The Rest of Us Just Live Here

FIRST THOUGHTS

This was the second book I’ve read written by Patrick Ness. After reading When a Monster Calls from him, I figured any book written by him would be amazing. So, when I found this, I just had to pick it up.

CHARACTERS

I found the characters to be super interesting. They each had their own internal conflict. Mikey, the protagonist, has anxiety and OCD. It was really cool to read through the perspective of a character with those issues. I have an anxiety disorder myself and I could relate to a lot of his feelings. His sister was recovering from an eating disorder and his best friends each had something going on (not necessarily disabilities, though).

The characters weren’t the “chosen ones” so they just went on with their lives as normally as possible. It was an interesting perspective.

PLOT

The point of this novel is that the characters are living their lives as normal as possible. Other things are happening in the world, but they’re not the “chosen ones.” They just go on with their lives and hope the chosen ones do survive. There are no heroes, no journeys, nothing.

I found the plot to be really cool because we’re set in a fantasy world with vampires and zombies and such, but it doesn’t really faze the main characters. There’s nothing they can do about it, so they just hope for the best and try to get good grades in school. I definitely like the idea of having the main cast not be the heroes of the story.

WRITING STYLE

Each chapter was written in first-person through Mikey’s eyes. We followed his day, his internal issues, as well as his family and friend issues, and more. He is, for the most part, a normal teenager hoping to make it to graduation.

However, at the beginning of each chapter, there’s a quick paragraph about the “indie kids,” who are the chosen ones of the story saving the world. There’s a little blurb about them explaining what they’re doing and what they’re currently fighting. It’s an insight to what’s happening in the world while Mikey panics about prom.

I thought it was cool to see the “news” of the world but continue on as though not much is happening. Because, let’s face it, we see stuff happen on the news every day, good and bad, yet we still go to school and work because that’s what we’re supposed to do.

OVERALL

The novel had a great premise and was very well written. Patrick Ness just proved further to me that he’s a wonderful author. The characters and meaning behind the story was different and fun to read.

Favorite Quote:

“Give him words and sentences to put together and his forehead creases down so you can see exactly what he’ll look like when he’s eighty.” –Patrick Ness, The Rest of Us Just Live Here

*This review was originally posted on RachelPoli.com

Remember Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Scooby Gang? Ever wonder what their classmates thought about all the weird goings-on around town? How they dealt with all the disappearances and monster sightings? The Rest of Us Just Live Here answers those burning questions!

Mikey and his friends are used to being on the sidelines, watching the "indie kids" fight the good fight against supernatural enemies, but never really getting involved. It doesn't affect them, so they usually just shrug and get on with their lives.

Mikey and friends are supposed to be the normal ones, but they're not your typical teens. Mikey struggles with OCD, his sister Mel is a recovering anorexic, his best friend Jared is a gay teen worshipped by mountain lions, and his sister's best friend Henna is his not-so-secret crush.

Each chapter starts with a small excerpt of what the indie kids are up to, then we go back to Mikey and friends. Loved how they were all there for each other! You may not be able to pick your family, but they did a great job of picking their friends!

They may not have to worry about saving the world but, being teenagers, they have their own struggles. For instance, Mikey really wants to let Henna know how he feels before it's too late. And Jared is dealing with not having a boyfriend, plus the whole being worshipped by cats thing. You know, typical teen drama.

Have to say that I really loved this book and couldn't put it down! It reminded me a little of Redshirts by John Scalzi in that it had sort of a wink, wink, nudge, nudge aspect to the story. Love an author with a sense of humor!

This story had great writing, interesting characters, a fun premise, and a well-paced plot. While this was my first Patrick Ness book, it won't be my last!

Did I mention that I LOVED this book?

Most of the YA books I’ve read in the past few months have blended together, either just okay or blah, books with a good premise but bad execution, or books that have unrealistic romances (for me) or whatever. I had THE REST OF US JUST LIVE HERE sitting on my shelf to review, and boy, do I regret not reading it sooner instead of trudging through the sea of blah.

In THE REST OF US JUST LIVE HERE, there’s some kind of supernatural invasion or trouble going on, but instead of following the Chosen Ones, aka the indie kids, the book is about Mikey and his friends. They’re ordinary. They just want to make it through senior year before something blows up the school. Again.

Each chapter starts off with a short bit about what the indie kids are up to, and those short bits read a lot like the average YA supernatural/paranormal romance. And then it’s back to Mikey and his friends, who are trying to sort out their comparatively mundane (but no less important) problems. Mikey’s dealing with OCD, anxiety, and having a crush on Henna. Mikey’s sister, Mel, is a recovering anorexic, whose past is thrust back in the spotlight now that their mom is running for the US Congress. Mikey and Mel are each other’s rock, and they’re both there for younger sister Meredith, because mom’s busy with politics and dad’s an absent alcoholic.

I connected with every character in THE REST OF US JUST LIVE HERE. For the first time in a while, I eagerly flipped each page, because I *had* to know what happened next. Usually I’m not a big fan of contemporary -- I need something extra to spice things up -- but here, everything was just so real. The book felt authentic to me in a way many YA books don’t. I appreciated the author’s honesty and realism on various subjects: talking about sex, having sex, friends choosing to be family and being there for one another, that hardness you feel when you’re almost an adult but your parents still make decisions for you, anxiety about leaving behind everything you know, etc.

Plus, there are some great talks between Mikey and his psychiatrist, such as taking medication isn’t a failure, and that mental illness isn’t anyone’s fault, and it’s as real as any other medical problem.

A moving YA novel that brought to mind both Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and the Buffy episode The Zeppo. Like those stories, The Rest of Us Just Live Here focuses on the people who are background characters in large epic contests, fleshing out their stories with dignity. As Mikey's classmates engage in supernatural battles with primordial forces, he is focused on more mundane matters like his relapsing OCD and his crush on his best friend.

What's key to the success of this novel is that these things aren't mundane to Mikey, and the supernatural stuff takes a backseat to them. This is a story that could easily go off the rails if the tone wasn't just right, but writer Patrick Ness manages to highlight the genre tropes going on in the background without ever tipping into overt parody or detracting from the seriousness of Mikey's own story. After reading this book, I'm really looking forward to Class, the Doctor Who spin-off for young adults that Ness is the lead writer for. If it's anything like this novel, it will be an excellent balance of speculative fiction and realistic teen drama.

The Rest Of Us Just Live Here
By
Patrick Ness

An almost 3.5 star book...

What it's all about...

One thing that I have learned from reading this book...I should have read his other books first...or at least one of them...perhaps A Monster Calls? This book is good but just a touch confusing. There is a real world and then there is a terrible other world...there are normal kids with issues and "indie" kids with issues. It's always been this way...apparently...however different eras have had different issues/monsters. The indie kids get the monsters. The monsters can be vampire deer...cops with blue lit eyes...and lots of explosions. Mikey and his friends just want to graduate and finish their school year without their school blowing up. The indie kids just want to stay alive. So...every chapter starts off with the monsters and the indie kids disappearing or dying. Then we get to Mikey and his friends and family...each with their own issues. Anorexia, alcoholism, having OCD, sexuality, being gay, being straight...domineering mothers running for political office...it's all right here in this book. Oh...and there's Mikey's gay friend Jared...who can cure cats big and small and cure people, too. Cats...all cats flock to Jared...he is the Cat God.

Why I wanted to read it...

I wanted to read this because it just sounded really amazing. Reviews for it were all over the place...readers either seemed to love it or hate it. I think that readers who were more familiar with this author loved it best...appreciated it best.

What made me truly enjoy this book...

I loved the contrast between the indie kids and the other kids. I enjoyed reading about the issues...I loved Jared...the Cat God. I appreciated Mikey's thoughts. I loved the way he protected his sisters. With the first paragraph I was taken away into this bad fantasy disturbing world of monsters and kids disappearing...and in a second back to college applications, lunch, and working after school watching Mikey wash his hands a hundred times.

Why you should read it, too...

Again...readers who know and love the books written by this author should really love this book. I just would not start with this one...but that is just me.

I really wanted to love this book, but it didn't wow me. I wanted to love it because I loved the premise -- what is going on in the lives of the teens who aren't the Chosen Ones during the epic battles of good and evil.

I do need to make clear that I am far from the target age group. Teen readers may like this book a lot more than I did but I'll be surprised if it becomes the latest teen mega-hit book.

The story is told in a clever format that left me cold. The story of the Chosen Ones is largely restricted to short paragraphs at the beginning of each chapter and cameo appearances by the "indie kids" in the lives of the main characters in this book. I like the idea that what would be the "main" story in most YA fantasy books is such an insignificant part of this book. But it made the book feel very disjointed while I was reading.

The main characters in this book are siblings Mike and Mel and their friends Jared and Henna. Considering that they are supposed to be the "average" kids, they didn't seem very ordinary. Mike has a bad case of OCD and Mel nearly died from anorexia. Jared is the farthest from normal -- and really makes the whole idea that these are the regular kids laughable. I won't tell you what is special about Jared because that would be a spoiler. The worst part is that I never felt invested in any of the characters and thus didn't care too much about them.

As a Christian, it really bothered me that the families of Mike, Mel, and Henna supposedly attended a very conservative church, but their faith was virtually nonexistent either in their values or their behavior. Had the author not made a big deal about it and one plot point involving mission work, you would never guess that religion had any part in their lives. As is often the case in YA books, the parents play little part in the teens' lives.

There is some teen snark (always appreciated by me) but not nearly enough to offset what I didn't like about the book. I wanted to give a content warning to parents who monitor their teens' reading. There is discussion of some teen same sex experimentation and also some teen drinking and hetero sex. The sex is not graphic but it is there. Some occasional swearing but not nearly as much as some YA novels.

I really enjoyed this clever take on teen fantasy/sci-if type books. This book takes the point of view of the 'rest' of the teens who aren't involved in the supernatural happenings... I like this concept and think it was fun and well done.

Though the main characters (non-indie kids) were 'normal' and only experience the fringe effects of the Armageddon-like activities, you find that their stories and experiences are relatable and interesting. They are all likable characters (to me) that I think we're well developed and flawed in identifiable ways. I think there are some valuable lessons learned by the characters that could be applied to most anybody's own struggles.

The only negative for me - and I may be somewhat of a prude in this - was the openness about premarital sex. This was limited in scope and wasn't graphic, but I don't love the concept of it being treated like a normal thing... like all high school students do this. I understand that maybe most do, and maybe I grew up in a bubble, but in my mind, it shouldn't be normal and I'd rather not act like it is. That's totally my opinion and I know it is probably not a common one. Regardless, I still liked this book a lot. As a parent, I would allow a child (maybe 15 years +) read this book with the understanding of the content and taking it upon myself to discuss these issues with my child myself.

I’ve heard a lot of people say The Rest Of Us Just Live Here isn’t his strongest work, and now I’ve read it I probably agree. But hey, he sure sets the quality bar to an Olympic high with his other books! I was really looking forward to this one and maybe my own expectations were simply too high, but I wasn’t as blown away as I thought I would be. But like I said: he might just be a victim of his own success… The Rest Of Us Just Live Here wasn’t a bad story and I enjoyed reading the prose as always. I do have to say I struggled with the chapter introductions in the beginning (mostly because I couldn’t connect them to the actual chapters), but that might just be explained by the fact I wasn’t in the mood for fantasy. This story is kind of a contemporary/paranormal/urban fantasy story and I liked the mix of reality and fictional elements. It was interesting to read about the group of friends trying to live their lives as crazy stuff was happening around them; that’s probably the true charm of this story. It did take me a lot longer than expected to finish it though…

I want to preface this review with a couple of things:
1. I listened to it on Audible so there may be mispellings of names.
2. I think anyone with anxiety or OCD tendencies (not the funny kind that you might brag about, but the serious kind that get really freaking tiring and affect your life and you feel weak because you should be able to control it kind) should read this book.
With that preface, this book would have gotten 5 stars had it not been for Hannah (Hennah? the narrator always sounds like he's saying Hennah, but I'm not sure). I really hated her. I try to stay away from YA novels because of this exact thing. I actually have a complete ban on YA Romance. I hate love triangles and I especially hate little girls (whether they're young or not) that string guys along for their own amusement. Or in her case, for her experimentation and self-discovery.

