We Were Witches, Ariel Gore
We Were Witches, Ariel Gore
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We Were Witches
A Novel

Author: Ariel Gore

Narrator: Ariel Gore

Unabridged: 6 hr 20 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/17/2018

Synopsis

Buying into the dream that education is the road out of poverty, a teen mom takes a chance on bettering herself, gets on welfare rolls, and talks her way into college. But once she’s there, phallocratic narratives permeate every subject, and creative writing professors depend heavily on Freytag’s pyramid to analyze life.So Ariel turns to a rich subcultural canon of resistance and failure, populated by writers like Audre Lorde, Adrienne Rich, Gloria Anzaldúa, Tillie Olsen, and Kathy Acker.Wryly riffing on feminist literary tropes, We Were Witches documents the survival of a demonized single mother. She’s beset by custody disputes, homophobia, and America’s ever-present obsession with shaming strange women into passive citizenship. But even as the narrator struggles to graduate―often the triumphant climax of a dramatic plot―a question uncomfortably lingers. If you’re dealing with precarious parenthood, queer identity, and debt, what is the true narrative shape of your experience?

About Ariel Gore

Ariel Gore is a journalist, teacher, and author of numerous books on parenting. She is the founding editor–publisher of Hip Mama, an Alternative Press Award–winning publication covering the culture and politics of motherhood. Her memoir Atlas of the Human Heart was a 2004 finalist for the Oregon Book Award. Her anthology Portland Queer: Tales of the Rose City won a Lambda Literary Award in 2010.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Sarah

I was wary of this book because it initially read like some of the disjointed "experimental" fiction-sub-memoir I tried to write in college, which automatically made me think it was going to be bad. But, thankfully, Ariel Gore is a much, MUCH better writer than I, and I ended up devouring this large......more

Goodreads review by Robin

Honest, real, and full of magic. A story of a single mother, a woman getting her education, a woman following the magic in a world with pandemic violence against women. I am going to be recommending We Were Witches to everyone.......more

Goodreads review by Nev

"Maybe this could be my new genre: the memoirist’s novel. My words could form a magical spell, like an alchemical furnace, built with the conscious intention of transmuting shame into power." Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything quite like We Were Witches. It’s part memoir since the main chara......more

Quotes

“A rewriting of every helpless princess fairy tale and a reclamation of every Scarlet Letter…We Were Witches is an absolute must-read.” Ms. magazine

“Ariel…calculates and acts impulsively and makes strange and strong choices. And we are right there with her.” Santa Fe Reporter

“Gore tells her story with such verve and wit I missed my train stop reading it.” Lambda Literary Review

“Everything you didn’t know you were allowed to want in a narrative.” Audiostraddle

“Gore’s magic-infused narrative…is a moving account of a young writer and mother striving to claim her own agency and find her voice.” Publishers Weekly

“This book mimics the messy, discursive texture of memory—of life…Inventive and affecting.” Kirkus Reviews

“A scathing indictment of a system that works against people who are poor and female as well as a piercing and wise look at one woman’s struggle to overcome it.” Booklist

“A triumphant body story. A singularly spectacular siren song.” Lidia Yuknavitch, author of The Small Backs of Children

“We Were Witches seizes the shame and hurt internalized by young women and turns it into magic art and poetry. Ariel Gore’s writing is a diamond pentacle carved into a living heart, transforming singular experience into universal knowledge.” Susie Bright, author of Big Sex Little Death

“Drawing from myth, fairy tale, the wisdom of third wave literary icons, and the singular experiences of a queer single mama artist trying to survive the nineties, We Were Witches is its own genre, in its own canon. It moves with punk-rock grace and confidence, and I totally loved it.” Kate Schatz, author of Rad American Women A-Z

Awards

  • Lambda Literary Award
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