We Ride Upon Sticks

Stacks of Strange Book Club Pick - April

I honestly don't know what to rate this because I don't have any really strong feeling, but I did enjoy reading it and the ✨80's vibes✨

3.5 stars rounded up. This was a fun read, although I did keep forgetting who was who with the large amount of characters, but I don't think it really made a difference. I think the premise was good, but I don't think the plot stuck to the premise very closely and I wish it would have brought in more of the witchiness. The conclusion was a bit of a jolt to the system, I was thinking I had accidentally skipped some pages and missed something, but it came back around in the end. I am trying not to spoil anything so this is a pretty vague review, but I liked the book and would read more from the author although I wouldn't necessarily recommend this book to most people.

Wow. What started out as a book I thought I would DNF because...well...sports. Turned out to be one of the best explorations of friendship and identity that I've ever read, and the final chapter is a chefs kiss of an epilogue.

This was a lot of fun, for an adult book. I know that sounds like a backhanded compliment but it's...well, maybe it is. It reads like a YA urban fantasy book but with more ~literary~ writing. Very sharp and fun, with bonus for local Boston North Shore references. Also, a good and thoughtful use of an 80s setting and reference unlike SOME books that think a simple list of references to things of the 80s is enough to hold a book together, coughErnest Clinecough

This book was SO GREAT! It has amazing characters - yes, including the Claw and le Splotch! - and Barry does such a great job of capturing so many different teenage girl experiences. Plus, it's hilarious and still thought-provoking at the same time. I loved everyone.

Something magical happened while I read this book. I would sit, I swear, for hours and read it. I loved every minute of it. But no matter how much I read, the Kindle percent never changed. I can't explain it, it's as if We Ride Upon Sticks was secretly a 1200 page book that says it's 384 pages. Anyway, that's why it seems like it took me a month to read it.
Sticks made me laugh out loud, cringe, feel nostalgic, and want to practice witchcraft, for a hot minute. This would have been amazing to listen to on audio, but I think I'm still way down on the hold's list for that format. It would make such a rad movie. I have to say that I never, not once, could guess where it was going to next and that made it so much more fun to read.
The Danvers Falcons, all of them, are winners in my book.

I never think that books revolving around sports are going to be fun for me, but this was really FUN. The ending was a little anti-climactic, but the characters were well-drawn, teen girls behaving badly, against the backdrop of the Danvers High School field hockey 1989 season, and the Salem witch trials having happened just up the road. The audiobook was excellent.