Everything You Need to Survive the Apocalypse Isn’t About the Apocalypse

No, Everything You Need to Survive the Apocalypse by Lucas Klauss is not an apocalypse story. The dorky teen character Phillip is interested in the apocalypse, but that’s about it. Really it’s about Phillip getting involved with a girl who’s committed to her church and Phillip falling for both the girl and God. The exploration of Christian youth culture is eerily accurate, though ultimately it feels like it shortchanges the faith element.

There’s this open question of whether Phillip is really...