That was the one thing I disliked about the book. But let me say this: I listen to books on Audible because I'm a busy secular homeschool mom with a job and don't get much time to sit down and read fiction. However, for books that I love and ones I feel need to be read by others, I purchase them on hardcover or paperback and put them on my bookshelf. In other words, I enjoy the book enough to pay for it twice. This is one of those books.

I loved how you pretty much get the full side-story of the indie kids (the ones meant to save the world) without really being part of it. As an avid fantasy reader, it's really funny to see these epic adventures from the sideline characters because you know exactly what the book would read like if you were in the other story.

I was hesitant on picking up this book simply because it was YA, but I am so glad I did. It is very YA in the sense that all of these kids are in the midst of self-discovery, but they're not your average kids. Not just because they have powers, but they all have certain issues. As I said earlier, anyone with anxiety should read this. It's one of those YA novels were they are young physically, but in regards to their maturity, they are wise beyond their years. It was my first Patrick Ness book and after reading the mixed reviews on A Monster Calls, I wasn't sure I wanted to try him out. But after The Rest of Us Just Live Here, I will be reading more of his work.

OK...I've had a a few days to digest this book, so I think I am ready to write the review.

3.5 Stars

I am really torn about how I feel about this book because I feel like it could have definitely taken a more interesting route had it gotten more in depth about the immortals and the past events that Mickey's mom survived...I found myself way more interested in that than the day-to-day with the normal kids.

Also, the blurbs from the "Indie" kids were weird and had no real context since no details were really given about that world, so while listening to the audio it was really confusing at first. It took me forever to connect with the book, and like I said previously, I was more interested in the paranormal/fantasy aspects mentioned, but not detailed in the book.

I didn't hate the book, but it definitely didn't make a great impression.

"Those are the only alternatives? Being afraid or being gone?"

While I didn't *love* this book I think it's still worth the read.

First for the way it's written - Mikey and his friends are background characters in a science fiction/fantasy YA story. While we get a recap in every chapter about what the "Indie kids" (the main characters of the YA story) are up to, it's really just background noise the same way these kids are in this story. They call out tropes from science fiction and note how weird it is that none of the indie kids ever use google to solve their problems.

As for Mikey and his friends, this book is full of interesting characters. From trying to help his dysfunctional family amidst his mother's campaign (I do have a soft spot for books in Washington) to his manic pixie dream girl to dealing with his OCD, Mikey and the other characters in this book are pretty well-rounded. They certainly feel real. And Patrick Ness captures the feeling of self-loathing and loss that often come with mental health struggles well through these characters.

While I enjoyed the book and the strangeness and certainly rooted for Mikey, I found the end to be rather dissatisfying.

It's an interesting book about some teenagers if you take it for what it is.

Summary: High school kids are dying (mostly hipsters), animals are coming back from the dead, all sorts of people all of a sudden have these strange blue lights in their eyes, "The Immortals" are trying to take the planet. But at the same time, a group of friends are just trying to survive the normal high school drama and get to graduation.

My impressions: I'll admit, I did not love this at first. I was horribly confused. Each chapter starts off with a short description of what is happening in the battle between the hipsters (Indie kids) and the Immortals. But none of that is covered in the chapter itself. But once I got used to the style, I really ended up liking this a lot. The message is that not everyone can contribute to saving the planet. In this world, the indie kids are the ones who are always facing the Immortals or soul-eating ghouls, or vampires. Basically the indie kids are the main characters from Buffy.

But other people go to that school, who are not central to the world-saving. This book is about them. So everything that goes on with the Immortals is only a peripheral story line, and while they might end up collateral damage, they're not in the fight. So while the indie kids are fighting to save the planet, Mikey is trying to figure out a way to tell Henna he's in love with her, while also battling his crippling OCD. Mikey's sister Mel is overcoming anorexia. Henna's older brother died tragically, and she's also trying to figure out what happens next after graduation.

This was such a creative approach to fantasy, to an apocalyptic story. All the characters were so interesting and flawed and relatable. And of course the fears and trepidations that come with big change (graduation, growing up) are completely relatable. This was much more than I expected it to be, and I definitely recommend it!

This was a really fun book about the normal kids who live in the universe of Buffy and the like. They are not the chosen ones or even their friends. They are just the kids in the background just trying to not get killed by whatever end-of-the-world is happening this week. Mike is trying to not melt down from his OCD as his family tries to do life too. With his unrequited love for his best friend, his other best friend maybe getting a boyfriend, and all the disasters around him, he still gets things done.The best part of the book was the beginning of the chapters had what was going on with the special kids. The blurbs are not very long but they made me laugh and remember the days of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and her like. Ness does talk about some serious subjects and they are bearable because of the chosen stuff in the background. A fun book.

I give this book a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.

What a frustrating book this was.

If it had been billed as "a book about an average group of teenagers living average lives in which nothing really happens" there's no way I would have bought it. However, since they were living in a world with "Chosen One" heroes, I thought their lives would be more than just boring teenage lives.

Who has a crush on which girl. Shifts at a minimum wage part time job. Not getting along with your parents. Graduating high school. If those themes interest you, then you might enjoy this book. If not, give it a skip.

Two stars instead of one because I enjoyed the 'superhero' paragraph at the start of each chapter and he does write well in the technical sense.

“The Rest of Us Just Live Here” is one of the most unusual books I have ever read.

The beginning of every chapter tells what the “Indie Kids” are up to, which is the stuff typically found in young adult fiction that is not realistic. There were so many lines centering around them that had me laughing I couldn’t even begin to narrow it down to only one example. The real story centers around a group of friends who are just living their normal lives on the outside, not really involved with what’s going on. None of them are “the chosen ones.”

All of the characters are well-developed, including the secondary ones, and are going through the typical growing up issues all of us face at one time or another. The group is diverse in almost every way imaginable, and that really adds another level of enjoyment to it all. Most importantly, there are some very important messages hidden within the fun and entertainment. I’ll let you find those out for yourselves.

As an aside, there is a wonderful portrayal of OCD found in the main character, Mikey. It isn’t the main focus, but I’m sure many readers will relate.

I highly recommend “The Rest of Us Just Live Here” to any older young adult or adult who is looking for a book that is capable of having them shifting between laughter and tears.

Audio Rating - four star
Story Rating - 3 Stars
Over-all rating: 3.5-stars

I'm torn. I 'read' audiobook version of this book and I enjoyed it. Not the book per se but the way the story was read by the reader. The book itself is not bad, but it's not something very remarkable either. Although there were a few things that I liked about it.

One of them is how normal the kids in this book are. They were high schoolers and they strive to finish high school with as much normalcy they could muster. To the point of being shallow. Or at least, that's how they'd probably appear to other people. Because, who would care about prom when something like death is happening around you? But then, I see this kids the way some of us are when we were their age. I don't mean being obsess with prom when there are more important matters out their. I mean, the days when we felt as though we know a lot only to realize later on how naive we were back then. And I like that about this story. Because really, high school is the age where some of us thought that nothing was more important that being able to fit in, tell your feelings to the guy/gal you like and well, prom.

I don't know if it's because I'm listening to it and not really reading it, but I don't fully understand what the 'indie kids' exactly were. And I didn't follow their story either told in the beginning of each chapter. Before the next chapter was read, I already forgot what the introduction was in the previous chapter making it hard for me to make a connection.

And for something that is sort of paranormal in nature, this book is a little bland. I'm not sure I'd enjoyed it as much as I did if I read it instead of listening to it. But just like I said in the first parangraph, I enjoyed this book very much. For me, narrator was really good in giving life and feeling to the dialogues.

“Not everyone has to be the Chosen One. Not everyone has to be the guy who saves the world. Most people just have to live their lives the best they can, doing things that are great for them, having great friends, trying to make their lives better, loving people properly. All the while knowing that the world makes no sense but trying to find a way to be happy anyway.”

The Rest of Us Just Live Here is another amazing novel by my favourite author Patrick Ness. I was very different from I expected, but this time, it's a good thing.

The story follows the narrator called Mikey, his friends, and his family during the last few months before graduation. This time the story isn't about the Harry Potter's, or the Katniss Everdeen's of the world, but it's about the ordinary people. The people like you and me. (Or, if you are a chosen one, then good luck to you.)

Mikey lives in a small town where every generation something freaky happens, like the rise of the vampires, or a zombie-attack. The people who have to save the town (and the world) from disaster are called the indie kids. You know, those kids with names like Finn who always wear flannel and never use the internet. The indie kids are a tight group, so they never involve anyone else in their mission. The other people, well, they just live there (see what I did there?). Think of them as the extra's you always see walking around in the background of your favorite TV-show. They're like those random kids at Hogwarts who have no idea what is going on and who are just trying to study for their O.W.L.S. This book is about those people, who live their lives while something huge is happening. Sometimes, just living your life is hard enough.

“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.”

In the book we follow a group of four friends who all deal with their own things. Mikey, our narrator, deals with OCD and an anxiety disorder. His sister is a recovering anorexic, his best friend is gay and his crush is forced to go to Central-Africa with her missionary parents while a war is happening there.

We also follow the story of the indie kids, through the eyes of Mikey and his friends or through the 4 scenteces at the start of each chapter. For example, this is how the first chapter begins;

Chapter the First, in which the messenger of the Immortals arrives in a surprising shape, looking for a permanent vessel; and after being chased by her through the woods, indie kid Finn meets his final fate.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here deals with mental health in an excellent way. Like I mentioned before, Mikey deals with OCD. The upcoming graduation, and the fact that everything is changing, has made his OCD worse. He get's stuck in loops often, where he washes his hands so often that they bleed because he feels like he hasn't washed his hands 'the right way'. It's very touching to see how his friends deal with this, escpecially his best friend, who often gets him out of these loops.

In one chapter we follow Mikey during his therapy session, and I have to admit that I cried a lot while reading this. I'm going to quote a bit of what his therapist said to Mikey here;

“Feelings don't try to kill you, even the painful ones. Anxiety is a feeling grown too large. A feeling grown aggressive and dangerous. You're responsible for it's consequences, you're responsible for treating it. But Michael, you're not responsible for causing it. You're not morally at fault for it. No more than you would be for a tumour.”

The way Patrick Ness describes OCD is so real and heart-wrenching, and it makes you understand what the person is going through. What I find especially important in this novel is that the mental health issues they deal with aren't seen as a big scary monster that consumed the whole person. The issues are awful, yes, but the issues are just issues. They do not define who the characters are.

I've heard people say that they find this book boring because 'nothing really happens'. I can see why they think that, because all of the 'real action' happens off-screen, in the indie-kids story. However, I personally think the book didn't need any action. It's a beautiful story about friendship, family and mental health, and that is enough. To me, it was not only enough, it was perfect.

Originally posted on bbliophile.blogspot.com

The best way to describe this book, without a doubt, is quirky. When I first started listening, I wasn't completely sold on the story-within-a-story concept, but the more I listened, the more it sucked me in. I kind of want Patrick Ness to pull a Rainbow Rowell (with Carry On) and write the story about the Immortals and the Indie Kids that parallels this one--I'd read it. I also kind of wish there were a little more backstory about the soul-eating ghosts, vampires, and zombies, but Patrick Ness may be saving those for another book, and if he is, I'd read it.

It was refreshing to see damaged characters represented in a non-cliche way. We've seen characters with eating disorders and OCD before, but I liked the honest way Ness showed how a sibling deals with those things, because that's not usually a perspective we get to see. I also loved Jared--he was probably my favorite character in the book, and not just because of the cat thing (although the crazy cat lady in me is definitely a fan too).

The ending was a bit lackluster. It left room for a sequel, but I don't think Ness will write one, and I think that's probably for the best. I think that any sequel will be a let down compared to this gem of a novel.

If you're looking for a quick, fun, quirky read, this is definitely the novel for you. I don't know that I'll ever read it again, but it was definitely a fun and made me smile.

I received this review copy from Edelweiss, this does not affect my opinion on this book. Thank you SO MUCH for this review copy!

Patrick Ness really has a way with words. For some reason, he makes me cry, laugh, smile, all in the way he creates his stories. The Rest of Us Just Live Here may have just passed my extreme love for The Knife of Never Letting Go, actually it did pass it and went even further. We mostly write reviews here using the good, bad, verdict outline, but since there was no bad in The Rest of Us Just Live Here, this is a 100% good review.

