The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness — Review

Patrick Ness asks, in The Rest of Us Just Live Here, a question I have never seen a YA novel ask before: what is it like to be a background character in a YA novel? What happens to the normal teenagers during the Chosen One’s adventure? Who fills the cafeteria when the vampire hunters are out saving the world?

Mikey Mitchell and his friends are those teenagers. Each chapter opens with a brief, satirically deadpan summary of what the indie kids — the designated protagonists of whatever supernatural crisis is currently unfolding in their town — are up to. The rest of the chapter follows Mikey: his OCD, his eating disorder in recovery, his complicated family, his feelings for his best friend Henna, his graduation approaching faster than he knows how to process.

The world is ending, possibly. Mikey has other things to worry about.

The Joke, and What’s Underneath It

The premise sounds like it’s building to a joke, and it is, but it’s a joke with something serious underneath it. Ness is writing about the things that don’t get to be plots — the ordinary suffering, the daily management of a brain that works against you, the relationships that matter enormously and don’t involve apocalypses. He is arguing, with a light touch and real conviction, that these things are the story. The chosen ones are the distraction.

The OCD and eating disorder material is handled with the care you expect from Ness. He doesn’t sensationalise, doesn’t solve it by chapter’s end, and treats Mikey’s experience of his own mind as the genuine ongoing project that it is rather than a character note.

The Ensemble

Mikey’s friend group is one of the warmest in recent YA — people who like each other and show it, who have complicated histories and navigate them with varying degrees of success, who are funny together in the way that groups of people who have grown up together are funny. Mel, Jared (who is a quarter-god, and treats this as unremarkable), and Henna are all fully themselves.

Why YA Readers Will Love This

For readers who have ever felt like they were living slightly to the side of where the interesting things happen — who are not the main character of anything obvious — The Rest of Us Just Live Here is a direct address to that feeling. Ness is saying: your life is the story. The chosen ones are someone else’s problem.

For readers dealing with mental health challenges — OCD, disordered eating, anxiety — Mikey’s experience is rendered with enough specificity to feel true and enough warmth to feel supportive rather than clinical.

For readers who love Ness’s A Monster Calls or Chaos Walking and want to see what he does with something smaller in scope: this is the answer, and it is excellent. Different register, same intelligence.

A smart, funny, genuinely moving book that goes down faster than it has any right to and then sits with you longer than you expected.

Published: August 2015 · Genre: YA contemporary/light fantasy · Standalone

Frequently Asked Questions

What is The Rest of Us Just Live Here about? Mikey Mitchell and his friends are the background teenagers during whatever supernatural crisis the designated protagonists — the ‘indie kids’ — are handling in their town. Each chapter opens with a satirically deadpan summary of the indie kids’ adventure; the rest follows Mikey: ‘his OCD, his eating disorder in recovery, his complicated family, his feelings for his best friend Henna, his graduation approaching faster than he knows how to process.’ The review describes it as ‘a question no YA novel has ever asked before: what is it like to be a background character?’

What argument does the novel make about ordinary life versus chosen-one narratives? The review describes Ness as writing ‘about the things that don’t get to be plots — the ordinary suffering, the daily management of a brain that works against you, the relationships that matter enormously and don’t involve apocalypses. He is arguing, with a light touch and real conviction, that these things are the story. The chosen ones are the distraction.’ The premise ‘sounds like it’s building to a joke, and it is — but it’s a joke with something serious underneath it.’

How does the novel handle mental health? The OCD and eating disorder material is described as handled ‘with the care you expect from Ness — he doesn’t sensationalise, doesn’t solve it by chapter’s end, and treats Mikey’s experience of his own mind as the genuine ongoing project that it is rather than a character note.’ This is positioned as characteristic of Ness’s approach to difficult material: taking it seriously without making it the whole story.

How does The Rest of Us Just Live Here compare to Patrick Ness’s other work? The review addresses readers ‘who loved A Monster Calls or Chaos Walking and want to see what Ness does with something smaller in scope — this is the answer, and it is excellent.’ The comparison is explicit: ‘different register, same intelligence.’ The book is described as ‘smart, funny, genuinely moving — going down faster than it has any right to and then sitting with you longer than you expected.’

Further Reading from Authoritative Sources

• The Rest of Us Just Live Here — Wikipedia’s The Rest of Us Just Live Here article provides publication details and context, helping readers understand the novel’s place within Patrick Ness’s body of work.
• Patrick Ness — Wikipedia’s Patrick Ness article provides biographical and bibliographical context for the author, helping readers understand The Rest of Us Just Live Here within his broader writing career and reputation for emotionally serious YA.