The Rest of Us Just Live Here

I went into this book thinking it would be about the sidekicks, but it was even better: it's about the people on the periphery of the big action-packed fantasy adventure, like Bella's classmates in Twilight (who have the distinction of being the only cast of incidental characters I was way more interested in than the main characters). Each chapter opens with a short paragraph summarizing the BIG EXCITING ADVENTURE happening to the "special", "chosen" kids at high school (hipsters and Bellas all) before giving way to an otherwise ordinary story about four ordinary kids wrapping up their senior year.

The ordinariness is actually what caught me off guard. I guess I was expecting that the four main characters would turn out to be "special" show more in their own right, caught up in the middle of the big finale. Instead the book is very down-to-earth. I appreciated that the characters all had real problems to deal with--Mikey's OCD, Mel's anorexia, Jared's sexual orientation and (ahem) special family members, and Henna's conflict with her parents. These teens are not just miserable because they don't feel understood. If anything, they sometimes feel TOO understood.

Ness really handles his characters well. Not everyone is redeemed at the end, there is no one big happily-ever-after (though of course the "chosen one" hero always wins!), but you know that everything is going to be all right. No one's toughing it out on their own for stupid reasons. Not everyone is perfectly, romantically paired off for life at the end of high school. Mikey's getting help--and when have I EVER seen a teenage character not only ask for the therapy they need but have it along with medication and find that, together, they work? This really meant a lot to me, since so many books seem to treat mental illness as an all-or-nothing, all-in-your-head, all-a-matter-of-attitude thing. His chapter with his therapist was honestly more helpful than my own sessions with a therapist have been.

I really cared about these characters, even when they were doing stupid things. I liked the variety of things that happened in such a short book without the plot ever feeling too crowded. I REALLY liked the layout, having the epic story explained quickly at the beginning of the chapter so we can see where the epic sometimes touches the ordinary.

While I didn't quite understand why adults seemed to ignore all the weird things happening around the indie kids (how do the new generations hear about past indie kid incidents? why isn't there a campaign to give kids only boring names?), I still think the concept was well-constructed. Our characters know something is going on, but not the details. It affects them, but not entirely: it's not their story, so as long as they're smart, they're not its victims.

So my one complaint--because I always have a complaint, don't I?--is that this book seems to have a marketing problem. The book's written for older teenagers: there's drinking and drugs and violence and tough real-world medical issues and truly dysfunctional families and a whole lot of people dying in the periphery. But the cover design, catchy blurb, jacket description (on the ARC I have), and font size all scream "preteen." If not "upper elementary." Given the font size, I think the problem here is that publishers don't think young adults will be interested in short books--and they can't charge as much for a book less than three hundred pages. But in stretching the text physically for those reasons, the book looks like something it is not--and I am the first person who will insist that you absolutely do judge a book by its cover, and copy, and formatting.

But that's all the publisher's fault, not the author's. I'm a firm believer that authors shouldn't be pushed to write more of a story than needs to be told. And I think Ness did a fine job with this one, and I hope he doesn't write a sequel. Though I wouldn't say no to, say, a story set in a city instead of the middle of nowhere. show less

The book was recommended to me by [author:Елена Павлова|4437675].

Rating 10 of 10

Obviously, I absolutely loved it. It's not your typical book. Especially not your typical Young Adult book. For some it might even be boring. Because it's not about saving the world. Exactly the opposite - it's about NOT saving the world and just watching others do it. It's about the everyday stuff - school, family, friends, relationships, sex. It also deals with something not many YA books include (or do well) - mental health issues. Anxiety, depression, food disorder. Everyone who had come in touch with these things will probably find something for themselves in this book. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't give answers. No, it raises questions. show more But, at least for me, the right questions. show less

3.5 stars. Poking fun at the "Chosen One" trope, with a diverse group of outsiders. Mostly uneventful, but I love the concept and it is good for a few laughs.

The indie kids, huh? You’ve got them at your school, too. That group with the cool-geek haircuts and the thrift shop clothes and names from the fifties. Nice enough, never mean, but always the ones who end up being the Chosen One when the vampires come calling or when the alien queen needs the Source of All Light or something. They’re too cool to ever, ever do anything like go to prom or listen to music other than jazz while reading poetry. They’ve always got some story going on that they’re heroes of. The rest of us just have to live here, hovering around the edges, left show more out of it all, for the most part. Having said that, the indie kids do die a lot. Which must suck.

Each chapter opens with a paragraph summarizing what the indie kids are up to, but they are not the main focus. This story is about the kids who are on the sidelines while all the action is happening-- the extras. One of the most fun parts of this book is seeing the craziness happening in the background through our protagonist's eyes. The main characters are out of the loop, but their resigned attitudes about these abnormal events cracked me up.

“I wonder if realizing you’re not sure about stuff is what makes you a grown-up?” “Lots of adults seem really sure about things.” “Maybe they’re not grown-up either.”