What made me really want to read this book other than my love for Patrick Ness, was the books summary. Just look at it, bask it in’s gloryyyyy, the summary is AMAZING and makes me smile a bit (ok, maybe A LOT!)! What if you weren’t the Chosen One? What then? Seriously, how many stories can we name where the main character is the one to stop the alien invasion, or the one to kill the evil king? Noooow, how many can you name where the main characters are just trying to live normally? Chances are, not many which is a bit sad… The Rest of Us Just Live Here is about Mikey and his friends who are trying to survive until graduation while the Indie Kids (Chosen Ones) are saving the world. I LOVE how he calls them the Indie Kids, isn’t the name kind of super adorable? Patrick Ness made a story so original, it is hard (VERY hard!) to not like it. I can’t even begin to describe my INTENSE LOOOOOVE for this book other than saying my rating was not 5/5 for this book, it is 999,999,999,999.99/5 *cough* more than 100% perfect *cough*

Every single character in this book is adorable. I LOVE adorable, but they are far more than cute, they are different, interesting and easy to relate too. None of these characters are perfect because no one really is, sorry D:! Mikey has OCD/Anxiety problems, Jared is gay and the grandson of the cat goddess, Mel is anorexic…they are all wonderful. I can’t tell you which one was my favorite, if they were real I would just bring them all in for a big group hug… that would be nice.

One SUPER AWESOME thing, I LOVED was how each chapter starts with a super short summary of what the Indie Kids are up to! Patrick Ness doesn’t leave us totally in the dark when it comes too the worlds newest evil!!! This book tosses out all the cliches of typical stories and brings in newer and more exciting elements. That being said, I really want to read the Indie Kids story also :) even though I LOOOOOVE Mikey and his friends a TON!

What else did I enjoy? The ending. The ending actually made me laugh and smile and almost cry… okay maybe I did tear up a bit, but it was fantastic!

Patrick Ness is an amazing writer, seriously, what book of his his bad? The way he strings words together draws a beautiful picture that’s hard to put aside. From page one this book will grab you and hold you until you finish it. The Rest of Us Just Live Here DEMANDS attention, and honestly, just made its way up to my favorite’s list…

It might not be fair for an adult to judge a YA novel, but I do love to read them sometimes. Patrick Ness writes great characters. They might be slightly over intellectual for the age he's portraying but it's easy to overlook because they're likable despite their flaws, especially Mikey. The chapter where Mikey sees a therapist is so pitch perfect I want to print it out and hand it to anyone I know struggling with anxiety, depression, OCD, etc. I absolutely loved the idea that Mikey and his friends are just living on the periphery of what apparently is quite a normal supernatural occurrence. There are so many books detailing the "chosen ones" and I thought it was really a refreshing idea to read about the rest of humanity who is on the sidelines.

If I was asked today for an example of how to write characters with authentic diversity, this is the first book I’d think to recommend. Rather than defaulting to YA’s typical ‘normal’ and relegating the rest as plot points, characters both main and background are given real life with a realistic range of orientations, races, and neurodivergencies. (As far as I can tell, three of the four main characters are white, though.) When I started the book, I was sending pictures of nearly every page to friends, saying “Wow look, they casually included this representation here!” until it became clear this was the normal for Ness’ book. I wish it wasn’t exciting and surprising to see a group of people who look much more like those I interact with every day, but it is, and it’s unusually well done here!

I wish I could say I felt just as amazed by the writing itself, but I am in agreement with other reviewers that it seemed to fall flat as a story. It felt like a great concept not funny realized, maybe even rushed. The idea to focus on characters with normal lives in a world of YA protagonists is clever and exciting, but it is parodied in such a way that’d make for a humorous post moreso than an engaging story of its own. I feel like the I would have been more engaged if a fully developed story played out in the background, rather than what felt like satire. It did not feel like the story loved itself. The use of repeat names of the Indie Kids grew confusing for me, as did keeping up with their story in general when I’d forgotten details in between their spotlights.

There was also a relationship between an 18 year old and someone who's age is not declared that I recall, but would presumably have to be at least a few years older. I think it would have been more appropriate if this was discussed on some level, rather than just accepted without question.

This book came on high recommendation from lots of bloggers in diverse book circles, and without fail, I am always more impressed with books when I picked them up without any hype rather than building it up for myself. That said, the diversity alone makes it a standout book, and I recommend it to anyone for that reason.

Notes: there is more background character death, with some gore, than I would have anticipated, and a car crash is depicted.

3.5 stars

What if Divergent was told from the perspective of some random Erudite or the Hunger Games was told from the perspective of some random Capital resident.

Did you ever wonder about the lives of all those people who aren’t the heroes… the ones who aren’t there to save the world… the people in the background? What if the story is about the people who aren’t on earth to save the town from vampires or keep the school from blowing up before prom? Would you still be interested? You should be if it's written by Patrick Ness!

I’m still somewhat new to Patrick Ness. I own a lot of his books, I just haven’t read them… but this one had me from the first time I read the summary. Maybe because I feel like if I lived in a world of superheroes and powers, I would be one of those on the sideline wondering if the guy I liked maybe liked me back or worrying about getting my homework done.

“Not everyone has to be the Chosen One. Not everyone has to be the guy who saves the world. Most people just have to live their lives the best they can, doing the things that are great for them, having great friends, trying to make their lives better, loving people properly. All the while knowing that the world makes no sense but trying to find a way to be happy anyway.”

I really love how Ness created this story. Each chapter stars with a little bit of background on the big “save the world” issues that the Indies (the kids with the powers) are dealing with, but that’s all you get. It’s in the background and their story isn’t this story.

Big picture, the issues that are going on that the Indie kids are dealing with, definitely have an impact on our normal kids, but the story really focuses more on the day to day lives of our cast of characters. And what a unique perspective Ness created here.

Mike is our narrator, he’s worried about the girl he thinks he’s in love with falling for someone else, he’s worried about his sister who died once, and he’s worried about his best friend who is part God, (yes that’s what I said) and is keeping something from him. I really, really liked Mike. I thought he was a wonderful friend, an amazing brother and I found that I really cared what was happening in his life. The thing impacting him the most right now was his obsessive compulsions, and I thought Ness did an amazing job portraying them and I also think he did a wonderful job showing the support of his friends and getting help.

Ness has created a complex and layered cast of characters here… all dealing with realistic issues that aren’t saving the world. Mental Illness, LGBTQ, eating disorders, parental expectations all normal everyday issues in a world where not everything is considered normal. I think what Ness does so well though is capturing that these characters are not perfect, they have faults they make mistakes, they aren’t superheroes but what we also get to see is that even the ones who are supposed to be heroes fall down too.

Fans of contemporary will definitely find themselves engrossed in this story. With witty dialogue, humor, wonderful writing and a refreshing, unique story, I couldn’t put this down.

I didn't know what to expect from THE REST OF US JUST LIVE HERE. I've read A MONSTER CALLS and THE CRANE WIFE, so I knew Patrick Ness was a talented writer. I'd seen blogger reviews calling REST OF US a fantasy that's not really a fantasy and a contemporary that's not really contemporary, but it was incredible. Seeing as this was available for review, I was ready to see what all the fuss was about. And the fuss...oh my god, thanks to those people who made a fuss over this book! Like SALT TO THE SEA,this was a book I didn't know I wanted until I read it.

So I'm going to describe REST OF US as a contemporary fantasy that's 100% aware that it's not. It's meta in its look at the Chosen Ones, high school kids who are tasked with saving the world, whose names are as pretentious as they come. But they're not the focus of the story; that belongs to Mikey, who is very much not a chosen one (an indie kid).

Mikey is from a dysfunctional home and he's struggling with obsessive compulsive disorder and anxiety. He's comfortable with his found family,which includes his sister, Mel, who is recovering from anorexia, friend Jared, and unrequited love, Henna. The portrayal of friendships in REST OF US is so beautifully done. These friends are funny, sweet, and genuine, although I didn't really care for Henna all that much. I love stories about finding one's tribe, and Mikey's tribe is supportive and comforting. Seeing Jared help Mikey when he has an OCD "loop" at work brought tears to my eyes.

And there are tears. Mikey has a lot on his plate, which is complicated as is, but add his compulsions into the mix and it becomes impossible for him to move on until he gets it right. His appointment with a therapist concerning his OCD had me sobbing. Without getting too personal, that really spoke to me, and Mr. Ness handled this with an expert hand.

I really enjoyed this novel and hope it gets people reading, talking, and laughing. There's a lot to enjoy in this book, as well as a lot to think about. What a great way to (almost) finish 2015 for me.

Mikey is normal --- or as normal as you can be in a town that has been ravaged by vampires, zombies and, of course, those blooded indie kids. He and his three friends --- Henna, Mel and Jared --- just want to go to prom and graduate before someone blows up the school…again. He’s normal, see? But as Mikey navigates his mother’s political campaign and a new kid seems to have his eyes on Mikey’s crush, he realizes that you don’t need fangs or to be undead or to be named Finn to matter --- or to have a novel written about you.

I have read exactly two Patrick Ness books in the past, A MONSTER CALLS and MORE THAN THIS. He has also written the acclaimed Chaos Walking trilogy, consisting of THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO, THE ASK AND THE ANSWER, and MONSTERS AND MEN.

While reading THE REST OF US JUST LIVE HERE, I could not help but notice how different it was from his other novels that I have read --- in a good way. His other novels, while fantastic, feel like the meat section of a grocery store: more or less the same color, packaged neatly, vacuumed, sealed. This one felt like the fruit and vegetable section: bright, colorful, a little all over the place, everything could be tumbling to the ground at any moment but somehow it all stays rooted in place. The writing felt freer and a little crazier with some more color and I loved it. I really loved it.

There were a couple of details that bugged me about this novel, however. I get that the whole premise of the book is to make fun of “the Chosen One” cliché, but it felt like Mikey repeated how he was not the Chosen One 50 times in the first ten pages. We get it --- you are different from the different people! Also, I did not like how Mikey had had sex with two girls in the past but could not find the courage to tell the girl he liked that he liked her; it seemed out of character (although the fact that he wasn’t a virgin seemed more out of character). And of course, we have the cliche of the dorky and awkward guy in love with the unattainable hot girl. I like to call this, with the utmost respect, the “John Green Cliché.” Finally, I felt the plot had little rising and falling, which I bet was meant to show how uneventful all of this craziness in Mikey’s life was. But metaphors and great symbolism aside, a book is a book and books need good plot. The things that I think were meant to have a lot of resonance affected me very little.
In spite of the clichés and lacking plot, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. I think the characters did it for me. I loved how clever Meredith, Mikey’s little sister, was. I liked how protective Meredith’s boyfriend, Call Me Steve, was and how sweet and caring Mikey’s friend Jared was. And I loved Mikey’s mom, in spite of her flaws, because she was trying.
I recommend this singular novel to fans of Andrew Smith’s 100 SIDEWAYS MILES and Jandy Nelson’s I’LL GIVE YOU THE SUN for the quirky characters and wonderful writing, though I would recommend Patrick Ness’s other novels, especially MORE THAN THIS, to fans of M.T. Anderson’s FEED, which is one of my all-time favorite novels.

THE REST OF US JUST LIVE HERE was very different than anything Patrick Ness has ever written before --- kooky, strange, but surprisingly gripping and believable --- and I can’t wait to see where he goes with his next novel.

Reviewed by Bryn D.

Patrick Ness is quickly becoming one of my two or three favorite authors. Everything he produces contains not only a well-thought-out plot, but also seems to come from a unique perspective that other authors haven't approached before. Whether it's hearing the thoughts of a dog (Knife of Never Letting Go) a book where you're not even sure what the "monster" is (The Monster Calls) or whatever it was that happened to me in More Than This, Patrick Ness just never lets me sit still and read. He has to show me something different.

And this book is really all about "unique perspective," in several ways. There is a typical YA thriller going on in the background someplace, but we're just learning about the regular kids: the ones with no superpowers who are not the Chosen One and aren't super-spies either. And guess what? These kids have their own lives, too. They have problems. They're trying to navigate family, peers, and even themselves. Who needs an adventure with aliens when you're trying, like every other teen, to figure own your own life in this weird little world?

