The Rest of Us Just Live Here

by Patrick Ness

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 worshipped by mountain lions.

• ISBN10: 0062403168
• ISBN13: 9780062403162
• Publish Date: 6 October 2015 (first published 27 August 2015)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Collins
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

[Joséphine]

August 24, 2015

Book review is up on Word Revel.
____________

August 18, 2015

Initial thoughts: I won't lie — I felt very disconcerted reading the first couple of chapters. I wanted to know what this strange world is that is so much like our own and yet isn't. Take away all the uncertain elements and the year could very well be just a couple of years ahead of 2015 (on account of Twitter being passé and old TVs and VCRs still existing in some remote abandoned corners). Now include all the uncertain paranormal elements and what have you got? In a way, still our world. People believe so many different things and at the end of the day, there's no way of knowing how the unknown comes to influence our lives.

The difficult questions that many a person will ask because we need to order and classify everything we know are, is this contemporary fiction? Or is it fantasy? This books somewhat defies conventional YA genres despite it clearly being targeted at the YA audience. It isn't strictly contemporary but it isn't strictly fantasy or paranormal either. Genre is a very fluid term when applied here.

And then, who are these gods that reign above yet are only concerned about their own realms. Do they even matter? Not to Mike and Mike is the narrator of the story. He cares about his immediate reality more so than the strange occurrences that happen around him. That's kind of like most of us too, no? We're the centre of our lives and things happen along the periphery; people are hailed as heroes, people advance scientific research, people campaign for politics. Yet these things rarely matter to us more than we do.

When I consider The Rest of Us Just Live Here through a postmodern lens, then I see genius in this work of Patrick Ness. It encompasses paranoia to the highest degree, it revels in chaos and fragmentation, it is metaficitve — completely aware of its status as the fourth wall is broken, and it borders on hyperrealism. To regard it all through my bygone ninth grade literature education, a lot of things clicked into place.

Beyond the literary devices though, there also is diversity in a way that matters and yet doesn't at all and a highly respectful treatment of anxiety. After my disappointment in Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella, I'm surprised I found redemption in The Rest of Us Just Live Here and the approach that Patrick Ness took in including very real mental struggles that his characters face in this book.

[jnikkir]

This review can also be found at my blog, There were books involved...

-----------------------------

Okay, I'm just gonna come out and say it -- I don't think it's possible for Patrick Ness to write a book that doesn't connect to my soul.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here appears to be, on the surface, a pretty simple concept. In this world, Chosen Ones are everywhere. These "indie kids" are the heroes of YA fiction, busy saving the world while mostly ignoring the collateral damage and "normal people" in the process. Within this world, The Rest of Us Just Live Here asks a simple question: What about the rest of us? What about the normal kids on the periphery of these Chosen Ones' stories?

They're too cool to ever, ever do anything like go to prom or listen to music other than Jazz while reading poetry. They've always got some story going on that they're heroes of. The rest of us just have to live here, hovering around the edges, left out of it all, for the most part.

Having said that, the indie kids do die a lot. Which must suck.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here is presented in a super cool way. There's a short epigraph at the beginning of each chapter, outlining the basic plot points of the "teen has to save the world from imminent destruction" story, which we've all seen before in some form. The rest of the chapter goes on to tell us what's happening in the real story -- what's happening in Mikey's life and his friends' lives.

(By the way, those epigraphs, and Mikey's and his friends commentary on the "indie kids" and their escapades, are so perfect. There are so many hilarious, tongue-in-cheek asides relating to the indie kids... so many lines that had me laughing because they were so accurate. I'd quote some lines, but honestly, you don't want to read them until you read them in context. They are too perfect.)

So -- a world where Chosen Ones abound, but the main characters are the normal kids. Does this sound incredibly cool and awesome, as a concept? It is. And one thing I can tell you about Patrick Ness's books, at least for me, is that not only do his books always sound awesome, but Ness always delivers. It's just a fact. (Or, at least, a fact when it comes to his books and my reading taste.)

Patrick Ness + awesome-sounding concept = quality book

It's science, okay? Deal with it.

Another thing that I love about his books -- and which, of course, The Rest of Us Just Live Here totally nails -- is that Ness makes his characters relatable. Especially important in this book, though, is that -- while this is a book about ordinary kids -- it's so obvious that what these kids are going through is extraordinary. They're living their own lives, saving their own lives, making important and life-changing decisions, getting to know and learning to love themselves -- and it's all presented in a way that makes you more interested and more engrossed in their own lives than in anything that's going on in the periphery -- namely, the actual Save The World stuff that's normally the focus of the story.

None of us says anything for a minute, then Jared asks, "Was that Finn?"

"Which Finn?" my sister says. "Aren't all the indie kids called Finn?"

"I think there are a couple of Dylans," Henna says, "and a Nash."

"There are two Satchels, I know that," I say. "A boy Satchel and a girl Satchel."

