EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO SURVIVE THE APOCALYPSE
SUMMARY
Phillip’s sophomore year is off to a rough start. One of his best friends ditches him. His track coach singles him out for personalized, torturous training sessions. And his dad decides to clean out all of the emergency supplies from the basement, even though the world could end in disaster at any moment...and even though those supplies are all Phillip has left of his dead mom. Not that he wants to talk about that.
But then Phillip meets Rebekah. Not only is she unconventionally hot and smart, but she might like him back. As Phillip gets closer to Rebekah, he tries harder and harder to turn himself into the kind of person he thinks she wants him to be. But the question is, can he become that person? And does he really want to?
REVIEW
Everything You Need to Survive the Apocalypse is not what you might initially expect. It is not just another woe is me, the hardships of being a teenager book. Nor is it only a girl meets guy, guy falls for girls mayhem ensues book. This book is so much more.
Everything You Need is about belief and trust. It is about finding oneself and adjusting to the changes and actions of your friends. It is about love, loss, and forgiveness. And it does all of this while remaining fast paced, eventful, and captivating to the reader.
Klauss establishes these lessons/themes by creating engaging and realistic characters. Phillip is a wonderful protagonist. Klauss has established the disrespect and annoyance of a teenager, without coming across as too annoying or arrogant. While at the same time demonstrating the confusion and sense of loss that Philip feels from the death of his mother and throughout his self journey to find himself.
Mark is also an interesting character. While he’s only a minor character, his changes and influence send fascinating ripples in Phillip and Asher’s stories. I really liked the way that Klauss developed that storyline. Readers are truly able to witness the adjustments and choices that Phillip and Asher have to make to decide what they are each willing to do to keep the friendship alive.
That said, I didn’t love Farragut. I understand the importance of his character, and even why he was supposed to be aggravating and annoying, but something about him just irked me. I guess it should be a testament to the writing, but I just found myself jumping out of the story sometime when reading his lines and complaining to myself about how annoying he was.
All in all Everything You Need is a fantastic book. It takes an interesting spin on religion and the significance of belief, it is filled with interesting and realistic characters, and the story itself is well written and exciting. This is a fun book to read, and anyone looking for a well written non-science fiction YA book should definitely pick it up.
RATING
8.5 out of 10
INFO
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Published: January 3, 2012
Price: $16.99
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