Patrick Ness slips so many interesting philosophical nuggets into this narrative as he tells the tale of these "regular" kids. I want every person in my life who works with teens (teachers, parents, etc.) to read this book just because of these glimpses into the heads of these teens. I found their lives fascinating, and the way their lives fit within the framework of their unique home town and the stories happening in the background of the town... This is a true five-star book from Mr. Ness... Again!

It's their senior year of high school. Mikey, Mel, Henna, Jared and the new kid, Nathan, worry about finals and prom and the great expanse of what life has ahead of them. Only, it's a bit more complicated than normal high school life, once the "indie" kids start dying under mysterious circumstances.

Who are the indies? Well, they're today's hipsters, I think you'd say. They're kids with names like Finn and Satchel, kids who wear trendy clothes and sport trendy haircuts. They're also kids that a mysterious force that shoots out blue light has a real taste for. Not a great time to be an indie.

'The Rest of Us Just Live Here' is a light YA story with science fiction/supernatural undertones. On the surface, it's about normal kids worrying about normal high school problems: love, sex and hanging onto friendships once they've graduated. Woven through is the secondary storyline, one that's a bit underdeveloped sad to say, written in a way that suggests you'd have to have read Ness's previous books to get a real handle on what's going on here. Frequent mention is made of past events, the last time the school blew up, for instance. And the time there were vampires. Things that, if you've read them, would likely go far toward fleshing out some rather lean plot points.

This is a fun YA book geared toward quick reading, nothing terribly deep or original and nothing Ness took a lot of time to develop. For what it is, I expect it achieves its goal of being a mildly funny, fast-paced read middle schoolers and younger high school-aged kids could whip right through. I just wasn't the target audience. No worries.

MY THOUGHTS
Mikey is just an average guy. Sure, his family is a mess, but all Mikey wants is to graduate high school, leave this town, and get the courage to finally ask his crush out. That's it. Yeah, weird things are happening in his town, glowing blue eyes and whatnot, but that;s not Mikey's problem. Mikey just wants to finish his last school year with his friends before the indie kids blow up the high school. Again.

There are times when you just know you're going to love a book. I knew I was going to love this book to second I found out that Patrick Ness was writing yet another book. Part of that was because Patrick Ness is an author god, but also, the premise is just too amazing! A book about a main character who is not the chosen one? Who just has to deal with the crap that the chosen one creates? YES PLEASE! I am so glad to say that this book exceeded my expectations. Yes, it's that good.

My favorite part of this book has to be how it just pokes fun at all the YA tropes. First off, I need to explain some things. In the 'world' that this book takes place in, there are indie kids. Indie kids are basically the main characters of YA novels. They have weird names, are too cool for prom, and die a lot. Also, all the weird things that happen always seem to be related to them. There's been soul-sucking ghosts, zombies, whatever, and the indie kids are always related to it. There was also mention of a few years ago where everything was vampires and romance (*cough* Twilight *cough*) and another mention of indie kids "dying beautifully of cancer". Seriously, it hits all the tropes. I haven't even hit all of them.

Mikey and his friends are essentially the classmates of the indie kids. They go to school with them and know them, but it's like how you know your classmates. Still, they have to deal with the things the indie kids do. I really liked this unique perspective on this because it gives you an idea of what the 'extras' have to go through in books. Yeah, they notice the vampires, the zombies, and whatever. Mikey and his friends do have run-ins with the weirdness going on in fact, and some of it really affects them (some doesn't. Because the weird things always go after the indie kids).

The main thing, though, is while this perspective is unique in the YA world, it's really just normal. Mikey is normal. His friends are (mostly) normal. This book is mainly just about Mikey and his friends and I enjoyed reading about a normal group of friends just trying to have average lives, in their weird world. It also felt just so real. The characters have real problems. Mikey and his sister(s) have problems with their family, but Mikey also struggles with anxiety and OCD. Other characters also have very real struggles shown (though, Jared had some out-of-ordinary ones). And it was all shown realistically! It seems like it would be boring to read about, but I really liked it and I thought it was amazing!

IN CONCLUSION
Overall, I loved this book so much! It's just so weird, so unique, so gosh darn interesting, and yes, very amusing at times. Please just pick up anything that this man writes.

Mikey isn't the chosen one. He's not going to fall in love with a vampire. (It's hard enough just trying to tell Henna how he feels now that she's finally broken up with her boyfriend.) He isn't going to change his name to Finn or Satchel or Kerouac. He isn't going to fight zombies. (Not when he's busy trying to keep his own OCD tendencies under control.) He isn't going to rid the town of ghosts. (Not when the almost-loss of his sister is still so fresh.)

Sometimes it's hard being the chosen one. Just ask any of the Indie kids at school. But, as Mikey knows all too well, sometimes it's also hard just being a regular guy trying to make it through senior year and make sense of his life--hopefully before the high school gets blown up. Again.

When it feels like every week there's a new impending doom, sometimes the most extraordinary thing to do is live your regular not-chosen-one life. Even if your best friend is worshiped by cats in The Rest of Us Just Live Here (2015) by Patrick Ness.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here is Ness' clever send-off of almost every recent supernatural/paranormal trend to have hit YA literature. Remember when everyone was falling in love with vampires? What about the soul eating ghosts? Or way back when the big thing everyone was dealing with was Gods? They all make an appearance in Mikey's town where high schools get blown up more often than kids named Finn end up at the center of a battle for humanity.

But none of that is really Mikey's problem because he isn't an indie kid and, as such, it's also not a concern of The Rest of Us Just Live Here. Chapter headings explain the "big" story as indie kids Satchel and Finn (not the dead one, the other one) try to save the world from something . . . weird. Meanwhile this book focuses on Mikey's life in the background of this supernatural drama as he looks toward the end of high school and all of the uncertainty it holds for himself, his best friend Jared, Henna--the girl he thinks he loves, and Mikey's sister Mel.

The thing to remember here, is that despite the backdrop of supernatural on every level, The Rest of Us Just Live Here is basically a contemporary story. And a familiar one at that with Mikey's uncertainty about nearly everything except his rock solid bond with his best friends.

While the premise of characters doing the best they can on the periphery of a bigger drama seems original, in Ness' hands it feels decidedly trite. Something in the execution of The Rest of Us Just Live Here--with its obvious nods to classic YA like Twilight and TV shows like Buffy--makes this otherwise enjoyable novel feel unoriginal and slight. While not necessarily a bad thing for every reader, it can make it hard to connect with (or even care) about these characters.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here is an ideal choice for readers who like their stories a bit zany and their adventures madcap. Recommended for readers suffering from paranormal romance/dystopian adventure fatigue.

Possible Pairings: Geek Fantasy Novel by E. Archer, Don't Ever Change by M. Beth Bloom, Tumble & Fall by Alexandra Coutts, Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer, Denton Little's Deathdate by Lance Rubin, All We Have is Now by Lisa Schroeder, We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach

This book was a bizarre reading experience. Having read Patrick Ness's The Knife of Never Letting Go, I was frankly surprised when I first saw this book, as its description made it sound like a light-hearted romp of a book, one in which the reader gets to see what it's like to be one of the not-Special kids who have to deal with the destructive aftermath of the Specials' struggles against the big, bad evil. Some spoilers to follow.

I was really looking forward to reading that book. However, what I found contained in this book's pages is not that light-hearted story. Essentially, this is a contemporary novel with some supernatural elements woven into it, and the blend isn't always smooth. It gives the book an overall uneven feel that prevented me from really getting into it, because the whole time I was reading it I kept switching back and forth from "it's urban fantasy" to "it's a contemporary novel".

The urban fantasy elements mostly comes from the brief descriptions that kick off each chapter, in which Ness provides a summary of what the interestingly-named Special kids (the book refers to these characters as "Indie Kids", a label that doesn't make much sense to me, frankly) are up to. These were some of my favorite sections in the book, as they provide a wry bit of satire that pokes what feels to me like gentle and loving fun at some of the worst tropes of the YA/Middle Grade fantasy/sci-fi genre. Though the summaries are typically only a few sentences, they are packed with plenty of the teenage angst, love triangles, and betrayals that seem inevitable when you're reading genre YA fiction. Yet even as Ness is making fun of genre tropes, I get the impression he has a sincere appreciation for those genres, so I never found the summaries to be too acerbic. A few in particular abounded with wit, and I often laughed at them.

As for the contemporary side, I will say this: Ness can write. His prose has a stark quality to it, though I don't think it's particularly spare. Sometimes when I read books, I feel like the author is overreaching when trying to make the reader feel for the characters, ending up tipping into melodrama. Not so with Ness. He has a plain way of stating the facts of his characters' struggles and laying them out in bald words that made me really feel their pain. This book deals with some gritty stuff: anorexia, Alzheimer's Disease, and obsessive compulsive disorder, just to name a few.

The family dynamic in this book is fraught, with Mike's and Mel's mother being an ambitious politician who tends to use her family to full effect, while their father is an alcoholic who can't deal with his wife's ambition. Their little sister, Meredith, is a prodigy, something their mother encourages with a lot of vigor. At first Meredith felt like a caricature, but then the book does something I was so happy to see a YA book doing: it fleshed her out and portrayed her as a full-fledged character, while also creating a very believable dynamic between her and her older siblings. This was another of my favorite aspects of the story, and I really enjoyed seeing how Mel, Mike, and Meredith learned to forge strong bonds with one another, clinging together even as their parents' blatant neglect of them threatens to tip each of them over the ledge. I was especially touched by later chapters, in which Meredith expresses her distress at the thought of being left behind by Mike and Mel when they go off to college the following year.

There's also a love triangle of sorts in the book: Mike is in love with his longtime friend Henna, who can't stop thinking about the new kid, Nathan. I didn't like this aspect of the book as much. Mike has a pretty unhealthy obsession with Henna, and some of his behavior is downright distasteful. I could never quite put my finger on Henna herself as some of her behavior seems kind of erratic--not as if she's going off the deep end or something, but more as if I never had a clear picture of who she was and what she stood for because those aspects of her personality seemed to keep changing. She puts up with more from Mike than I thought was realistic at times.

Mike's relationship with Jared is better, though there's a plot twist with regard to Jared I think I'd have preferred to have left out of the book entirely. Otherwise, I liked Jared and had a strong picture of him as a character. I liked how Ness explored Mike's jealousy at Jared's highly functional relationship with his father, but slowly peeled back the curtain so that Mike begins to understand that everyone has their own problems and issues, and that it's really not helpful to create an idealized view of others.

The urban fantasy aspect of the novel and the contemporary aspect of it collide on several occasions, and while I suspect Ness had a bit of a message here, that you don't have to be a person with mythic powers to experience a good deal of real life trauma and upheaval, when the worlds collide it feels too much like an interruption. Ultimately, I pretty much wished the urban fantasy elements had been chucked altogether, and that this book had been a straight-up contemporary book. I think it might have been stronger for it in the end.

Though I'm not going to lie: I kind of hope Ness writes that other book, the one about the Indie kids and their destinies.

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: This is a novel that, while packing a good amount of satire, still delivers a meaningful message.

Opening Sentence: On the day we’re the last people to see indie kid Finn alive, we’re all sprawled together in the Field, talking about love and stomachs.

The Review:

It’s Mikey’s last year of high school. He can feel time running out; he wants so badly to ask out his friend Henna, but can never work up the courage, and he doesn’t want to leave his friends and his siblings. Strange things begin happening, though – glowing blue eyes, immortals, chosen ones. Here’s the thing: Mikey isn’t one of the people who is going to stop them. He’s not an indie kid, the name given to those that are the kids that have powers and fight the supernatural.

So Mikey isn’t special, in a world where paranormal events are mostly background events (because, in the end, its the indie kids that take care of them). He cares about his friends, his family, and making it through the school year. As well as this, he’s struggling to fight past a disorder that is trapping him in painful “loops” that are getting bad again. But just because he’s not one of the saviors, that doesn’t mean he’s not special, does it? After all, most of us aren’t indie kids. The rest of us just live here.

I got an advance copy of this at the last ALA annual in San Francisco, so I’ve had a galley for quite a while. I’ve always wanted the chance to pick it up, because it seemed like a lot of fun. When I was asked to review it, I got the perfect opportunity to fit it into my hectic schedule, so I read it. It ended up being a satire of the YA cliches we all know and love, in the best way.

