Let's Call it a Doomsday

Henry, Katie. Let's Call it a Doomsday. 2019. 400p. ISBN 9780062698902. Available at FIC HEN on the library shelves.

Ellis is very peculiar. A junior in high school in Berkeley, California, Ellis' main concerns are not school, dating, or even her family. You see, Ellis is concerned that the world is ending. She is seriously concerned, so much so that she has thought of as many possibilities as possible of the world ending (catastrophic floods like Noah's, an asteroid crashing into Earth, nuclear armageddon, a gigantic supervolcanic eruption), and she has accumulated supplies to help her family survive when the apocalypse comes. Coming from a Mormon family, Ellis' concerns do not stem from religion. She's not even sure herself why she's so worried about the end of the world. It has warranted sessions with a therapist, however, as her parents are worried about Ellis' mental state.

On her way out of therapy, Ellis runs into a girl in the therapist's office. A patient herself, this girl seems fascinated by Ellis, and she tells her she'll see her soon. Sure enough, Ellis meets her again in her secret corner of the school library, where she eats lunch. The girl introduces herself as Hannah, and she tells Ellis that she has seen the end of the world, and Ellis needs to help her find Prophet Dan, a homeless man roaming Berkeley so he can interpret Hannah's dreams and discover when the world will end.

Ellis soon gets pulled in Hannah's orbit. Armed with fragmented details, the two girls search for the time when the world will end, and soon discover that the date is 12/21, right before Christmas. There's only a few months to warn the world that the end is coming. Along the way, Ellis meets Tal, one of Hannah's friends, and they develop a relationship, as he was also part of the Church of Latter Day Saints before coming out as bisexual. She also meets some of Hannah's friends, and all of them are concerned about Hannah's slowly losing grip on reality. Ellis, however is convinced, and together Hannah and her will tell the world to get ready!

Told from the perspective of an unreliable narrator, Let's Call it a Doomsday focuses on mental illnesses and how they influence one's action. Religion and relationships play a smaller role in the story. Ellis is anxious and neurotic, and is confronted early on by a question from her therapist. What will happen the day after the world does not end? Ellis does not know how to answer that question, but by the end of the book she does. Ellis grows as a character throughout the book. Fans of dysfunctional families and those interested in seeing a teen function while suffering from mental illness will appreciate this book.