Book #20 of 2016: The Rest of Us Just Live Here
The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness
Rating: Hated (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
This may have been the most frustrating book I ever read.
The premise was that there were some teens who were Chosen, who had Destinies. Situations like Buffy the Vampire Slayer were real, and when vampires showed up, those special teenagers fought them off (usually dying while doing so). However, this book wasn't about those special teens, it was about the other ones, the normal, average ones who aren't Chosen and who just need to run when bad stuff is happening.
Doesn't that sound like it would be interesting? That you'd get to see Buffy-ish events from an outsider's eyes?
NOPE. And that's where the complete and utter frustration came in. Each chapter opened with one very short paragraph about the supernatural events in the town and how the Chosen were dealing with it. ("Indie" is the name the book used for the chosen teens. No idea why.) For example:
Chapter the fifth, in which indie kid Kerouac opens the Gate of the Immortals, allowing the Royal Family and its Court a fissure through which to temporarily enter this world; then Kerouac discovers the Messenger lied to him; he dies alone.
Excuse the all caps, but THAT WOULD BE INTERESTING TO READ ABOUT! Instead, other than that one brief paragraph per chapter, we got nothing but teenagers going to school, stupid teenage drama about relationships, graduations, tests, stupid part time jobs -- nothing but boring, "real world" teenage drama, NO mention of supernatural other than the first paragraph.
Around the 25% point of the book, we got a few, minor, rare hints that something supernatural was happening around the normal kids. Oh and one of the normal kids was a quarter-god (his grandmother was a god), but that made no difference in anything and the book just went on with the "slice of life" teenage crap.
Gods above, if there's one thing I hate reading about it's normal, real world, teenage life. High school life. Hating their parents. Worries about graduation. I swear, I'd rather read anything else.
Luckily this book was a fast read. I actually made it to the 50% point, so I can count it towards my total for the year. If not for that, I would have given up by the 25% point for sure, and likely much earlier.
Ugh this book. So frustrating! It was like he was dangling a much more interesting story in front of us, but refused to tell that story and instead wrote about average teenager crap. To be fair, I suppose that's what the book is advertised as (normal teenagers in a world where supernatural stuff happens and other teens fight to the death against it), but I thought there would be evidence of that supernatural stuff! It's like it was just bait to get me to read this normal teenage drama crap.
Ugh!
Rating: Hated (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
This may have been the most frustrating book I ever read.
The premise was that there were some teens who were Chosen, who had Destinies. Situations like Buffy the Vampire Slayer were real, and when vampires showed up, those special teenagers fought them off (usually dying while doing so). However, this book wasn't about those special teens, it was about the other ones, the normal, average ones who aren't Chosen and who just need to run when bad stuff is happening.
Doesn't that sound like it would be interesting? That you'd get to see Buffy-ish events from an outsider's eyes?
NOPE. And that's where the complete and utter frustration came in. Each chapter opened with one very short paragraph about the supernatural events in the town and how the Chosen were dealing with it. ("Indie" is the name the book used for the chosen teens. No idea why.) For example:
Chapter the fifth, in which indie kid Kerouac opens the Gate of the Immortals, allowing the Royal Family and its Court a fissure through which to temporarily enter this world; then Kerouac discovers the Messenger lied to him; he dies alone.
Excuse the all caps, but THAT WOULD BE INTERESTING TO READ ABOUT! Instead, other than that one brief paragraph per chapter, we got nothing but teenagers going to school, stupid teenage drama about relationships, graduations, tests, stupid part time jobs -- nothing but boring, "real world" teenage drama, NO mention of supernatural other than the first paragraph.
Around the 25% point of the book, we got a few, minor, rare hints that something supernatural was happening around the normal kids. Oh and one of the normal kids was a quarter-god (his grandmother was a god), but that made no difference in anything and the book just went on with the "slice of life" teenage crap.
Gods above, if there's one thing I hate reading about it's normal, real world, teenage life. High school life. Hating their parents. Worries about graduation. I swear, I'd rather read anything else.
Luckily this book was a fast read. I actually made it to the 50% point, so I can count it towards my total for the year. If not for that, I would have given up by the 25% point for sure, and likely much earlier.
Ugh this book. So frustrating! It was like he was dangling a much more interesting story in front of us, but refused to tell that story and instead wrote about average teenager crap. To be fair, I suppose that's what the book is advertised as (normal teenagers in a world where supernatural stuff happens and other teens fight to the death against it), but I thought there would be evidence of that supernatural stuff! It's like it was just bait to get me to read this normal teenage drama crap.
Ugh!