2015 book 259

Patrick Ness' The Rest of Us Just Live Here
Patrick Ness' books are sometimes hit or miss for me, but this one was pretty aces. It centers on the normal kids in a town where crazy things are always happening--the kids who AREN'T the chosen ones, having to deal with the disaster, the kids who are just trying to make it till high school graduation. The protagonist has some complicated stuff going on--severe OCD, a lifelong crush on a girl friend, a politician mother, a recovering anorexic sister, an alcoholic dad, etc--and he just wants to make it out. But because all of his (and his friends') stuff is intermixed with some frankly hilarious summaries of what the "indie kids" are getting up to in their battle against the Immortals, it never feels too cliched (and I have read a LOT of cliched YA books lately). Most of the characters are pretty well drawn--I particularly loved his best friend for a variety of reasons, which you will understand immediately if you read this, as well as the relationship between the protagonist and his sisters--and the pacing is good.  Even the horny teen boy stuff was at a minimum, for which I am extremely grateful. Entertaining stuff. A-/B+.