything to make it to the state finals—even if it means tapping into some devilishly dark powers. In chapters dense with 1980s iconography—from Heathers to "big hair"—Barry expertly weaves together the individual and collective progress of this enchanted team as they storm their way through an unforgettable season.
Helmed by good-girl captain Abby Putnam (a descendant of the infamous Salem accuser Ann Putnam) and her co-captain Jen Fiorenza (whose bleached blond “Claw” sees and knows all), the Falcons prove to be wily, original, and bold, flaunting society's stale notions of femininity in order to find their glorious true selves through the crucible of team sport and, more importantly, friendship.
What the critics say
2021 ALEX AWARD WINNER
“In the great chasm that is 2020, this book was a huge bright spot for me . . . This was the shake-up and downright weird and nerdy book that put my reading back on track while quarantined.” —Cassie Gutman, Book Riot (“Best Books of 2020”)
“Psst. Hey you. Yeah, you. If you’re looking for a good time, call . . . your local bookstore and ask them to set aside a copy of Quan Barry’s We Ride Upon Sticks with your name on it. This novel, in which a high school field hockey team turns to the dark side (well, sort of) via a pledge penned in purple in an Emilio Estevez notebook (it’s the 80s), is almost too much fun to be allowed. I haven’t snickered so much reading a novel since I was a kid, but it’s not just slapstick, or the pure goofiness of the time period—the pleasure comes from Barry’s ludicrous, masterful sentences as much as it does from her ludicrous, over-the-top characters. Truly a delight in every way.” —Emily Temple, Lit Hub Senior Editor
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What listeners say about We Ride Upon Sticks
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Connie Genert
- 2021-02-24
Great Story But ...
Loved this story and had more than one laugh out loud moment during the listen.as a Class of ‘91 alum, I am right in the target audience for the nostalgia factor of the genuinely frank look at “coming of age” under the guidance of the supernatural. The fly in the ointment was the fact that performance was marred by an over sensitive mike (or an unobservant sound tech) that caught every spit swallow and lip moistening.
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