10 June, 2024 | keystroke
The Scapegracers was recommended to me in a random Discord chat as I was bitching about how hard it was to try and find good queer non-contemporary fiction. Written by August Clarke as their debut book, as soon as I saw it involved lesbians, witches, deer and the colour purple it instantly shot to the top of my “to-read” list.
Scapegracers feels like an oddity among queer books I’ve read as it features neither the process of figuring out the lesbian, but also doesn’t just have it as a tangential trait while the protagonist goes off on an unrelated adventure. It focuses on Sideways, a girl who very much knows she likes girls but has no idea of her place in the world. This is all thrown into chaos when a magic trick performed for the popular girls clique goes too well and Sideways is pulled into their world and them into hers.
Clarke’s writing is extremely verbose, following Sideway’s stream of consciousness very closely and to a degree some readers might even find annoying. While it does feel like it sometimes drags in the slower points of the book, its visceral detail makes the magic and few action scenes feel hard and gritty and nauseating, making performing a spell feel akin to light body horror in some places. It can also be a source for light humour.
“What the fuck are bleacher gods?” The door was in sight, thank the bleacher gods…
Clarke isn’t interested in writing assimilationist narratives, stating in an interview that they intend to write messy queer characters that break the mould. Subsequently, queerness is at the forefront of The Scapegracers, with magic being a very clear metaphor as the other girls explore their potential sexuality through it and it is constantly described with ambiguity, fluidity and feeling. The book doesn’t shy away from homophobia either, from school bullies to the eventual reveal of the larger existential threat to the witches.
While very queer there isn’t much explicit transness, however Sideways makes it very clear that her lesbianism is very trans-inclusive, with the only mention of girldick I’ve read in a fictional book. Given how the author has since come out as some kinda genderfuck and I’ve been told book two gets fun with gender I’m very exited for when I get my hands on that!
One of the things I wish it delved more into was deconstructing the trope of the popular girl clique and the power dynamic it has with others. As Sideways is almost immediately adopted into the clique there isn’t much introspection as to how their social influence affects other people outside the clique, however when it delves into Sideway’s life before it absolutely destroys me.
I didn’t have any friends at all. Just me and my spell book. I mean, there were people I talked to in class, but that’s where the relationship ended. God, I hate that. I’d rather be a stranger than someone’s casual friend. At least with a stranger, there’s things to unwrap about each other. There’s a mystery there. People don’t care about their acquaintances’ mysteries. Why the hell would they? I don’t. I only went to parties because people didn’t know how to politely avoid inviting me.
Also I know she’s a lesbian but gods damn is Sideways a disaster like a woman pivotal to the mystery shows up and you’re too busy thinking gay shit to question her?? Girl please I am begging get your act together!!
Overall, Scapegracers is probably one of my favourite queer books ever, up there with Dreadnought and I cannot recommend it enough if you like lesbians, witches, messy young-adult magic drama, or all of the above.
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