The Rest of Us Just Live Here

If you were to ask me to name another book like The Rest Of Us Just Live Here, I don’t think I could. In what appears to be a novel trying to show teens that life is really not like most of thebooks they read, Ness has created a one-off. Mickey isn’t interested in the fact that the end of the world might be coming, he just wants to hang out with friends, go to prom and graduate. Even though indie kids are dying and weird blue lights are appearing in people’s eyes, Mickey has other things to think about. Like the fact that his OCD is back, that his dad is an alcoholic and that he will be leaving his little sister behind once he goes to college. Really, life can be pretty ordinary.

It feels like Patrick Ness may be having a dig at the state of YA fiction, where they’re all about ‘chosen ones’ and ‘one true loves’. His tongue-in-cheek descriptions of the impending apocalypse at the start of each chapter had me giggling away and the overall theme, that life isn’t always explosions and romance, is much needed in today’s YA fiction. Bravo Patrick Ness, I adore you.

Ages 14 and up.

Katherine Dretzke