The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness
Published by HarperTeen on October 6th 2015
Genres: Fiction, Magic Realism, YA, Young Adult
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What if you aren’t the Chosen One?

The one who’s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever the heck this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death?

What if you’re like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again.

Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week’s end of the world, and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life.

Even if your best friend is worshiped by mountain lions.

Award-winning writer Patrick Ness’s bold and irreverent novel powerfully reminds us that there are many different types of remarkable.

I received a copy of this book for review, this does not influence my thoughts on the book.

We’ve all read stories of heroes, the “chosen ones”, the one’s whose destiny is to save the world. But what happens to all the ordinary people that happen to live nearby? The Rest of Us Just Live Here is the story of four teens who happen to live in a town where weird things happen. For example, several years ago, many lives were lost due to the vampires and the teens who fell in love with them. So basically, yes, The Rest of Us Just Live Here is the book you’ve always wanted to read but didn’t know until this very moment.

The novel revolves around 4 teens: Mikey, his best friend, his almost-lifelong crush and his sister. The point of view is only from Mikey’s perspective (which is expected from the synopsis, but not what I expected from other reviews) and I actually really enjoyed it. I also liked how in the beginning of the chapter, readers got a glimpse at “The Indie Kids” (the chosen ones) so we can understand what exactly is happening in this small town. I loved all of the characters and I was definitely entertained by the way the plot worked itself out. I especially liked how the plot seemed to be fast-paced, when the novel isn’t about all the heroes but about the people near them.

In terms of the romance, I also enjoyed it. It definitely did not go the way I expected but I think it was still enjoyable. The romance is complicated and messy and frankly, really realistic. I liked that there was a lot of communication between the characters, rather than the usual silent angst we see a lot of the time (although there was some of that too).

In terms of diversity, The Rest of Us Just Live Here is definitely great. The main character, Mikey, struggles with mental illness and his sister struggles with an eating disorder. Mikey’s best friend is three-part Jewish, one-parts god of cats (it works so well, trust me) and Mikey’s crush (why am I blanking on her name?!) is African American. Patrick Ness definitely shows to readers that there isn’t one type of person out there, and that people have different and unique levels to them and it just works so well.

Overall, The Rest of Us Just Live Here is a novel perfect for contemporary fans reluctant about reading fantasy and for any one who’s always wandered what happened to the people not directly involved in someone’s Destiny. I highly recommend The Rest of Us Just Live Here and I’m definitely jealous of UK people who got to read it over a month early!