For example, before each chapter from Mikey’s perspective, you got a glimpse of what was going on with the indie kids. It was just a short paragraph about what they had been doing while Mikey had been narrating. The love triangles, the death, the paranormal – summarized like that, with all the typical YA aspects, it all seemed ridiculous. And the funny thing is, I definitely would have loved something like that had it been expanded.

I liked this novel. It had the perfect balance of satire and meaning. I loved the message that everyone is significant to the world, and that our “normal” lives are incredible. The characters were layered and complex, and I enjoyed our very relatable protagonist Mikey. Their was a lot of diversity in this book, as well, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The writing style was simple but easy to follow. I think this is a cute story, and it seemed to live up to all of my expectations. I’ve been in bad place with books I’ve read recently – none of them are really doing it for me – so hopefully a novel like this, that was fun to read, will pull me out of it. Others will enjoy how it breaches unprecedented territory!

Notable Scene:

Chapter the thirteenth, in which the prince is tricked into turning Satchel and second indie kid Finn over to the Empress of the Immortals; he tries to save them, but is forced to sacrifice Finn to do so; Satchel refuses to accept this and, through only her own cunning and bravery, thwarts the empress; she saves Finn and as they flee, she steals a glimpse of the Immortal Crux, the source of the Immortals’ power, through the gateway; it is full of charms and jewels, with an empty space in exactly the shape of her amulet.

FTC Advisory: Harper Teen provided me with a copy of The Rest of Us Just Live Here. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.

"The Rest Of Us Just Live Here" is a story of four college seniors just trying to make it to graduation, four weeks away, without their family imploding - or their high school exploding. Michael (Mikey), the narrator, is coping with a flare up of his anxiety disorder while watching his sister Melinda continue her fight against anorexia. Their mom can't be bothered, as she plots a run for Congress, and their father would be a good guy if he were ever sober. Henna is Melinda's best friend and Mikey's long time crush; Mikey wants to let her know how he feels about her, but the arrival of new kid Nathan is impinging on his game. And then there's his best friend, the huge gay guy Jared, who has secrets of his own. Like the fact that his grandmother was a goddess and cats worship him.

Oh, and yes, there's also some sort of Ultimate Good vs. Evil battle going on, which is kind of par for the course for this small town, which, like Sunnyvale and Forks, seems to attract evil. Mikey and his tribe aren't the ones who fight evil - those are the indie kids - they're the bystanders just trying to get through to graduation, and could you guys please not blow up the high school at prom? (Early in the book, Mikey reflects on the time that the "indie kids" fell in love with all the vampires and then killed them.)

It's a lot of plot, and it's a big compliment to Patrick Ness that he balances it so gracefully. The Good vs. Evil battle is presented in the introduction of each chapter, with a brief description of all the Big Things Happening ("Kerouac discovers the Messenger lies to him; he dies, alone") while the bulk of the chapter talks about what's going on with Mikey, Melinda, Henna and Jared. It's a sweet conceit, and of course, as the book goes on, the two stories start to become more intwined. The story that Mr. Ness is telling, of course, is that we're all heroes; and all our lives are important; and all the stakes are life and death. No matter who we are or how we're described.

Sometimes I thought the plot and setup was right on the verge of being too cute or convoluted. And it's not territory that hasn't been explored before - the Buffyverse spent a lot of time on the "real people" and the notion that all lives are meaningful, and you don't need powers to be heroic. But the characters here are so well drawn (even if they're archetypes, they work), and the writing so fun, that it all works.

I love the idea of this book. I've so often read books where some kind of major struggle goes on involving teens or young adults, and thought to myself "Why do the heroes of the book always have to get involved? What about people just wanting to live their regular lives?" This book addresses that. The world here is in the middle of a struggle involving Immortals and scary blue lights and all sorts of battles of the supernatural, but the main characters are just trying to finish off their senior year of high school, go to the prom, graduate and go to college. They are dealing with regular issues like romances, grades and family dramas. The two stories are done in an ingenious way---by having a little paragraph at the start of each chapter telling what is going on with the "indies", the kids involved in the big struggles, and then having the rest of the chapter be about the everyday life of Mike and Mel and Jared and Henna, the regular kids.

The book covers just about every YA issue it can, which is cool but also a bit of a weakness, in my eyes. I don't know if it was done ironically a bit, but the characters deal with eating disorders, OCD, sexual identity, parents with drinking problems, getting tattoos, therapy...and a lot more. I kept thinking that although these were supposedly ordinary teens, they sure had some issues.

And in fact, the main characters weren't as ordinary as I might have wished. Although they weren't "indies", they were the children of high level politicians, some of them, and one was even part God. I would have liked the book even better if they were more completely not like the indies.

However, I very much enjoyed this read and found it to be a unique and well-done book, a change from the mainstream that was a lot of fun to read!

I love this book because one of my favorite episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was "The Zeppo". If you haven't watched the show, that episode focussed on Xander Harris, the only really normal, mundane supporting character on the show, who is shunted to the side to protect him as everyone else goes off to fight another apocalypse. Again. Only he gets into his own kind of trouble and fights off a different apocalypse. And wins. I loved the episode not only because I liked the character (yep, I was that dorky in high school) but because it flipped the script so deftly: what's going on in the rest of the school while Our Heroes are off killing monsters and saving the day on a regular basis? How do finals work when the chemistry teacher is taken over by pod people?

The Rest of Us Just Live Here is The Zeppo (literally) writ large. While the "indie kids" are fighting off extra-dimensional warriors (described briefly in the chapter headings), the characters here are dealing with prom and first love and sex and dysfunctional families. Oh yeah and cat goddesses. What, just because they're the relatively normal kids doesn't mean they aren't touched by all the weird stuff that goes on here? Perish the thought. And that's a smart thing to do in this book, it's not like there wouldn't be repercussions or interactions in the background, which makes the book richer.

OK, yes, I admit the cast of characters can feel a bit like a "greatest hits" compilation of teen/YA drama (gay guy, anorexia, OCD, dead sibling, etc) I think it's handled with a delicate touch and doesn't get bogged down in Grand Drama. Even better, while it's clear that the author knows the cliches and tropes of the YA supernatural "genre", he never spells anything out so the reader can't avoid knowing that, oh yes, that refers to Twilight and that to Buffy and so on. Besides, at this point, vampires are so overdone talking about them can refer to everything and anything in the culture.

I liked the book, I liked that I was surprised by the changes and developments when I thought cynically that I knew where things would go and I liked that I could relate to my own mundane adolescent experiences. It's definitely worth checking out.

Mikey is a regular kid, even though his mother is a political wannabe, his older sister is in his class, his town appears to be the epicenter for paranormal happenings, and his best friend is partially a God. Oh, and he has a disabling case of OCD. But what happens when you are the ordinary kid surrounded by extraordinary happenings? How do you figure out how to be "normal" amidst the chaos?

Patrick Ness has written a book with a unique perspective, but one that seems so normal for every teenager living. Finding the extraordinary that is within us all, when everyone else seems to be "the special one" can truly be a challenge - and that challenge doesn't end when high school does. The voice of Mikey rings so true, even though I'm so far out of high school that I now have a high schooler of my own. The writing is honest, and the occasional Immortal floating around just makes the struggle to find what is special all the more poignant.

The story is also done as a sort of story-within-a-story. Each chapter begins with a synopsis of the current goings-on in the battle of the "indie" kids against the Immortals. For example, the book begins:

"Chapter The First, in which the Messenger of the Immortals in a surprising shape, looking for a permanent Vessel; and after being chased by her through the woods, indie kid Finn meets his final fate."

The rest of the chapter then goes on with Mikey telling his story outside of the supernatural one. Each chapter begins the same, with an update on the supernatural battle at the beginning, before Mikey carrying on. It was an interesting way to both set the tone of the chapter, compare the differences in the "ordinary vs. extraordinary" in Mikey's view, and (honestly) giggle a little bit at the cliche stories of the regular kid who becomes the hero.

Overall, it was a fun and mellow read with a great message. It's not a beat-you-over-the-head-until-you-realize-my-point kind of message either, which most teens and pre-teens would respond to. It's just...a good story.

Oh man. Ever since my first encounter with Patrick Ness, I’ve known I can count on him to deliver smart, original, and compassionate diverse books. But this one basically took it to a whole new level. The Rest of Us Just Live Here made me laugh, sigh, and put tears in my eyes. Whether you’re a contemporary or fantasy reader, this one is not to be missed.

First point of awesomeness: this concept. Ness strikes the perfect balance between fantasy and contemporary. The Rest of Us Just Live Here is set in our world, but magic, paranormal creatures, and chosen ones (referred to as “indie kids”) do exist. Yet the characters we follow are completely normal. They are not indie kids, so they are not pulled into the dramatic threats against humanity. They may just feel the aftershocks if, for example, the indie kids blow up the high school. (It has happened before.)

It’s so brilliant and witty! Each chapter of the story starts out with a summed up version of what the indie kids are doing off screen – which of them are dying, what paranormal creature is coming to attack them now, and all their dramatic romantic entanglements. It’s like a parody of all the young adult clichés you know and love. I was giggling all over the place. But after that short summary, it just gets back to our normal characters and the very “mundane” teenage problems they face (and sporadically they get hints of the fantastical issues going on).

But the problems our characters face are anything but boring. Ness brought mental health issues to the forefront in this novel, in the most compassionate and emotional ways. Mikey, the main character, has OCD. But not the “haha, I need to organize this stuff now” OCD – no. The “I have to wash my hands, I didn’t do it right, I need to do it again, or the world might end” OCD. He gets stuck in compulsive loops, which is scary and confusing, and he doesn’t know how to handle it. I was right there with him though, feeling all the sympathy feels. His OCD is rooted in debilitating anxiety, for which he actually gets therapy in the long run. Yes, there are actual scenes with a therapist in this book and they just about broke my heart. (Also, I will never misuse the term ‘OCD’ again – and if I hear anyone in my vicinity do so, I will direct them to this book.)

And while there’s a broad range of other dramatic issues happening (Mikey’s sister’s anorexia, their dad’s alcoholism, their mother’s obsession with her political career, Mikey’s best friend’s homosexuality, and Mikey’s unstoppable feelings for Henna) this book is hardly really dark. There was such an uplifting tone because at the center of it all it’s just these teenage kids – not the chosen ones – just normal kids, living messed up lives, trying to figure their s*** out, but having fun in the meantime. The friendships are real, deep, and meaningful – particularly because most of them have terrible home lives.

I basically felt all of the feelings ever, except on the romance part. That’s weird for me – especially because I don’t feel like it took away from the brilliance of this book. I do very much like how Mikey was questioning his sexuality. The fact that he had fooled around now and again with his male best friend was a detail that excellently shows the fluidity of sexuality and brings encouragement to kids trying to figure this stuff out. But his feelings for Henna had me less than enthused. He put her on a pedestal so high – it neared a manic pixie dream girl status. Now there is more depth to Henna than that – particularly in her half-black, half-Finnish background – but I couldn’t see that spark in her that had him so infatuated.

Luckily, you don’t need to ship this ship to like this book. It’s about so much more than romance. It’s about mental health, getting through your teenage years, and just figuring yourself out – even if the world is falling to pieces (possibly literally). Finding your friends – the people you can always count on – and discovering ways to cope if your family is less than optimal. It’s about having the tough conversations and breakthroughs to enable yourself to grow. It’s about forgiveness and acceptance. And it just touched my heart in so many ways.

Summing Up:

I cannot – CANNOT – recommend this book highly enough. With its parody-like nature of all young adult paranormal romance books and its focus on mental health, The Rest of Us Just Live Here manages to be simultaneously hilarious and heartbreaking. This book. THIS BOOK. It has broadened my world view, encouraged my compassion, and delighted me for hours. Ness writes beautifully, skillfully, diversely, and with brilliant wit. And now I must make catching up on his backlist a priority.

Recommended To:

Everyoneeeeee. (Seriously though.)

*A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the contents of the review.