We follow a diverse group of friends with a unique set of problems, on top of the usual high school problems: OCD, anorexia, being gay, missionary parents, and being worshiped by mountain lions. You know, the usual! The story is told through the voice of Michael, who is just trying to get through the last few months of high school unscathed. There was something superficial about the handling of these characters, which prevented me from really getting inside their heads. Still, I liked the sweet bond between them all. I also like how the author handled Michael's issues with anxiety. ("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 tumor.")

“Now, you’re sure we’re not going to be ritualistically murdered?” Call Me Steve says, actually looking a bit nervous. “Prom night. Group of diverse teens. Remote cabin . ."
“That’s not the story that’s happening,” Mel says to him. “We’re not the kind of people that story happens to.”

The book is at its best with its gentle teasing of the "Chosen One" trope and other young adult cliches: the hipster names, oblivious adults, and convoluted love triangles. Some of my other favorite lines: "Satchel and the prince kiss again, but he respects her too much to demand more." and “ 'This is worse than when they were all dying beautifully of cancer,' Henna said, and she’s right."

What happens to you when you get older? Do you just forget everything from before you turned eighteen? Do you make yourself forget? I mean the cop was old enough to have been a teenager when the whole soul-eating ghost thing was happening, so did he just block it out of his mind? Did he talk himself into not believing it actually happened? Convince himself it was a virus, that the explosion at the old high school was a gas leak? Or is it that he thought what happened to him was so original, so life-changing and harrowing and amazing, that there’s no way he could ever imagine it happening to anyone else?...Honestly. Adults. How do they live in the world? (Or maybe that is how they live in the world.)

While the heroic indie kid Satchel is trying to defeat the Immortals and save the world, Michael is just trying to get through high school and walk the long road to self-acceptance. In the end he realizes that he has been chosen by something better than the random whims of the universe--his friends. The Rest of Us Just Live Here isn't the most exciting story, but it isn't supposed to be. The tone is genuine, it doesn't condescend to its audience and it has some insightful things to say about growing up and being an adult. Despite the lack of eventfulness, this book charmed me and I will definitely be seeking out other books from this author. If you like the concept of this book, you might also enjoy The Lego Movie.

“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.” show less

What a pleasant surprise this, my first Patrick Ness book, turned out to be.

"The Rest Of Us Just Live Here" made it onto my TBR pile on the basis of a publisher's summary that pitched it as a fun YA novel looking at the people who went to the same Highschool as the kids who stop the hellmouth from opening or end the zombie plague or whatever this year's route to the apocalypse is but who are more concerned with making it to graduation and taking the person of their dreams to the Prom.

It actually does cover all that stuff, but where I'd expected something light, quirky and insouciant, filled within in jokes and Urban Fantasy references, I got something that went much deeper than that, getting beneath the skin of what it means to be at show more that point in your life where you're not yet independent, not entirely sure of who you are, not understood by your parents, understand your parents too well to expect much from them and where the most important people in your life are the friends you've chosen and your sister because, well, you're all the family either of you really have.



The conceit the book is built on is a lot of fun. Each chapter starts with a short summary of what the chapter would be about if it was a conventional YA Urban Fantasy novel. Here's the one that opens the book:



"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, Indykid Finn meets his final fate"



After that kind of summary, the focus moves on to four friends and the things that they're doing while the Indykids, who all have names like Finn or Satchel, fight and sometimes die trying to save the world.


The story is told from the point of view of Mikey, a boy who is about to graduate high school, who is best friends with a kind and charismatic guy who has a couple of secrets that set him apart but which serve to enhance his charisma and kindness by adding in a charming humility, Henna who Mikie loves but can't work up the courage to tell her so, and Mikie's sister, Mel, who is a year older than him but is repeating a year and so will graduate at the same time and who is also best friends with Henna.


What I loved most about this book was that it avoided the clichés around coming of age and presented young people I could believe in and root for and parents I could recognise and flinch at without demonising them. Mikey's a nice guy but he gets jealous and snarky and sulks sometimes and doesn't always know why he feels the way he does or does the things he does. His relationship with his sister, how he helps her with her problems and how she helps him, was touching and credible.


As the Indykid's apocalypse unfolds, the four friends are directly affected and it turns out that at least one of them could have been in the Indykid set. The friends are also affected by what their parents are up to, two of whom are local politicians, running in opposition to one another in an election. The Indykids and the adults provide an environment over which the four friends have no control but the centre of the story remains the relationship they have with each other and the choices that they make.


I found myself completely immersed in the lives of these people and caring what happened to them. I never felt that my emotions where being manipulated to get a stock response. I felt as if i was being invited to look closely and really let myself see what was going on. To set aside the threat of the end of the world and the aggression and spin of local politics and look at four young people trying to live their lives well, even when nothing is going right.


I'll be back for more Patrick Ness.


