The rest of us just live here
2001
- humorous stories
- conduct of life
- juvenile fiction
- teenagers
- fiction
- fantasy
- exceptional teenagers
- high schools
- dystopias
- young adult fiction / social themes / friendship
The story
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 worshipped by mountain lions.
What it’s like
Wry, fast first-person narration that reads like a funny, sincere teenager talking straight to you across a lunch table, full of asides, sudden tenderness, and jokes that land on the serious beats. The sensory world is an ordinary small-town American high school: fluorescent corridors, cafeteria tables, crushes, and the restless ache of senior year, with the apocalypse arriving as a regular interruption rather than a steady atmosphere of dread. The pacing is brisk and chatty, with heavier moments set down quietly. The vibe is warm, funny, and slightly bruised, a good pick for a rainy afternoon or a long commute when you want to laugh and feel a little seen. Monsters, sudden deaths, explosions, and characters in peril recur, but they are sketched briskly and often played for absurdity, while grief is handled with care. Expect mild swearing, teenage drinking, and gentle romance, with no explicit sex. It suits readers who enjoy John Green-adjacent humour and anyone who has felt like the background character in their own life and wants a story that finds the extraordinary in the ordinary.
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