Ordinary People
New novel turns the spotlight on the normies
f“look, i’ll be honest. i f*** ing hate that movie. i was pushed into doing that movie. The script
wasn’t any good. And i didn’t want to do something that i was
a fan of since i was a kid” When it comes to GI Joe: Rise Of The Cobra Channing Tatum isn’t pulling his punches.
ed up with YA tales that chronicle the plight of some Chosen One destined to save the world? Then The Rest Of Us Just Live Here, the new novel from Chaos Walking creator patrick Ness, is for you. “i was thinking that so many YA books are about the Chosen One, but what about the ones who feel like ‘ i just want to have lunch without those other ones blowing up high school again’?” Ness says. “it’s about the un- chosen ones. The ones who get left behind, who also have really sweet and really moving stories to tell.”
Mikey is your everyday high- schooler beset by everyday problems. The only difference: Mikey’s best friend is 1/ 4 god and his world has been besieged by supernatural nasties. “it’s told in two streams,” Ness explains. “in the chapter heading you get a typical YA adventure story of the indie Kids fighting the immortals. The rest of the chapters are about kids in calculus class or at lunch. The typical YA adventures are always in the background.”
But with so much excitement going on elsewhere, what makes Mikey’s story so interesting? “if you’re 17 and you’re in love and you don’t know if they love you back it feels just as huge as saving the world,” says Ness. “There’s a point in the book where Mikey says he always feels like the one they could do without. The book is about that beautifully painful moment where you find out that people do value you. in the midst of the indie Kids saving the world from the immortals.”
The Rest Of Us Just Live Here is published on 6 August.