The Rest of Us Just Live Here

Content Warning: The source text includes mentions of suicidal ideation, detailed depictions of obsessive-compulsive disorder, and references to alcohol addiction, disordered eating, and anti-LGBTQ+ bias.

Mikey Mitchell is the dynamic protagonist of The Rest of Us Just Live Here. He is an 18-year-old high school senior who is coping with both typical and atypical stresses of being a teen: He’s anxious about going to college and leaving his friends behind, desperate to tell his friend Henna that he loves her, and stressed about his mother’s political aspirations and the supernatural strangeness that seems to be creeping into their town. These stressors resurface Mikey’s OCD; Mikey’s journey toward learning to cope with his OCD closely mirrors his emotional journey over the course of the novel.

Though Mikey often struggles to verbalize his feelings to the people around him, he has a highly developed sense of interiority and narrative voice. In his narration, Mikey often expresses conflicting thoughts or desires in close proximity. When, for instance, he describes his ambivalent feelings toward his job, he says: “It’s a great job. I’m lucky. It’s a great job. (But do you have any idea how dirty restaurants are?)” (35).