I recommend the audiobook version of "The Rest Of Us Just Live Here" which is performed perfectly by James Fouhey. Click on the SoundCloud link to hear a sample.


https://soundcloud.com/harperaudio_us/restofusjustlivehere_ness show less

In a world where terrible and extraordinary things happen on a fairly regular basis, Mikey and his friends are perfectly normal (well, mostly). While kids with names like Kerouac and Satchel are saving the world from invaders from another dimension, Mikey and his friends just want to make it to graduation. Of course, being perfectly normal doesn’t protect you from becoming collateral damage when weird things start to happen...

This book was a lot of fun to read. It takes on the tropes of the genre in a tongue-in-cheek way (my favorite line was a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Fault in Our Stars reference about the time, a few years ago, when all of the special kids were beautifully dying of cancer). Perfect for the reader who has read one show more too many books about very special teenagers saving the world. show less

Ohh, this book hit home on so many levels. I don't think there's a Patrick Ness book I haven't cried while reading yet . . . and to think I thought this was a comedy beforehand! Yeah, it's not a comedy, in case you thought it was. At all.

Book content warnings:
alcoholism
eating disorders
suicide ideation

The Rest of Us Just Live Here takes place in the middle of nowhere, in a place a lot like most small towns, with one restaurant, a high school, lots of trees, etc. But the "indie kids" there (or hipsters as I know them in my own little middle of nowhere) tend to be part of something bigger: what you'd think would be the plotline of the next big-trending fantasy. The main character, Mikey, is definitely not an indie kid, and that big ol' show more plotline is not for him. Instead, he and his friends are simply inhabitants of the same town those "main characters" live in. And, well, this is their story.

The result is some mixed realistic/coming-of-age and fantasy genre that ends up blending really well, surprisingly.

Patrick Ness really knows how to nail characterization - and show character in a few words. It took to about page 17 for me to fall head over heals for all the main 4 protagonists, and they're all so real it's terrifying. (I mean, maybe it's partly because they're diverse and actually have mental illnesses/struggles with body issues/etc. but I don't need to go into that further.)

The writing is even stronger when it comes to family dynamics. Even the supposedly "bad" parents are more layered and complicated than I thought at first. Right when I make up my mind about someone I'm finding my belief challenged.

I'm a little disappointed at the fatphobia (even if it was just a 1-sentence line - maybe my standards are set a little high for Patrick Ness). It could be the character, not the author, of course! But it's hard to know when that line (in the character's thoughts) aren't challenged at all.

Okay, so I lied when I said I was done talking about the importance of writing diverse characters. Because Mikey's personal story has helped me come to some realizations about myself.

Mikey has OCD and anxiety, and when the anxiety gets worse, so does the OCD. Okay, so there's some novels that have MC's with OCD, but the way Mikey's thoughts and patterns are written is all too relatable. I don't have OCD, but a bfrb (body-focused repetitive behavior), specifically dermatillomania (skin picking disorder). There are passages that I need to stop reading because I'm literally sobbing. The way Mikey can't stop doing something, even when it's causing him pain. It's all written in a way that it's hard not to relate to and feel validated if you struggle with something similar. Mikey eventually goes to therapy for his problem, and goes on meds. (The conversation with his therapist--the entire thing--is the realest thing I've ever read. The discussion about "if I go on medication, does that mean I've failed?", the talk about being messed up, etc.) So, yeah, I think I need help, too. I'll probably bring this book with me. Moral support, you know.

I was going to talk about something else, too, but that's a bit spoilery for the book and a bit personal for me. So nah, not today.

In the end, the book reached out and pretty much grabbed my heart. It would be difficult for me to give it anything but five stars. (I've also forced it onto friends, so . . . ) show less

I loved loved loved this book. this review will probably just be a mess of emotions because I really emotionally related to the main character, Mikey(mike, Michael...) . This book centers on a group of friends all just trying to survive the problems in their lives until graduation. I loved the sibling relationship of Mel and Mikey. Mel is recovering for anorexia and Mikey has OCD. I don't have OCD but my sister does and I recently finished a round of therapy for anxiety and depression. I thought this book dealt really well with the topic of mental illness. So many times in this book I found myself near tears, not always because it was sad, (though sometimes it was very sad) but just because of how much I could relate to the feelings show more of the main character. Just like Mikey, I have felt like the least important person in my friend group, like I need everyone more than they need me, and that sometimes things happen in my life and I have no one to turn to. All the descriptions of these feelings were just so impactful for me after living through some of the same thoughts. So as you can tell I liked all the characters in this book, but I also liked the other aspects of this book. I loved the little blurbs at the beginnings of chapters that clued you into the other story that was unfolding in the background that I different type of book would have centered on. I loved the setting of this book in the small town where crazy things happen, yet the author did an amazing job making it seem so normal. I loved the way that the different relationships of siblings, best friends, girlfriends, boyfriends, parents, parents of friends, and classmates all weaved themselves together to become a cohesive and amazing tale that I think anyone can relate to. This book really it close to home with its themes of mental illness and feeling like you don't belong and that is what made me love it so incredibly much, but even if you don't feel like those things directly relate to you, I bet you will still be able to pick up this book and have a deep emotionally response to it because the book is just that good. show less