By Kendall Bistretzan
Who We Are in Real Life
by Victoria Koops
House of Anansi (2024)
Who We Are in Real Life is a debut young adult novel by Saskatchewan author Victoria Koops. It follows Darcy, a moody bisexual teenager who resents her two moms’ decision to move the family to a small town for a job opportunity, and Art, a nerdy guy with an intimidating father. When the two discover a mutual love for role-playing games their friendship begins to blossom into something more. Meanwhile, Darcy is grappling with the homophobia directed at her and her moms, along with an obsessive boyfriend she can’t seem to shake, while Art learns what it means to be an ally.
The best part of this novel was the way it explored queerness and role-playing games, and the communities that form within and across these two groups. While Darcy initially has hang-ups about her new school, she quickly falls in with a group of other 2SLGBTQIA+ students, proving – as any small-town Canadian can attest to – that queer folks are resilient as ever, and gravitate towards our own with ease.
Koops writes with such a lush fondness for gaming that the chapters focused on Art’s D&D campaign were consumable for voracious gamers and novices alike. As a non-gamer myself, I expected these chapters to be a personal hang-up, but the characters’ passion was infectious. Gamer or not, there’s something glorious about finding people with the same nerdy interests as you, as shown in the following passage:
“Of course I knew that,” thinks Art on page 57, when Darcy offers up some trivia regarding his d2o keychain. “‘Did you know that a full Dungeons & Dragons dice set includes seven sets of dice?’ And that’s how everything changes. Darcy looks up from our keychains. A small bashful smile tugs at the corners of her mouth. She plays with my keychain. ‘So, are you a gamer?’”
Until this moment, Darcy’s icy attitude and Art’s awkwardness had made the pairing civil at best, but this common ground instantly binds them. As a reader, I feel like I’m in on their fun. I want to be part of their conversation, their campaign, and their passion.
As young-adult queer rom-com centered around the main character’s love for role-playing games, the novel was solid. However, there were times when it tried to do too much by intertwining heavier plotlines that were never properly explored, and therefore did a disservice to any young reader who may deal with such issues themselves. For example, Darcy has a boyfriend, James, in her old city, who she hasn’t broken up with due to his vague implications he may hurt himself if she does. Darcy experiences little stress over the situation, and it seems to only act as a driver for the third-act breakup between her and Art. It does not give young readers the tools to identify this sort of abuse, nor does it offer any intel on how to handle it. This plotline could have been dropped entirely in favour of giving some more character development to Darcy’s mom’s, who seem like good people but are largely ignored within the story, or to give Art’s dad more depth than the cartoon villain-type he’s presented as.
Despite it’s occasional weaknesses, Who We Are in Real Life is a charming debut, and a love letter to stories that come from role-playing games. It’s sure to appeal to any teenager who has found camaraderie within these communities, and I look forward to reading what Koops writes next.
Kendall Bistretzan was born and raised in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, before moving to Calgary, Alberta, to pursue her journalism degree. She works as a branded content writer for Hive Labs and is a proud board member of the Writers’ Guild of Alberta and Sask Girls United. She is currently in the process of querying her debut novel. You can find her on Instagram @kendallbistwrites.