The First Third

by Will Kostakis

[Kelly]

4.5 Stars.
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.