This book is prefaced by "Advance Praise" that is such a load of annoying gush that I REALLY wanted to dislike it, but the story kind of grew on me after a while. However although the writing is good and it's got some clever takes on the fallout of its high-concept theme, imho the idea of 'the background kids' is compromised from the start because the "ordinary" protagonists aren't at all ordinary (even the ones that aren't "three-quarters Jewish, one quarter god.") It isn't exactly a mashup of "The Vampire Diaries" and "tonight, a very special Blossom," but kind of. Also, kind of like a day-in-the-life essay written by Xander of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER. In case you don't remember him, he was self-obsessed and had a snarky sense of humor. Like most of the supporting cast in BUFFY, I couldn't really identify with the kids in this story; they're not really ordinary, and not just because their lives aren't. There is a little ordinary-ness thrown in here and there but it's not actually important and comes across as window dressing more than anything.

However the meta-ironies mostly work, there's enough of a story to be interesting, the contrast with it and the occult-thriller blurbs narrating the adventures of the "indies" is amusing, and... Well, I wasn't actually all that impressed by the "big reveal" at the end, but s'ok. I have to say the narrative DOES take a little while to get off the ground. I wouldn't go out of my way for this, but it's mildly entertaining.

INTERVIEW WITH PATRICK NESS

Would you have found your superpower? If so, what would it be?

Patrick: I did find it! By some miracle, I could make people laugh. Saved my life over and over and over again in high school. If I can’t have invisibility, that one will do.

Tell us about these wallflowers, these “others” that are not front and center in your world?

Patrick: Careful who you’re calling wallflowers, as they’re us. They’re you and me. All those ones who don’t get the letter to Hogwarts or have a vampire fall in love with them; i.e., most of us. The chosen one narrative is so powerful, but I did wonder about all those poor unchosen ones out there, suspecting I’d be one of them.

What was your favorite “chosen” character to write in this book? (I freaking loved them all!)
**Head over to the HEA blog to see more of Patrick's Interview***

INTERVIEW WITH NARRATOR JAMES FOUHEY (Audio narrator)

What was your favorite scene to narrate on The Rest of Us Just Live Here?

James: The scene between Mike and Dr. Luther, in which she fights to convince him that he is not morally culpable for struggling with mental illness. It was my favorite scene to read, to perform, and to talk with friends and family about afterward. It’s a fictional conversation that resonates in the real world.

Do you have a favorite character?

James: My favorite character is Mike’s mom, Mrs. Mitchell. She has all of these competing ambitions in her life: her quest for political power, keeping her severely alcoholic husband in line and raising three children pretty much on her own. Her plate is full. I sympathized with Mike’s frustration with her and how she seems to always put her career first despite her family desperately needing her, but that only makes it more compelling when we get glimpses of her inner life. Also, she’s one of the adults that comes closest to openly discussing the supernatural terrors she saw as a child, and thereby validating her children’s reality

What superpower would you want? And on the heels of that, what superpower would you end up having? :)

Head over to the HEA Blog to read more!

First off, I really loved the idea this book is based on. Think about it: have you ever watched a show as, let’s say for argument’s sake, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or Angel, or some such, and wondered how what these groups of friends are doing when they battle vampires, demons, and other evils, affect the rest of the town/world? Like me, you probably haven’t. What award-winning Patrick Ness did is write a story from the perspectives of those who aren’t “the Chosen Ones” (who in this book are referred to as the indie kids). What is life like for those who are excluded from saving the world?

The writing is straightforward and I blew through this story in less than two days. Basically this book is about a multitude of things (apart from a possible apocalypse). It deals with, amongst others, OCD, bulimia, coming out, alcoholism, and even in a minor way, Alzheimer’s. These topics are handled in an open-minded, sensitive manner. And in the background, the world is on the brink of destruction.

The characters are what drive this story, and they are really great. I can’t say I felt a connection to any of them, but they were all likable in one way or another. Overall, this is the first Patrick Ness book I’ve read, but it certainly won’t be the last! Also, be sure to read the Author’s Note at the end to see how two of the characters got their names. Very interesting.

I'm still not sure I got everything there was to get out of THE REST OF US JUST LIVE HERE. It's such a different book from anything I've ever read. What initially appealed to me was the idea of a book about the 'rest of us' because I've often read books or watched films and wondered about the side characters who weren't the Chosen One or the special kids. For most of us that's every day life, we are the hero of our own story but never the hero of a bigger story. Sometimes just being able to get out of bed in the morning is a heroic feat and that's what makes Mikey a character that will resonate with teen and adult YA readers who struggle with mental illness.

But I also feel like this is a book for everyone who reads a lot of YA and can take a bit of tongue-in-cheek teasing about the plots we all love. When Gods, Soulsucking Ghosts, and Vampires have all had their bite out of Mikey's town in the past. I found it all pretty amusing and I loved how each chapter summed up what was happening to the 'indie kids' who were the characters facing the big bad of the book. I honestly didn't really like the characters aside from Jared and Meredith and at times got really sick of the unrealistic romantic flipflopping within the group but it wasn't a deal breaker.

If you enjoy a book that covers lot of social issues and discusses mental health from anorexia and OCD to anxiety and addiction in a way that will make you feel less alone I think this is a book you will cherish.

There’s only so many times you can hear about a book before you say “okay, I’ve got to read this thing.” I loved Patrick Ness’s YA series Chaos Walking, but hadn’t read anything else by him. The Rest of Us Just Live Here is a satirical take on the typical YA novel, but it’s also an authentic look into the lives of teenagers.

What stuck out to me the most in this novel was how realistic it was. Hear me out here. Yes, there are weird immortal beings running around killing people. Yes, one of his friends is part cat-God (I know, what?). And yes, there's a character named Satchel. But the concept is that the people who aren't involved still have to live their lives. Only the ‘indie kids’ are running around doing the Bella Swan, Katniss Everdeen, and Harry Potter type activities. What the reader gets from Ness is a look at characters that would normally be ‘stock townsfolk’.

Mickey is both intrigued and frustrated by the whole ‘indie kid’ scene. On one hand he doesn’t want get involved, and on the other he wants to know what’s going on. In a typical YA novel, Mickey would nose his way into the ‘indie kid’ group and become the chosen hero they’ve been looking for all along. In fact, I kept waiting for this to happen. But it doesn’t, because that’s not what this book is about! Instead you learn about the mental health issues Mickey and his sister suffer through. They’re not dramatic, or gimmicky, or even the most important thing about his character. As I sat there and took that in, I couldn’t get over how amazing it is to see something like that in a novel. So often, the character with a mental illness is so off the rails you wonder how they’re functioning, or they’re a psycho killer, and so on and so forth. When in fact a lot of people have mental illness and it’s far more subtle.

The relationships within the novel are also mature and forward thinking. There’s a scene where Mickey talks about his best friend Jared, who is gay. He says that they used to fool around and that he enjoyed it, but couldn’t see himself in a relationship with a man. Maybe I’m not as in touch with the youths of today (having been out of highschool for 6-ish years now) but I found this refreshing. How many times as a teen do you see something that says it’s okay to explore, and like what you did, but still identify as otherwise?
Alright, I’m almost done gushing. While incorporating all these great elements The Rest of Us Just Live Here is still funny, and cute, and interesting. It’s satire, but it also has all the elements that you would enjoy in a YA novel.

If my rating didn’t give it away, I have few negative things to say about this novel. Mickey can be annoying sometimes, but I don’t think I’ve ever read a book when the main character didn’t annoy/frustrate me at some point.

The only issue I have is a scene where Mickey visits his therapist. The clear goal is to show that mental illness, like physical illness, can require medication and there’s nothing wrong with taking it. Great message, no issue with that. But did it have to be so blatantly obvious that that's the only reason the scene exists? It’s like when The Secret Life of the American Teenager rattles off statistics about why you shouldn’t do drugs. I think there was a more natural way that Ness could have delivered the message.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here is satire with a motive. Ness has a great balance between poking fun at YA trends and doing it without putting those books down. He has his own post-apocalyptic trilogy after all (which I highly recommend)! He also addresses a lot of issues that don’t get as much attention in books where kicking down doors and taking names are the focus. Take a break from a trilogy and pick this book up!

See more reviews at my website Lunch-Time Librarian @ http://ltlibrarian.com

The Rest of Us Just Live Here is a very unique and original YA novel dealing with a myriad of issues: anorexia, OCD, absent parents, unrequited love, and the Immortals trying to take over the world, one indie kid at a time. What's an indie kid? As far as I can tell, it's a hipster that is, for some reason, targeted by vampires, zombies, soul-eating ghosts, and the Immortals. All of these supernatural elements are kind of a background to the rest of the book, which deals with the more common issues that teens face.
Mike has OCD and is in love with one of his best friends, a girl named Henna. Henna's parents are planning to take her to a dangerous African country where they will be missionaries/podiatrists. Henna is entranced with the new kid, Nate, whom Mike immediately hates and is suspicious of. Mike's sister Mel is recovering from anorexia. Mike's best friend Jared is a gay football-playing partial God. His grandmother was the Goddess of cats and Jared is loved by all cats, large, small, domesticated and otherwise. He has healing powers as well but they only go so far since he's only one quarter God.
The book is definitely different but entertaining and heartfelt. The main characters are well-developed and likable. I think I probably would have liked the book more if it hadn't had all of the supernatural business going on in the background, since it was never very well explained and seemed to belong to a different book but I still enjoyed it.

I received this ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Quotes taken from ARC may or may not be in the published edition.

I have always wanted to read something by Patrick Ness, which I was more than ecstatic to receive his latest book from Edelweiss (and also snatch it at BEA). Seeing as this was my first Ness book, I had pretty high standards for it.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here (Now to be dubbed TRoUJLH, wow even that is long, maybe just Rest of Us) pulled off the "un-Chosen" theme really well! We're introduced to a group of friends, Mikey, our main character, Melinda, his sister, Jared, and Henna. All of them are in their last year of high school, trying to survive whatever new situation will come up next. Last time, it was the vampires and all the Chosen ones, the Indie kids, died. This time, it's the Immortals.

"Everyone knows the indie kids don't use the internet-have you noticed? They never do, it;s weird, like it never occurs to them, like it's still 1985 and there's only card catalogs-so we can't find them discussing anything online. The vibe seems to be that it's totally not our business."

At the beginning of each chapter, there's a little excerpt about what's happening to the "Chosen", Indie kids, and then the actual chapters all focus on the kids that "just live there". And it's actually really realistic, which is what Ness' goal is in the first place. Mikey is struggling with his OCD-like mental illness, where he can't get out of a loop. He's also still trying to figure out his feelings for Henna, who he's been crushing on since forever. To me, this was one of the most accurate portrayals of OCD (or an OCD-like illness, it's not explicitly mentioned). The same went with Mel's eating disorder.

So yes, other than the random Indie kids in the background, you could say that this story was normal. Everyone was struggling with their own families, their own feelings, and their own problems.

Well, except Jared.

That was basically my only gripe throughout the entire story. I really enjoyed this "serious" parody of a recurring trope. And you would think that this would be boring, compared to actually reading about the SPECIAL and CHOSEN kids, but no, this was equally as intriguing.

Overall, I loved this new perspective on the whole "chosen one" trope, and I'm really looking forward to reading Patrick Ness' other books now!

THE REST OF US JUST LIVE HERE by Patrick Ness is an unusual and fascinating blend of fantasy and realistic fiction sure to engage young adults.

Unlike the “indie kids” who always seem to be involved with a vampire attack, alien invasion, or some other supernatural adventure, Mike is just a normal teen leading an ordinary life. Although one of his friends happens to be one quarter cat god, most of the time Mike and his friends deal with typical teen issues from crushes to car accidents.

Each chapter begins with a humorous fantasy element featuring indie kids facing a paranormal crisis. The rest of the chapter is told through the eyes of a teen just trying to deal with life as a high school senior.

Ness is at his best when his fantasy elements collide with every-day life. The author uses witty narrative and often hilarious situations to tell a unusual story of normal life in a chaotic world.

Librarians will find a large audience for this book among those who enjoy both realistic fiction and fantasy. Fans of Ness will be delighted with his latest work for young adults.

To learn more about the author, go to http://patrickness.com/.

Published by HarperTeen on October 6, 2015. ARC courtesy of the publisher.

