The Rest of Us just Live Here
Patrick Ness

The Rest of Us Just Live Here takes the idea of a Chosen One and asks: what about everyone else? What about the kids just trying to make it to graduation? What about the boy trying to figure out where he fits in while desperately hoping that his school stays intact this year? Protagonist Mikey is just that boy and as another Chosen One fights another battle that may or may not end in the apocalypse, Mikey has his own battles to fight, his own mundane existence to navigate and his own extraordinary, ordinary life to live. As a riff on the Chosen One genre, The Rest of Us Just Live Here is both clever and extremely funny not to mention pretty meta. For all of you out there who have ever loved a Buffy, a Katniss or a Harry, the opening sections of each chapter will resonate loud and clear while also making you laugh to the point of tears. However, The Rest of Us Just Live Here isn’t a Chosen One book, it’s a contemporary story about one boy figuring out how he fits into his own life. It is a story that will speak to all those who have ever felt like the least important, the lesser friend, the hardest work. It will speak to teenagers and adults alike in that we have all felt ordinary in an extraordinary world, all felt insecure and all negotiated the kind of close friendships that require the best kind of hard work. Finally, The Rest of Us Just Live Here is about family – the ties that bind. Ness writes the relationship between Mikey and his sisters in a way that is both hopeful and life-affirming and it is a pleasure to read a book that focuses on a bond that is so often passed over or written into cliché. Highly recommended.