We Could Be Something

March 21, 2023
Will Kostakis’s first novel Loathing Lola was published when he was 19 years old. This uncommon experience inspires his latest book, a semi-autobiographical YA novel for readers aged 14–17. We Could Be Something tracks two 17-year-old characters through narrated chapters, as they each face their own adversities: Sotiris, a published author with waning book sales and media attention, is fired by his mum from their family business and seeks solace in a charming bookseller, Jeremy; meanwhile, Harvey, whose rocky relationship with his dad is on the verge of implosion, is dragged across country to live with Greek relatives above a cafe. Both boys are eager to escape their lives and figure out their identity but romances and interfering family get in the way until their paths, and experiences, connect towards the story’s culmination. Kostakis weaves a sparkling tale of hardship, heartbreak, identity and the universal struggle of finding your footing in the world. The text is spare, pared back, allowing the subtext to breathe. This, combined with Kostakis’s talent in giving his characters clear and identifiable voices and motivations, means readers are swept up in this vivid and exquisitely written story, feeling its raw and emotional impact. Feelings of satisfaction, wonder and a little heartache upon finishing this book are testament to Kostakis’s masterful talent, growing better and better with each book he writes. This absolute must-read is a clear frontrunner for all literary awards this season.

July 15, 2024
Greek Australian teens Harvey and
Sotiris—who are pansexual and gay, respectively—experience the growing pains that accompany first love in this uneven novel by Kostakis (The Sidekicks). Harvey’s father Ba moves the duo from Perth to Sydney to live with distant family and work in their café following Ba’s decision to separate from Harvey’s dad. Heeding Dad’s advice, Harvey decides to “try east-coast life on for size.” He hooks up with Brad, a local whom he meets on Grindr. Harvey blocks him after their tryst, but following a failed attempt to kiss a barista at his family’s café, he reconsiders Brad. Meanwhile, 17-year-old published author Sotiris—who had his first kiss in a bathroom stall—finds himself attracted to bookstore clerk Jem. Though the pair’s budding relationship inspires Sotiris to come out to his mother, an unexpected bout of writer’s block prompts him to break up with Jem. While extended family drama sometimes mires the central romantic entanglements, this low-key alternating character study—which began as a “memoir project,” as described in an endnote—offers fleshed-out depictions of adolescent angst surrounding romance and impending adulthood. Ages 14–up.

September 6, 2024
Grades 9-12 Pansexual, seventeen-year-old Harvey has two fathers, Ba and Dad, who are quarreling. Big Time. Big enough that Ba flees Perth for Sydney with Harvey in tow to live with Harvey's Greek Australian grandmother above her caf�. Seventeen-year-old Sotiris, gay and also Greek, has just published his first novel. Coincidentally, his mother, too, owns a Greek caf�. With these and many other things in common, the two boys will surely meet and fall in love, right? Wrong. For Kostakis has written two stories in parallel. The action moves back and forth between the two boys' lives, but they never meet. Each has a boyfriend, however--if they don't compromise their relationships. I say no more. Kostakis is a gifted writer, as evidenced in this excellent novel. He is especially good at characterization; both Harvey and Sotiris are complex, fully developed, and highly empathetic characters, which is why the novel leaves readers wanting more, wanting to know about what happens to Harvey and Sotiris beyond their respective stories' endings.

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