This story was a baffling mix between excellent character relationships, tackling mental health, and bizarre satire fantasy. As a realistic fiction lover and psychology student, for me the strong points was how the book talked and dealt with mental health and how the relationships between the characters were so deep and entwined. The fantasy part almost made me give up in the middle, if I am completely honest. It was just so weird to have them talking about real issues one second and then all of a sudden mentioning vampires or zombies or cat Gods. I suppose it would make it fun for some people and the 'danger' factor did help the story some.

The ways Mikey dealt with his mental situation, the help he sought and the descriptions of how he felt were incredible. I would re-read for those parts alone. The sibling bond and the friendship between Mikey and Jared was equally awesome and profoundly heart-warming. So it does pack in the message that with any sort of craziness, the relationships between people make it all worth it.

Overall, an interesting and unusual way of brilliantly addressing mental health and bonds yet including some fun in between. I would recommend for mature teens just because it's not action-packed and the younger crowd may get a bit bored.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here, by Patrick Ness, is an exploration of the lives of the non-chosen ones in a supernatural world. The world includes soul-eating ghosts, vampires, and other supernatural phenomena that consistently attack their town, and the indie kids are the chosen ones who must defeat these threats. This story is not about the indie kids.

The beginning of each chapter summarizes the major paranormal threats taking place and what the indie kids - the chosen ones - are doing, how they are trying to defeat these threats, and the impossible things they must accomplish. Then the focus of the story shifts to the characters in the background - “the rest of us” who “just live here.” Because this story is not about the chosen ones, it is atypical in the fantasy genre. Most fantasy stories follow the hero of their world, waiting to find out how their hero will defeat the big bad and accomplish the impossible quest. This novel stands the typical fantasy tropes on their heads, instead following the characters in the background, watching how they manage to survive in a world hell-bent on trying to kill them. Most of these characters are without supernatural abilities; they’re regular high-schoolers just trying to make it through the day while somebody else is saving the world. That’s kind of what I like about this story. It shows realistic reactions to unreal situations, like how you or I would react to being in a supernatural world without having any superpowers.

Though this book is atypical in the fantasy genre, it falls well within the parameters of what makes fantasy fiction. It’s a supernatural world that must follow its own rules, and everything that happens has to make sense. It contains heros, the “chosen ones” who must defeat paranormal threats, but it also allows readers to suspend their disbelief by grounding itself in what seems at first glance to be the real world, albeit with supernatural elements. An example of this is that the main character’s mother is a politician trying to win an election. The characters face real-world problems, like dealing with an alcoholic father, managing anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorders, and the social and emotional struggles associated with being gay. All this occurs in the background of a plethora of supernatural events that threaten the characters’ very existence, and because they’re not the chosen ones, all they can do is try to cope in the best way they can.

This is the type of novel I love - great, high-concept premise, relatable characters, unique structure and storytelling. And it's SO different than the Chaos Walking series (which I also adored) so plus points for that too.

Let's start with the premise. Basically, Ness pokes fun at the "chosen one" trope by making his protagonist just an ordinary guy who lives in an extraordinary town. Mikey is not an "indie kid" so he doesn't have to worry about being the one who is essential to fighting off demons or vampires. He has his own stuff going on: his sister has an eating disorder, his dad is an alcoholic, his mom is running for office, and he has OCD and is in love with a friend of his.

So structure-wise, there's a short run-down at the start of each chapter telling us what is happening in the "main plot" and then Mikey tells us what's going on in his life for the rest of the chapter - and it's clearly much more interesting and authentic.

I love the underlying theme of being the hero of your own story, and I rooted for Mikey the entire novel.

You'll enjoy this if you like meta-fiction, originality and gentle satire.

This book was such a unique spin on the whole "teens must save the world from ..." type of story. As the title implies, we get to see what happens with the REST of the teenage population while the chosen ones are off doing whatever they do to make sure the end of the world is averted.

I especially loved that most of the characters were "flawed" in some obvious way. It made them more instantly relatable. The chapter titles were amusing and entertaining. And the ending was less "happily ever after" and more a feeling of having closure, but not tied up in a pretty little bow.

I definitely recommend this story to a Middle School or High School audience, or those of us adults who enjoy reading YA literature. And if you're not a fan of the paranormal, I think you'd still enjoy this book as the focus is on the normalcy of everyone else.

Patrick Ness, as an author, has a voice that is so distinctly his own, that his books are incredibly easy to distinguish from the mass of all the other nearly-identical YA novels out there. And, while I am not always the biggest fan of his books, I AM ALWAYS a fan of his ideas and the unique style in which he hashes them out. Does that make sense? I admire his uniqueness and artistry as an author, though, in general I don't particularly love his books.
Until now.
The Rest of Us Just Live Here, is, by far, my favorite of his works to date. It manages to capture his unique twist on the world in the most perfectly nuanced way. It manages to be cheeky and clever, while also making fun of itself, and is still totally page-turning and immersive. I truly can't say enough about this book and how utterly unique it is - it's not hilarious, it's not genius, but it IS funny and smart, and unlike any other book you've read, in all the best kind of ways. It's predictable, in a sense, but the familiarity is due to the reverent satire woven throughout the story. It's no wonder everyone is talking about this book right now, don't miss this one!

The world of this book is a clever combination of so many popular young adult books. Mythology, fantasy horror, you name it. If it's popular in YA is here. But none of that is supposed to matter because this story isn't about the chosen ones (who always fight the big bad character to save the world and the girl / boy). It's about the normal kids who don't get chosen. Who struggle with relationships and coming of age issues. It's an interesting premise and experiment. I'm not sure it's successful though.

One of the problems I have is with the morality of "ordinary kids" who make up the main characters. Like a lot of Young Adult books, the content of this is much more suitable for actual adults than for teenagers. Sexuality is definitely on the minds of the main characters. For instance, one character is gay and another is supposedly straight but has fooled around with the gay character because that's what teen boys do. The trouble with statements like that is that it presupposes that sexual activities between young teens is not just normal but no big deal. It doesn't speak to wise decisions or consequences. This is only one example of why this isn't suitable, in my opinion, for younger readers.

As for the story, it's very slow moving, the main characters are interesting (I like that Mike is actual OCD rather than the term as thrown about by people who have no understanding of what that means). But if you take the back drop away theme and just go by the main story it's not that great of a book. I like that Ness tried and I enjoyed the meta "in" jokes. But ultimately, I wasn't won over.

I thought the concept was fun and interesting-the idea of a book not about the chosen one, but about the people in the background. I loved the diversity of the main cast, the frank and believable way it dealt with OCD and eating disorders, and the wonderful relationships between all of the characters. The themes of family and love and friendship were great, and I was particularly fond of the sibling relationship between Mel, Micky, and Meredith.

I also really liked the MC Micky a whole lot, and I really thought his relationship with Jared was really great. EXCEPT. Okay, their fight really pissed me off, or, not so much their fight, but the aftermath of the fight. I thought that Jared was WAY more in the wrong for the stuff he said and all the secrets he'd been keeping, and it really bugged me how it they both acted that they were equally hurtful, and that Micky didn't get a more sincere apology.

But all in all, a really wonderful read. I listened to this one on audiobook, and I thought the narrator did a really fantastic job with it.

Patrick Ness is a completely under-appreciated YA writer. Ifirst discovered him with the Chaos Walking series, in which the first book, The Knife of Never Letting Go, has the absolutely best first line I have ever read in a novel. I also have read several of his adult novels, including The Crane Wife, and those are wonderful as well.

In this book, Ness jumps on the YA-world-is-ending bandwagon, and reminded me somewhat of "We All Looked Up", in that it's the story of a group of teenagers as they face the unstoppable end-of-the-world. They are not the heroes of the story, destined to fight the upcoming doom - they are the "rest of us", the others who are merely living through it.

So this story is not so much about the fight to save the world, as it is a relationship story about teenagers - who have a difficult-enough time coping with the world as it currently exists, and I can vouch as the parent of one. These teens also each have an existing FACTOR that makes their particular lives a bit more difficult than an ordinary teen - as well as being faced with The End.

Really good, and really different.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here is a fun book that doesn't take itself too seriously, despite dealing with a couple serious topics, like eating disorders and depression. It's a slightly chaotic mixture of fantasy, romance, comedy, and coming of age drama packed into one fairly small book.

The story follows a group of teens about to graduate from high school who are trying their best to ignore the dark forces in their town trying to destroy the world. The teens-battling-evil parts of the book are a clear homage to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with the added twist that the protagonists in this book are the folks on the sidelines- not the heroes.

For the most part, I enjoyed this book, but I didn't always appreciate the humor. Some of it was just a little too ridiculous for my taste; I like a more sly, subtle type of comedy. But I did get a kick out of a few of the gags, especially the character who was part "god of cats." If you're looking for a slightly screwball young adult book with some heavy mental health side stories and light-hearted fantasy elements, this it the book for you.

Originally posted on my blog, Adventure Under the Stairs.wordpress.com.

My Review
Characters

I loved loved loved Mike. He was beautiful, and I couldn’t get enough of him. I just wanted to wrap him up as a blanket burrito and just smother him with hugs. Mike is the narrator and he really just wants to be a normal kid, having a normal last few months with his friends before graduating. He has a lot going on with him too. He has obsessive compulsive disorder, his sister Mel is recovering from a eating disorder, his father’s a drunk and never there for the family, his mother is a politician, he’s in love with his friend Henna, his best friend Jared is 3 parts Jewish and one part God…The list goes on.

What I loved about Mike was his selflessness. He is constantly stuck in loops because of his disorder, and he hates it. He hates what it does to him, and he feels like a burden. But he’s there for everyone he cares about, no matter the issue. I just wanted to protect Mike.

I loved Jared almost as much as I loved Mike. I don’t want to get into too much because, no spoilers, but he was an absolute delight. I did get angry with him. I was angry with everyone for holding a secret from Mike, but I still love him.

I could not stand Henna. I’m sorry but I felt like she was dragging Mike along. She knew he loved her, and she doesn’t say she feels the same but wants to “experiment” and kiss him? To me, she acted like she knew Mike would do anything for her and in some cases she would take advantage of that. I think the best moment to describe this is near the end when Mike is hurt by everyone, and Henna comes asking for a ride home. Mike says no, and the next line was “She waited. ‘Yes,’ he said.” It frustrates me! She talked about having feelings for Nathan all the time, knowing Mike’s feelings. And then getting frustrated that he was feeling jealous. Hello! You keep pulling him close and then pushing him away. You gave me the thought he may have a chance. So rude.

Plot

Interesting. I was interested because it was the story of the kids who aren’t the heroes. Who are not trying to save the world. It had a nice combination of fantasy and life-in-high-school contemporary. I was enraptured with the relationship between Jared and Mike. All I can is when Mike said

“That’s all I ever really wanted to know,”

to Jared, that’s when I started balling my eyes out. So congrats Mr. Ness, you are number 5 on the list of authors to make me cry.

Mike’s struggle with his compulsions, and how he was dealing was well done. His struggles with his family were perfect. The “indie kids'” (the heroes, the one’s who are always up to something) storyline was fun because we would only get a paragraph of what was happening in their world each chapter, and then the rest of the chapter was how it affected the lives of the non-indie kids.

But I think you can tell that the Mike and Jared story stole the show for me. I did love the relationship between the siblings: Mike, Mel, and Meredith. Just really well done.

Overall, nice story. I would recommend this one. Was it perfect? No, but it was a fun read.

RATING: 3/5 STARS

YA fiction these days is so full of vampire fighters, and Chosen Ones, and people who Save The Day. Ness's novel celebrates the rest of us: the ones who aren't the children of the gods or the saviors of the world, but rather the "ordinary" folks who try to to their best and fight their demons day in and day out. Mikey is one such teen, battling with his OCD, trying to help his recovering-anorexic sister, grappling with his mother's coldness and ambition and his father's drinking problem. Meanwhile, the so-called indie kids in his hometown are fighting against grander foes. Ness cleverly keeps the focus on Mikey and his friends, prefacing each chapter with a summary of how the indie kids are fighting the big battles, and devoting the meat of the book to seeing how the people around the indie kids live their lives and fight their own battles. The characters are interesting and sweet, there's lots of humor and irony, and there's plenty of heart.

WOW.

