David Schwinghammer's Blog - Posts Tagged "quan-barry"
We Ride Upon Sticks
WE RIDE UPON STICKS is a reference to a field hockey team from Danvers, Massachusetts, once known as Salem City of Salem Witchcraft trials fame.
The Danvers Falcons are really tired of losing. They're at a hockey camp losing their first scrimmage in embarrassing fashion when their goalie, Mel Boucher, starts spouting witchy incantations. By the next scrimmage rolls around she has recruited some of her fellow players and they beat a highly ranked team.
The more they win, the more girls sign on until the whole team is “enchanted”.
Some parts of the book are a bit annoying. One of the captains, Jen Fiorenza, has really big hair. It's the eighties, and most of the girls do. Author Quan Barry refers to the crown of her head as “The Claw” and treats it as if it had a mind of its own. I can't imagine what that might look like. Mel Boucher also has a mole that takes on a life of its own. Enough already.
When they are confronted with a tie game, the girls get worried that they need more than just chants. If good tidings lead to more good deeds, would it be too farfetched to argue that witchcraft demands bad behavior? They go a little overboard; one girl even accuses a male coach of diddling one of the girls. Another, “Little Smitty” spray paints the Danvers trophy case and blames it on a future opponent. It appears to work, all the way to “states” as they call it in field hockey heaven.
There are other oddities on the Danvers Falcons. There's a Girl Cory and a Boy Cory. Even the girls think Boy Cory may have problems with his sexual identity. Barry goes a bit overboard in respect to sexual aberrations; the school bully is closeted; one of the moms is having a lesbian affair. During a reunion one of he daughters claims there are seventeen different sexual orientations.
I always like an epilogue; the one in the book happens thirty years after the trip to states, and we find out if the girls won or lost the championship game. The ending to the game is a bit hard to believe.
One thing Barry does really well is capture the rapport on a girls' sports team. It's sometimes goofy and sometimes funny and mostly always daunting. She should know; according to the acknowledgments, this is a fictional account of her own 1989 field hockey team.
The Danvers Falcons are really tired of losing. They're at a hockey camp losing their first scrimmage in embarrassing fashion when their goalie, Mel Boucher, starts spouting witchy incantations. By the next scrimmage rolls around she has recruited some of her fellow players and they beat a highly ranked team.
The more they win, the more girls sign on until the whole team is “enchanted”.
Some parts of the book are a bit annoying. One of the captains, Jen Fiorenza, has really big hair. It's the eighties, and most of the girls do. Author Quan Barry refers to the crown of her head as “The Claw” and treats it as if it had a mind of its own. I can't imagine what that might look like. Mel Boucher also has a mole that takes on a life of its own. Enough already.
When they are confronted with a tie game, the girls get worried that they need more than just chants. If good tidings lead to more good deeds, would it be too farfetched to argue that witchcraft demands bad behavior? They go a little overboard; one girl even accuses a male coach of diddling one of the girls. Another, “Little Smitty” spray paints the Danvers trophy case and blames it on a future opponent. It appears to work, all the way to “states” as they call it in field hockey heaven.
There are other oddities on the Danvers Falcons. There's a Girl Cory and a Boy Cory. Even the girls think Boy Cory may have problems with his sexual identity. Barry goes a bit overboard in respect to sexual aberrations; the school bully is closeted; one of the moms is having a lesbian affair. During a reunion one of he daughters claims there are seventeen different sexual orientations.
I always like an epilogue; the one in the book happens thirty years after the trip to states, and we find out if the girls won or lost the championship game. The ending to the game is a bit hard to believe.
One thing Barry does really well is capture the rapport on a girls' sports team. It's sometimes goofy and sometimes funny and mostly always daunting. She should know; according to the acknowledgments, this is a fictional account of her own 1989 field hockey team.