Not only does The Rest of Us Just Live Here have a fantastic concept and characters all on its own -- this would have been enough for me to love it -- but the main character, Mikey, is one that I literally found myself crying over, because I related to him so much. Stop it, Ness. Just stop. (Don't stop.)

". . . a big part of that worry is that, no matter what group of friends you're in, no matter how long you've known them, you always assume you're the least-wanted person there. The one everyone else could do without."

Mikey's character arc is just... I can't even talk about it. It's amazing. Mikey is fantastic. But also, he has one of those arcs that if I say too much about it, I feel like that would be spoiling the journey. Just... just read the book, really.

Finally, something that Ness does so well is how he leaves endings open enough to be realistic, while still making the book feel whole and complete where character arcs are concerned. I think this is one reason why I love his books so much -- as a character-focused reader, those are the arcs I care about, those are why I read, and they are always handled so flawlessly in his books.

 
In conclusion...

I just... I feel like I've been a bit less details-focused in this review than in many others, but I think there's a very good reason for that -- this is one of those books that you do not want to be spoiled in any way for, even vaguely. If you go into it having read the blurb (and obviously, if you think the blurb sounds good), you're good. You don't need more information.

But if you want more information: Amazing concept, flawless execution, fantastic characters, beautiful writing -- The Rest of Us Just Live Here is a book that will keep you glued to its pages not because of the excitement and explosions (though there are those), but because of the ordinary, extraordinary lives it depicts.

Also, the US cover glows in the dark.

I'm just saying.

--

There were books involved...

[Stephanie]

This book was wonderful. Just so great.

[Kelly]

4.5 Stars.
http://www.divabooknerd.com/2015/07/the-rest-of-us-just-live-here-by.html
Ever wondered about the secondary characters within our young adult fantasy and dystopian novels? The adults or the teens who aren't tasked with saving the world? This is their story. Mikey and his group of friends are ordinary teens who have seen it all, the paranormal descending upon their town and helpless to stop the pending apocalypse. The Chosen Ones are the kids known as The Indies, teens who segregate themselves from the school community and are named as uniquely as themselves.

But The Rest of Us Just Live Here isn't about those who save the world, it's the teens who are trying to live their life within the extraordinary town. Real teens that struggle with issues such as obsessive compulsive disorder, anorexia, workaholic and alcoholic parents, and having a new kid suddenly arrive within only six weeks left until graduation. The concept is completely bizarre and the storyline allows readers glimpses of the pending doom that is set to strike their town. But life goes on for the Others, those who are usually restricted to background characters while someone else saves the world.

Without a doubt, Patrick Ness is a phenomenal author and this may possibly be his best work to date. It's intelligent, quirky and still addresses real issues such as mental illness and substance abuse such as alcoholism. The cast of characters is diverse, which is what readers have come to expect from Patrick Ness. It reads as a subtle swipe at the young adult tropes that irritate what most readers take issue with, the Chosen Ones, the town that seemingly turns a blind eye to paranormal invasion, clueless adults and when you're one of the Others, how life continues on and no matter what's going on around you. Your own issues are still as important than the world coming to an end.

Beautifully imaginative, The Rest of Us Just Live Here is an exploration of those who aren't meant to save the world, but the bystanders who create their own storyline. Patrick Ness is a phenomenal author, who can enchant, enthrall and entice readers to believe in the impossible. Bizarre, incredible and utterly captivating.

[Amber]

The Rest of Us Just Live Here isn’t my favourite Patrick Ness book (The Ask and the Answer, how I love you), but it certainly had all of the Ness uniqueness and charm about it. For a story about the characters who are not the Chosen Ones, i.e. the fellow pupils at Forks High School and the people living in the same town as the Dursleys, it was gripping and definitely intriguing.

At the beginning of every chapter, there’s a brief summary of what the Chosen Ones have been doing. They’re doing all the normal things that a Chosen One does, like fighting zombies and stopping aliens from blowing up the high school. But the rest of the book is dedicated to the people living in the town, the ones who aren’t part of the battle, and the ones still living incredibly interesting lives. They’re just not marrying vampires or getting whisked away to private islands.

I loved how Ness used an interesting blend of satire to tell this story. It almost mocks other stories and certain tropes, while also telling the story of Mikey and his group of friends. Who kind of are the Chosen Ones of their own lives.

Mikey, the main character, is battling with OCD and he’s an absolute treasure. He’s also a bit unsure of his sexuality, and it was perfect how that wasn’t the main point of the book or his character’s journey. It’s simply another branch of an incredibly complicated hedge that is Mikey. That is everyone.

Patrick Ness delivered again, and I think The Rest of Us Just Live Here is a book you can read again and again to find different things to connect with within the story. I can see why people would think this book is a bit meh, but to be honest they just need to board the Ness Express (Nesspress for short) and be done with it.