I have read Patrick Ness before, and you really never get the same thing twice. In a good way, I mean. You do get the same awesome ability to pull the reader into the story, whatever that story may be, and then hold onto them. Often, authors can pull me in but not keep me there. I think this was my 4th Ness book. I will definitely read more. Each has been so different. Yet, I feel one thing he is always writing is "believe in who YOU are and value your own identity."

I wish I had thought up the premise of this book. That is one of the highest compliments I can pay as a writer. "I wish I'd written that," so to speak. He did a great job of both poking fun at the teen book trends while also including them as valid stories and part of the teen experience.

His characters come right off the page. I am still thinking about them days later.

Bravo! 5 Stars!

This book was a good breath of fresh air. The main character was so splendidly honest and real that I never had trouble with him creating his own voice inside my head. There were startling moments on occasion where I forgot that he wasn't real, and then I was sad that he wasn't. Ness created a fantastic story (two stories kind of?) and it read so smoothly. I feel like so many people can relate to the variety of characters he offers and at the core of the book are the feelings and emotions and concerns of these characters that all mirror and echo how we feel in such pure and simple and complex ways. Closing this book at the end, I feel like I not only know the characters better but I feel understood more too. It's a strange blend of things and I'm so glad I read this book so that I could experience such a thing.

[edit]
This is a really loose 4 stars.

I enjoyed this book, it was a quick and easy read. I started it at 12:30 and was finished before 5PM with many breaks and a trip to the library in the middle. I really like the idea of the book, it's a wonderful idea and it was entertaining. But I didn't click with all of the characters as well as I would have liked and found them annoying at times. There seemed to be something lacking in this book. This is the second book by Ness that I've read and he has a really interesting style. He has these complex ideas but they are very easy to read, at least for me. You find yourself trapped in the pages, wanting to know what happens next next next.

There was just something lacking in this book and I can't put my finger on it. Maybe it needed to be longer and more fleshed out. I'm not sure. I enjoyed this book, it was a fun romp. It served the purpose of being entertaining and while it's not at the top of the list of books I would recommend to a friend if asked if it's worth reading I would say yes.

Another issue I have is with the ending. I really dislike vague open ended endings. They're more acceptable in series when you have had multiple books to get to know a character, because you can more easily guess what's going to happen to them next. But with shorter books it can be difficult. There are some books where open endings are great. I'm just not sure if this is one of them or not.

Patrick Ness has written the YA book everyone wishes they could write. A group of students are approaching their high school graduation. It's only been 4 years since the high school burned down and no one has seen any vampires lately, so life is good. Our narrator is struggling with OCD tendencies. His sister is eating nearly normally. Their mother is in politics and Dad is a drunk. Life is not perfect for his friends either, and the changes that will come with college are coming quickly. But strange things happen to teenagers. A satisfying series of incidents and revelations go on right up to graduation. Sometimes your crush likes you back. Sometimes it's just a crush.

pooled ink Reviews:

While we devour stories about “chosen ones” and vampires and werewolves and aliens and zombies and wizards and witches and warriors and rebellions and a million other breath-taking tales I’m really glad Ness finally decided to one day peruse this question of “What about everyone else?” and write a fun, incredibly normal story that attempts to answer just that.

Ness succeeds in writing a book that is a bit thrilling but in the most normal of ways, romantic but not heart-bursting, sad but not unheard of, exciting but because it’s completely relatable, and beautifully, humanly normal.

Read my full review here: https://pooledink.wordpress.com/2015/10/16/the-rest-of-us-just-live-here/

"The Rest of Us Just Live Here" is a book about... everyone else in the background of your favorite reads. But this focuses on a certain group of high school seniors. This read was witty in some areas and dull in others. I think I went in expecting something completely different from what I got. It did take me longer to finish than I had expected but probably because I kept waiting for it to all fall together like I thought it would.

Enjoyed this read, but it wasn't my favorite.

A unique read, and one I definitely enjoyed. The characters in this book were really great, each one very well-developed and with distinct and interesting personalities, lives, and problems. The paranormal happenings in town were secondary to the main story for me - I could take or leave that part of the plot. The main story for me was the tale of Mikey and his friends and family. I loved following along with their situations and dramas as they lived out their last few weeks of high school and made the leap to growing up and moving on to the next stage in their lives.

I love Patrick Ness. He has such a wonderful way with words and his stories always grab and never let go. The Rest of Us just Live Here was such an interesting story and one that I think the YA shelves need because it was very diverse. Ness brings those kids that sit in the back of the room to the front and puts a spotlight on issues that people tend to just gloss over. I love this about him. It will make every high schooler look at at least one peer differently and that's just amazing.

If you are a fan of Ness you will love this and if you haven't picked him up before this is a fun one to start with!

I really enjoyed this book! I was a little nervous because the only other Patrick Ness book I've read was BRUTAL, but this was a good read. I thought it dealt well with mental illness, the complication of young love, and how it feels to be on the sidelines instead of the spotlight. It was a really unique premise as well, because who ever really thinks of the background characters in fantasy novels? There were some laugh out loud moments and I finished this book in a day, so I would recommend it for sure.

This book is a pure gem. The way the author makes us realise that the "normal" paranormal books we read are always with heroes so detached from the "rest of the human world" is just incredible. And it stayed with me for a long time. I started reading one of these other paranormal books afterwards, and after a few chapters I was laughing out loud because OMG it was so incredibly obvious, after having read this book, that that's exactly what happens. For instance, in the one I'm reading now, the heroes know TWO "ordinary" people!!! And the rest of the books (5 in total) is totally focused on the heroes, with the humans blissfully going on with their daily businesses when it is so freaking obvious something major is going down. I loved the way the chapters begun, and snickered my way through them, because the plot for the heroes is so twisted I started wondering why it never occurred to me before sometimes how surreal everything is; like they get saved when you're at 98% of the book through a twist nobody saw coming haha. And then there are all the main characters, with their real, daily problems and the way they are described is fantastic. Their insecurities, laughs, fights etc.. you're just there with them for all of it. they are all lovable. And they misunderstand each other, like us in our lives with our friends and/our colleagues; they are not sure about love, whom they love, what love is, etc. But it's much more than that. The book is psychological, philosophical, comical, and yes paranormal, and everything is brilliantly put together. a total must read!

Patrick Ness's The Rest of Us Just Live Here is a novel for YA 14 and up, grades 9 and up. It's a fantasy taking place in a strange time where vampires, other dimensions, weird blue lights, soul eaters, all live with humans. Each chapter starts with a paragraph about the "in crowd" and follows with the rest of the "regular people". Probably not suitable for anyone under 14. There are PG-13-R places in this novel.

Usually, every story centers around "The Star", the one who is the superhero or action hero, the one who fights monsters. Not this one. That's what makes it so memorable. It's the story of the "regular" people, the ones who aren't destined to be the action star or super hero, but just the great masses. How do you deal with not being "the man with the plan" in every situation.....with no control and hoping for the best. This is a well written, unusual novel that I really enjoyed.

A number of lines had me laughing out loud. (Great narrative voice!) Some others drove me nearly to tears. (Relatable struggles are relatable.) I loved the focus on – and the depth of – the main characters’ friendships, including between siblings and potential romantic interests. And the juxtaposition between the story in the spotlight and the plot offstage was a fun quirky touch. Part of me wishes I were rereading the book already.

I absolutely adored this book. Patrick Ness accomplishes the near impossible in this work of fiction- he creates not only funny, convincing parody, but also tells another story, a story that rings completely true and allows us to see through the eyes of the "others," the kids who aren't the special, chosen ones. For anyone who has ever felt as though they are not the star of their own story, this book will delight you. Having a good understanding of traditional teen or indie tropes in fiction or entertainment in general will also add a layer of awesome to your reading of this book. As a near twenty year old, I enjoyed this book just as much as I feel any sixteen or seventeen year old would. This book was smart and different and had something to say, and I will forever applaud Patrick Ness for writing it. The characters are involved, the setting is believable, and the plot is intriguing. I couldn't put it down and I can't recommend it highly enough.

This is my first time reading a book written by Patrick Ness and I will be looking forward to reading more. This book was different in the fact that the main character was not the hero but more of the one that nobody really pays attention to. This made fun on the YA genre and got away with it. This is a great book to read when you want to read a little bit of snark and a different take on the characters roles in thestory.

This was the first Patrick Ness book I've ever read. It had an interesting premise but it failed to really hook me. And was disappointing to me. Seriously disappointing. I have another of his books on my to-read list and now I'm having second and third thoughts about that. But that'll be decided at a later date once the memory of this book goes away some.

Pretentious. Bulls***. At the start of *EVERY* chapter. Not even kidding. They all literally started with the words "Chapter the (insert number)" followed with a summation of what would be happening in a "typical" YA novel, particularly those that rely on the chosen one tropes.

It could simply be that I didn't find the 'humour' in it. It could just be that the pretentious feeling at the start of the chapters turned me off. But it didn't work for me. All in all it was kind of 'meh'.

Introduction
Have you ever wondered how it is to not be a superhero. In this young adult novel you explore the lives of ordinary people in a superhero universe. It has a bit of everything mixed in, some science fiction, some fantasy and some unique plots...

Read full review at:
Bramslaats,eu

I was so confused reading the first few chapters of this book but once I figured it out, I kind of enjoyed it. For some reason, I thought this book was about zombies but it's not. I really don't know what it was truly about but I think that was the point of the book. So all in all, it was a good book once I understood it.

A fantastic novel! Patrick Ness is one of my favorite YA authors, and he always exceeds my expectations with every new novel. The Rest of Us has extraordinary characters that quickly draw you in! I read a lot of YA, but I won't forget this one for a long time. Highly recommended!

"the rest of us just live here" is an honest to goodness tour de force of the YA savior-fantasy genre. cleverly arranged, it's packed alternately (and often simultaneously) with incisive metacommentary and profound insight. every character leaps from the page with depth, written with sympathy for and genuine understanding of the human condition. truly one of the best reads i've had in a genre that can occasionally feel stale and formulaic.

What would it be like to live in a world chock full of superheroes and super villains if you didn't have any superpowers? When your biggest high school angst isn't what you will do after you graduate or will you work up the courage to ask your secret crush out on a date, but rather whether someone is going to blow up the school,...

again?

Though hardly the most original idea, there are a lot of ways you can go with such a premise; see The Mystery Men for a good example. Unfortunately, author Patrick Ness chose to go with political correctness. Thus we get a bunch of characters with After School Specials "issues" plus the stereotypical closeted homosexual character who just happens to be the noblest, kindest, most Christ-like character in the whole book combined with the thus required borderline anti-Christian bigotry.

This had all the potential to be a great fantasy but fell short. This book was one of the most boring books filled with conceited and self-satisfying jerks that had I met them in real life I would have walked away.
The chapter headings, detailing what was happening to the special ones chosen was the only interesting part, I can't even tell you the "main" characters names bc I didn't like them and didn't connect with them.
Not worth a read or a buy.

I only read the first chapter, then gave up on this book. So very likely this review is not fair to the book, but it is certainly representative of what readers do: not give a book a chance that bores them on the first few pages.

To be fair, the writing (that is, the language) is fine. Ness certainly know how to use words. That's the two stars you see above. So why did I not read on?

Because:

- After the first chapter I have no idea who the 1st-person-narrator / protagonist is. Is he a boy or a girl? What's his / her name? What kind of person is he / she, what interests him / her, what does he / she want from life? All I know after the first chapter is that this person has some kind of obsessive compulsive disorder with counting corners of books. Not something that makes me want to get into that person's life more.

- What are those people on about? They talk about homework and their crushes much in the same way that the kids riding the bus with me do. So maybe Ness portrayed them well, but unfortunately as a result the characters and their talk are about as boring and uninteresting as the talk of some random kids on the bus. Why would I care wether some Betty is attracted to some Brandon or not?

- Why the heck don't they react at all to the strange phenomenon of the glowing girl and blue pillar of light? I mean, are they retarded in some way or so mentally blunted that they no longer care if something extraordinary happens? These kids witness something out of this world and just keep going on about not being in love and stuff. Again, not people I can identify with. Rather, the kind of people I try to avoid in real life. So why would I want to read about them in a book?

If you are excited and intrigued by the apathetic kids on the bus and their void jabbering, then this book's first chapter is for you. If not, not. I can't say anything about the rest of the book, as I ain't read it and won't.