The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

Title: The Rest of Us Just Live Here
Author: Patrick Ness
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: August 27, 2015
Source: BEA

Summary from Goodreads:
What if you aren’t the Chosen One?

The one who’s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever the heck this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death?

What if you’re like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again.

Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week’s end of the world, and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life.

Even if your best friend is worshiped by mountain lions.

Award-winning writer Patrick Ness’s bold and irreverent novel powerfully reminds us that there are many different types of remarkable.

Review

I understand what Patrick Ness was trying to do with this book, and there were things about The Rest of Us Just Live Here that I really appreciated/admired, but at the end of the day it just was not my cup of tea. The weirdness of it all and my periodic confusion overwhelmed the rest of my reading experience.

Mikey and his friends live in a world where unusual things have been known to happen, except that they aren't the ones unusual things happen to. Rather, it's the indie kinds (whatever that's supposed to mean) who are the heroes of this story. The latest threat has to do with a group of Immortals that are seeking to possess humans and inhabit our world. However, this story is in the background - told through a quick, semi-derisive paragraph at the start of each Chapter. The actual story is about Mikey and his friends living their lives on the periphery of it all. It's about their friendship, and their love lives, and their problems and their worries. But if there had been a clearer break between what was Sci Fi and what was Realistic Fiction, I might have taken to it more. But I think Jared, the quarter Cat God (yes you heard me right), threw me for a loop and blurred the lines, making things just a little too wacky.

But I did love Mikey's story. I loved the honest portrayal of his OCD tendencies and how amazing of a support system he had. I loved his character ARC - from someone who was a little too self-absorbed and self-deprecating to well, someone who wasn't. I loved the exploration of teen love and friendship. His relationship with Jared was a particularly strong and heartwarming part. I loved the messy family life that that was given a face lift in the end. Really, the contemporary aspects of this story were quite beautiful (minus a few derailments that I won't go into.) Again, it was just the complete package that didn't quite work for me. And that is totally a "me" thing.

So I would suggest giving this book a try since what didn't work for me was very specific to my reading preferences (unless you have similar reading preferences). Definitely give this a try if you are a fan of Patrick Ness, genre-defying stories, or stories that are a little out there but 100% unique. There were some really really beautifully told parts to this story and if you like the weirdness of it  too then you'll likely love it.

MINI-REVIEW #67: The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking #1) by Patrick Ness

Title: The Knife of Never Letting Go
Series: Chaos Walking #1
Author: Patrick Ness
Publisher: Walker
Release Date: May 5th 2008
Pages: Hardcover, 496 pages
Format: Audiobook

Summary from Goodreads:
Todd Hewitt is the only boy in a town of men. Ever since the settlers were infected with the Noise germ, Todd can hear everything the men think, and they hear everything he thinks. Todd is just a month away from becoming a man, but in the midst of the cacophony, he knows that the town is hiding something from him -- something so awful Todd is forced to flee with only his dog, whose simple, loyal voice he hears too. With hostile men from the town in pursuit, the two stumble upon a strange and eerily silent creature: a girl. Who is she? Why wasn't she killed by the germ like all the females on New World? Propelled by Todd's gritty narration, readers are in for a white-knuckle journey in which a boy on the cusp of manhood must unlearn everything he knows in order to figure out who he truly is.

Review: I really wanted to like this book, I knew it was different, but I had high hopes it would be good. I did not like the central concept of the story, the Noise. Both other males and females can hear the thoughts of males, there is no privacy for males at all. It just did not seem believable so not liking that aspect made it difficult to get through the book. The noise germ plus the lack of details about this New World and the natives just left me with so many questions and plot holes.

Unfortunately, I could not appreciate the characters either. Todd and Viola were not great but not terrible; they were just kind of bland. My favorite character was killed off! That was the moment I almost quit the story; while I am okay when authors kill of characters, I was not happy about this decision. Especially since there are other characters that just seem super human, and NEVER die. The ending was also mediocre; there was some resolve and explanation but also a huge cliff hanger.

Audio Book: The narration was not bad actually. I think if I was not listening to the audio book I might have just given up on the book entirely. I cannot imagine reading the story, especially when you hear the ‘noise’ of other men. The narration made it easy to differentiate between noise and actually spoken word. I would give the audio 3 stars.

Overall, I was disappointed in The Knife of Never Letting Go and would have to give it 2 stars. I could not relate to the characters, thought the story lacked clarity, the main character was not great, and ultimately, I did not like the premise/world the story is built around.