The First Third

The First Third
Written by Will Kostakis
Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, LGBT
Published July 24th 2013
248 Pages
Published by Penguin Books Australia
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★★★★☆
Life is made up of three parts. In the first third, you're embarrassed by your family. In the second, you make a family of your own and in the end, you just embarrass the family you've made.

That's how Billy's grandmother explains it, anyway. She's given him her bucket list and now it's his job to glue their family back together.

No pressure or anything.

Fixing his family's not going to be easy and Billy's not ready for change. But as he soon discovers, the first third has to end some time. And then what?

It's a Greek tragedy waiting to happen.
Yiayia is a formidable woman, even as she's confined to her hospital bed after having collapsed at the Orthodox Easter church service. Bill Tsiolkas should have been beside his elderly grandmother as she stumbled but left to pursue his first kiss.

While Yiayia lies frail in her hospital bed, Billy has been tasked to find a husband for her single mother, bring his brother Simon home from Brisbane and to fix Peter, his younger, volatile sibling. The legacy and sense of family have now been ensured in Billy's trust, Yiayia is determined to unite her family. 

My Thoughts

The First Third is a hilarious and heartwarming narrative of European Australia and our familial, unconditional acceptance. According to Yiayia, life is lived in thirds. The first third, you're embarrassed by your family. The second, you create your own family and in the third fragment of life, you're old enough to embarrass the family you've created. Billy is currently living the first third when his grandmother is hospitalised, his Yiayia the matriarch that binds their family together. The Tsiolkas family is fractured. Since his father abandoned his family, Billy's mother has raised three boys with the help of Yiayia but as her boys reach adulthood, finds herself wanting to explore new relationships. Yiayia has entrusted Billy with a series of impossibles to harmonise their family, finding a new husband for his mother first and foremost.

Simon now lives in Brisbane, living with the freedom he was not afforded in Sydney and Yiayia has asked Billy to find a lovely girlfriend for his other brother, unaware that Simon is gay. Lastly, Peter. Billy's younger brother is erratic and volatile, his only familial relationship with his grandmother who has asked Billy to fix his brother. A series of impossibles.

Billy is a sensitive young man. Reserved, delightfully awkward and quietly intelligent. I cherished how he adored and respected his grandmother, a rarity for positive parental and grandparental involvement in young adult novels. He has a wonderful and at times, hilariously humiliating relationship with his mother from fashion consultant to being asked to revise his mothers sexual text messages. Ultimately, Billy wants his mother to be happy and find a partner that can absorb the heartache left when his father walked away from their marriage. 

Billy's friendship with best friend Lucas was a wonderful influence on his life. Affectionately known as Sticks, Lucas has cerebral palsy and although he appoints himself as a romance aficionado, is looking for a young man who see Lucas for Lucas, despite his disability. Lucas was a breath of fresh air and I appreciated that his sexuality and disability weren't used to further his narrative. I loved their friendship and open candidness, it was an absolute pleasure.

The foundation of The Sidekicks is a strong sense of family. Boisterous, meddlesome families. It was wonderfully diverse and represented Australia and our communities. It was beautiful, uplifting and why I read Australian young adult novels. It gives you a sense of being home.

It was magnificent. Will Kostakis is an author who writes with honesty and humor, creating engaging characters that you'll hold dear to your heart. I loved the sense of family. The relationships and friendships that are wonderfully blemished but ultimately complex. Get the tissues ready for this one, you'll need them.

Read as part of the #DiverseReads2017 challenge.

19 comments

  1. I’m so glad you liked it. I loved Yiayia’s three-part theory, it really resonated with me.

    Bill Tsiolkas/Will Kostakis - Yeah I see what he did there. I pretty much read this book imaging that this novel (and I may be wrong) was based at least loosely on Kostakis’s life. It just felt like him (well what I know of him from hearing him speak at festivals and stalking, oops I mean following him on social media).

    Can’t wait to see what Kostakis comes up with next. Bring on “Begin, End, Begin’’.

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    1. Same Sarah and the image on Billy's status updates, I'm assuming that's Will and his Yiayia. So cute! I loved it, just so damn funny and full of heart.

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  2. Yay! This book is actually available here in the U.S. for kindle. It sounds like such a god story!

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    1. It's wonderful Christy. I hope you pick up a copy because I'd love to see what you think of it.

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  3. Okay, so I have The Sidekicks so I need to read that stat. Stories about grandmothers and their relationships with the grandkids are always precious and in my mind, Italian and Greek grandmothers are even more so. I see them ordering everybody around, pinching everyone's cheeks and imparting words of wisdom in the form of a riddle of sorts. I don't know. They looks so worldly to me. I wish a Greek grandma would adopt me. Lol.

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    1. Me too Joy, even if only to feed me. I love stories based on big, loud European families, like Marchetta's contemporaries. It was magnificent. I'd place it in the same league as Looking For Alibrandi.

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  4. Yiayia like all grandmothers knows all and speaks the truth. Will has taken on sexuality and disability as themes and done them wELL. (I think this book might be worth reading just to see how Billy revises his mother's sexual text messages because WHAT?)

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    1. It was absolutely hilarious Verushka, I was snorting with laughter. It was just so lovely and heartwarming.

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  5. Family is complicated and it sounds lie the author explored this beautifully.

    Loved your review.

    Karen @For What It's Worth

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  6. So glad you liked this one!! I love Will's tweets about his Yia Yia and this was one of the first LoveOzYA books I ever read, so it has a special place in my cold heart :')

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    1. Oh hush, you're lovely.

      It was beautiful wasn't it, I regret taking this long to have read it. Loved it immensely.

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  7. so true, I fear it might not be fiction after all.

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    1. I think so much of the storyline is taken from Will's own life. I loved the relationship Billy and his brothers had with their grandmother, such a rarity in young adult novels.

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  8. I love books that paint family in a positive light <3 so this is great to here. I wish they sold it here >.< but it's fantastic how well your authors cover your culture

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    1. I'm pretty sure it's available on Kindle Lily, or let me know and I think I could gift it from the Australian Amazon store. Well worth the effort of hunting a copy down.

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  9. Wow, this sounds fantastic! I was very close to my grandparents (and still am close to my one living grandmother) and I LOOOOVE when books feature grandparent relationships. You are right, they are SO often overlooked, but in my opinion, SO important. I love that this is so family and friendship focused, and it sounds so fun too! I definitely need to add this to my wishlist! Great review :D

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    1. Thanks Shannon. It's just another aspect that Aussie YA does so well, involving the entire family unit within the storyline. Even in Aussie YA Fantasy. Will has become one of my favourite authors and can't wait to see what he's working on next.

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  10. Cait from Paper Fury put this author on my radar a while ago. Then I read this blurb and fell in love. And now you made me want to read it right this moment. Wonderful review, Kelly! This sounds like my cup of tea. I have a soft stop for big families in books and positive family representation. And I can’t pass well-done male POV.

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