Book Review: The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

I have only read one of Patrick Ness's books before and while I liked it, I wasn't GaGa over it... though the ending redeemed itself. I'm speaking of A Monster Calls but don't get distracted by my rambling.

Goodreads Summary
What if you aren’t the Chosen One? The one who’s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever the heck this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death?

What if you’re like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again. Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week’s end of the world, and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life. Even if your best friend is worshiped by mountain lions.

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

The premise of The Rest of Us Just Live Here is really intriguing. The idea is that in each of the stories where there is a Chosen One to save the world there is a school filled with regular kids who know something is weird, don't really have anything to do with "situation," but are effected by things anyway. I mean, they are The World in need of saving. Ness is not the only one to think of the "other side" of such stories in this way. There are memes all over the internet pointing out that for every story there is a different perspective.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here is part Chosen One YA parody, part coming-of-age- Heartfelt Angsty Teen-life Falling Apart all I Need is Love parody, and part awesome... maybe it's all awesome. Each chapter begins with a blip summary of what's happening to the Indie kids (the magical, glowing, spell casting, vampire, ghost kids) and their quest to save the world before following our group of protagonists as they deal with their lives, which are not all going so great, as most YA main characters' aren't. Our primary male and his sister each suffer from [too much info here, you need to read the book] ISSUES. The whole group is a rag tag, diverse group of young people (their diverse youngness being pointed out by the newest member of the Scooby gang in case you missed the subtle references to everyone's uniqueness). The relationships are rich and real. The main dude is obtuse and self- focused and hits his epiphany moment with a shattering force. I'm also old enough to appreciate that the adults in Mikey's life also grow up a little and I'm a shrink enough to love the scene with Mikey and his therapist.

Overall, this book is a Must Read for anyone who loves Young Adult. It smushes it's main genres in a way that is compelling and wonderful. It is touching and wonderful. And Wonderful. 4.5 Stars because I believe is having a margin for growth.

 *****

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