I absolutely loved his arc because Mike is basically me as a teenage boy. It’s so accurately done that it set off my OCD a bit and I got stuck in a loop for a bit. I can not even begin to tell you how good the OCD and anxiety rep in Mike are. They’re all so very well developed that I could easily imagine them as real people. The characters in The Rest Of Us Just Live Here are really the highlight for me. I’ve always listened to audiobooks while I do things like cleaning, but I’ve gotten more into them lately with the long travel time between work and where I live. Finally, I found out that I could get the audiobook through my library’s digital archives, and listened to it in its entirety in a single day.

I checked the physical book out from the library and it sat there in my TBR pile for weeks. Finally, Katie (who you should all be following because she is wonderful) recommended The Rest Of Us Just Live Here to me during a conversation we were having about mental illness representation in media.

I’ve heard so many amazing things about his books, but I never got around to reading one, whether the synopsis of them didn’t grab me or I was overwhelmed by the worry that the books wouldn’t live up to the hype. I don’t know if that comes across the same way on the page as in the audiobook, but it’s definitely something to be aware of if, like Mike and I, you suffer from OCD and/or anxiety. Kitty, why is OCD/Anxiety loops a trigger? Well, I’m glad you asked! Because I, as an ownvoices reader, was triggered into loops by how accurately they are portrayed. Let’s get the trigger and content warnings out of the way and I’ll dive into my review. I listened to this one as a digital audiobook while I got some things done instead of reading it, so I don’t have any quotes written down to add to my review today but believe me when I tell you this book is quotable.

Again.īecause 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.Įven if your best friend is worshipped by mountain lions… 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. 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?

The rest of us just live here review