The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness – review

‘The dialogue is sharp and entertaining - it is sometimes easy to forget that this is a work of fiction’

From the author of the brilliant Chaos Walking trilogy comes an original, engaging story about endings, new beginnings and making meaning out of life. With flawed yet loveable characters and funny dialogue, it was intriguing from start to finish and completely unlike anything I’ve ever read before.

The novel follows the central character, Mikey, and his friends in the final weeks before their high school graduation. They live in a world not unlike our own, except that in the past there have been supernatural events that most people have ignored and forgotten about. This novel centres on the people who don’t save or destroy the world, the people who aren’t the chosen ones, who don’t get into epic battles with fierce monsters. It’s about the people in the background, the lookers-on, the ones who are too preoccupied with their ordinary yet complex lives to worry too much about the zombie deer they saw on the road last night. This might have made for an uneventful read – however, I am happy to say that this is not the case. Ness’s characters are brilliantly real and their story, while unremarkable on the surface, has an underlying message about love, friendship and enjoying your life. I normally hate books with ‘messages’ (and I know some people may be groaning after reading that last sentence!) but it definitely works for The Rest of Us Just Live Here and it doesn’t seem like a cliche or forced message.

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