We Were Witches

By Ariel Gore

Spurred on by nineties family values” campaigns and determined to better herself through education, a teen mom talks her way into college. Disgusted by an overabundance of phallocratic narratives and Freytag’s pyramid, she turns to a subcultural canon of resistance and failure. Wryly riffing on feminist literary tropes, it documents the survival of a demonized single mother figuring things out.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Amethyst Editions
• Release date: Sep 5, 2017
• ISBN: 9781936932023

Ariel Gore

Ariel Gore is the author of seven books, including Atlas of the Human Heart, The Traveling Death and Resurrection Show, and How to Become a Famous Writer Before You’re Dead. For more information, visit arielgore.com.

Reviews for We Were Witches

[howifeelaboutbooks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was shared on #bookstagram, and the person who posted it made it sound so good, I had to read it. My library system didn’t own it, but I ordered it online and dove in the day it arrived. And finished it the day it arrived. This book totally changed my thought processes and my life. I have requested Gore’s other books from my library, and ordered the ones that weren’t available to check out. She is amazing, and I recommend her to any woman hands down, but hopefully men will love her also - she should be required reading for everyone.

[greeniezona · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book just happened to catch my attention from the library shelves. Probably the bold covers and the Feminist Press logo. Once I picked it up, I was intrigued that it was by Ariel Gore -- creator of Hip Mama, which I loved back in its heyday.This book made me feel all the feels. It took me a bit to get into the swing of it -- it's fiction, but it feels like memoir, but then there is magick sprinkled throughout. I had to get over my "but what is REAL?" thing. Once I did, this book really packs a wallop. It's one thing to be of the opinion that teen/single/poor moms are unjustly vilified in this country and quite another to experience it through this book. From the constant demonizing from the "family values" right to the random acts of hate to the way services that were supposed to help her actually endangered her -- all woven through with feminist texts and other critical theory Ariel reads to her baby as she's studying. Ariel questions it all. I felt the horror and the rage and the fear and the weeping and the hope.It's really hard for me to write coherently about this book. When I finished reading it, I had the nonsensical but also very strongly visceral feeling that I wanted to fold this book up very small and slide it into my heart. I finally had to special order my own copy after returning this one to the library.

[framberg_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fierce, creative, thoughtful, honest, vivid, painful, triumphant, loving, curious, and full of witchy energy.