The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

TL;DR living at the edge of every other YA novel, p much

TBR #1121, added Nov 14 2014

finished 4/3/2016

(The next couple reviews are going to be out of order. I finished this book after Fan Art and Magonia but got the review written first.)

I've loved the concept of the "normal" side of supernatural stories, so The Rest of Us Just Live Here was something I was excited to get my hands on. I'll admit that I didn't know too much about the story before I went into it and I was a little surprised.

I was expecting the cast of characters to be on the edge of the indie kids' problems, but I think I liked the story better when the indie kid plot was background noise and had a smaller impact on the story. TRUSJLH (I'm lazy, okay) was a great way to explore how two different storylines can affect each other and poke fun at the superhero / YA supernatural tropes that tend to pop up. The two plots were woven together so well.

The cast of characters was amazingly varied. I was surprised by how unique each of the characters were and how human they were -- they were imperfect people and didn't find anything wrong in that. They accepted each other as they were and supported each other through the problems the story brought about.

I think the romance was realistic, too. It wasn't clear-cut, but it wasn't love-triangle indecision, either. It reflected the layers of relationships that build up the longer you're friends with someone. TRUSJLH was also sex-positive and was never condescending about the different relationships the characters had with each other.

I think that's about all I can say without getting into any spoilers. I managed to finish the book within a day, which is pretty unusual. Usually I can't sit still and focus for that long. I mean, I did spend 6 hours in the car that day, but I spent a lot of the ride reading rather than trying to sleep. Which doesn't happen often.

I might come back and update this review in the next few days to add some quotes and maybe a map. We'll see. I'm pretty sure I sticky-noted some things worth adding.

TL;DR I really really liked this book and it's probably going to be stuck in my head for a while.