I read this with a group of women who mostly didn’t like it that much, but I actually quite enjoyed it, much more so than I’d expected. It’s a story about a girl’s field hockey team that turns to witchcraft to improve their game. Unsurprisingly, it’s more about the relationships between the characters and the way they navigate the tumults of adolescence than it is about witchcraft or field hockey, but I really loved the way it showed the girls to be both deeply, intimately connected, and selectively opaque to each other. This, and the witchcraft, really reminded me of Tana French’s The Secret Place, and I’d love to think more about that comparison but I have no. time. lately, so I’ll just note that this is very much an American story, and clearly inflected by contemporary American politics.
Also, it’s a witty, often hilarious book, with some absolutely killer lines. Goes on the list with Kevin Wilson and Taffy Brodesser-Akner (and who else?) — more funny writers please!
So yeah, it’s a bit longer than it needs to be, and then ending was corny, but it definitely made me want to read more of her books.
Kasia Reads 