The Rest of Us Just Live Here in SpecFic Buddy Reads

Apr 08, 2016 Bradley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ya, fantasy, sci-fi, 2016-shelf, urban-fantasy

I'm not only surprised and delighted after reading this, but I was surprised and delighted *while* reading it from almost the very start.

I went, "Oh cool, it's almost like the UF YA version of a Redshirts satire, where the Indie kids all die or don't while immortals create rifts in the high school universe and there's multiple Indie Flynns and gods and ghosts and vampires roam the halls, fall in love, and then die like little preeeecious flowers,... and everyone else just lives there. Satire! A I'm not only surprised and delighted after reading this, but I was surprised and delighted *while* reading it from almost the very start.

I went, "Oh cool, it's almost like the UF YA version of a Redshirts satire, where the Indie kids all die or don't while immortals create rifts in the high school universe and there's multiple Indie Flynns and gods and ghosts and vampires roam the halls, fall in love, and then die like little preeeecious flowers,... and everyone else just lives there. Satire! A light, YA satire or even a full-on lampoon of the entire industry."

I was hooked. I had only been reading a few pages.

Little did I know that I could *then* begin reading it on multiple levels, even having our endearingly flawed non-Indie narrator spelling it out for us, that all the magic doesn't necessarily have to be real for us to believe it, but he does, and so does his friends, and that's cool and he doesn't have to believe our reality, either. :)

*Jaw Drops*

Okay! That's pretty damn well awesome and clearly stated and I can't love either interpretation more than I already do.

And strangely enough, all these quirky-queer deer-god encounters only compliments and deepens the other half of the story, which is actually about finding your way to adulthood and exploring possibilities.

But you ask, "Isn't that what all these UF YA novels do?"

Sure, but I haven't read any that has been as self-consciously entertaining, creative, or straightforward about it. Ness knows the industry like a master. All those quirky flavors of the mass market teeny-books are expressed so deftly and interestingly in their own right, and I fairly stood up and started clapping at the chapter summaries... (Right before I began parsing how those chapter summaries *actually* fit into the real text. (Which is often not clear at first glance, but also completely unnecessary for our enjoyment of the text.:))

I think Patrick Ness might be becoming one of those *always read* authors for me. I can't *not* trust that he'll be creative, clear, and a veritable master of his craft. Not only that, but I seem to be having a huge amount of fun every time I read his work.

Okay, it's only up to two books, now, but you get the idea. Anyone who can hit a home run like this, twice out of two, has got my attention.

Great stuff! ...more

51 likes · Like · see review

Nov 27, 2015 Lindsay rated it really liked it

Take the kids in the background of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode, or a Teen Wolf episode, or a Vampire Diaries episode. What are they up to? What's their story?

In this case, they're smart enough not to get involved with whatever the "indie kids" are getting up to. Because those indie kids? They don't live very long a lot of the time, and the characters in this story have got other things going on. Like Mike, the narrator, who struggles with anxiety. Or his sister Mel who's recovering from a ...more

16 likes · Like · see review

Oct 08, 2015 Justine rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2016-read

Well-crafted character based story of how a group of teens who are not The Chosen Ones (otherwise known as "indie kids") spend their last month prior to graduation. Patrick Ness packs a surprising amount into a relatively small package and does it with his usual excellence and flair. Highly recommended. ...more

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Apr 05, 2016 Scott rated it really liked it

"Everything's always ending. But everything's also beginning too."

Ain't that the damn truth! This was my first introduction to Patrick Ness, and I was extremely impressed. This book pushed a lot of the right buttons for me: interesting story and characters, diversity, friendship, mental difficulties.

I loved the story of this group of friends working through their lives and issues together while being the "background" to the indie kids' story. Really well done and moves Ness into a category of " ...more

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Oct 28, 2014 Amber (Books of Amber) rated it really liked it

The Rest of Us Just Live Here isn’t my favourite Patrick Ness book (The Ask and the Answer, how I love you), but it certainly had all of the Ness uniqueness and charm about it. For a story about the characters who are not the Chosen Ones, i.e. the fellow pupils at Forks High School and the people living in the same town as the Dursleys, it was gripping and definitely intriguing.

At the beginning of every chapter, there’s a brief summary of what the Chosen Ones have been doing. They’re doing all t ...more

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Apr 01, 2016 Helen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is a great take on the teen-superhero theme. I enjoyed it and so did my cat.

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Oct 11, 2015 Lata rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: x2016-read, bipoc-actor, sf-f-h, kids-and-ya, favourites

This was excellent, and sad and funny. Loved the chapter beginnings, with the summaries of the indie kids' dramatic activities, followed by the everyday lives of Mike, Jared, Mel and Henna. Thought Jared was a lovely character. ...more

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Aug 14, 2014 Christina Pilkington rated it really liked it

4.5 stars

As soon as I read the premise of this book, I knew I wanted to read it (other than the fact that Patrick Ness wrote it of course!) It's a book about what goes on in the lives of those kids who are not the Chosen Ones, or heroes, or Saviors of the World. It's a story about how even those people in the spotlight who get all the attention, even those people are more like us than we think. It's also about how our lives and what we are going though is just as real, and difficult, and importa ...more

1 like · Like · see review