We Ride Upon Sticks

Wondrously strange and frequently hilarious. The first person plural omniscient narrator is a risky venture (although it was used successfully in one of my favorite books of all time, [b:Then We Came to the End 97782 Then We Came to the End Joshua Ferris https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442800496l/97782.SY75.jpg 2926759]). It provides a sweeping view of the story but keeps the reader from feeling connected to any one character. But in this case the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and each of the Danvers varsity field hockey players contributes to the portrait of late 1980s girlhood, including sentient hair bangs, tenuous explorations of the adults they want to be, sexual confusion, and the transformation from a losing team to fierce contenders for state championship. Were the girls really practicing witchcraft or were they just full of team spirit? Were the girls who accused scores of innocent people in 1692 Salem really possessed or were they expressing their power the only way they knew how? The connection is a little suspect (The hockey team's hijinks lead to some property damage and petty larceny, not to anyone being hanged), but Quan Barry goes there anyway, with a little help from a high school production of Arthur Miler's The Crucible.Highly recommended if you are looking for something just a little bit different, and a blast from the past that is welcome relief from this dismal present.