An Abundance of Katherines
Title: An Abundance of Katherines
Written by John Green
Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile (September 21, 2006)
Rating: 4/5
Okay, look y’all. It’s been awhile since I read this and I have a tricky memory at best, but I do, very clearly, remember that I really liked this book. Really, really. Liked it so much that I want to review it like, 6 months later. Because I THINK YOU NEED TO READ John Green’s work. And really, I remember more than I think I do, which is very surprising since I barely remember what I had for lunch yesterday…oh yeah, tomato sandwich…. Anyway, I must have really liked this book!
An Abundance of Katherine’s is the story of Colin Singleton. Colin has had nineteen girlfriends and they were all named Katherine. And all of them have dumped HIM. He’s also a once-upon-a-time math prodigy, he has a passion for anagrams and he has the absolute craziest best-friend in the world. After the last Katherine has dumped him and left him broken-hearted, Colin sets out to prove a new theory – The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability; a theory Colin’s hopes will predict the future of all relationships, reaffirm his lost genius and finally, hopefully, win him the girl.
I admit it, I didn’t love this one as much as Green’s Paper Towns (you really should read that one!) but I did enjoy it immensely. Green has such a sharp, intelligent voice that I just can’t help loving his work. I mean come on, this book has MATH in it and I enjoyed it. That says a LOT for Mr. Green right? This is why I majored in English in college. Heather and the mathematics are like oil and vinegar. And I totally was not bothered by the math in this book. I adored Colin, I adored his buddy Hassan (the best buddy I’ve seen in a book in really quite awhile. And this is SIX MONTHS after I read the book.), and I adored their road trip.
Colin finally meets a girl NOT NAMED Katherine, her name is Lindsay and she helps him with his theorem. There is a lot of laugh-out-loud humor of the sophomoric and intelligent, which feels totally appropriate here. I mean we’re talking about a couple of teenage boys on a road trip! The boys have a great banter that is the hallmark of a John Green novel. I really recommend this book, as I do all of John Green’s books. This reminds me…I really need to pick up Looking for Alaska.
Also by John Green:
Looking for Alaska, Paper Towns, Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances (with Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle)
Also read by:
Bookfoolery and Babble | YAnnable | Becky’s Book Reviews | Fyrefly’s Book Blog | An Adventure in Reading | What Vanessa Reads | 1 More Chapter | The Book Pirate | Bookshelves of Doom | The Bluestockings | 3 Evil Cousins | Semicolon | Teen Troves | Sassymonkey Reads |
Did I miss your review?
This book sounds to wonderful to forget, so I'm glad you highlighted it. I really want to read one of John Green's books.
Oh, I loved that book! It was so, so much fun, I wanted to recommend it to everyone!
And I think your "forgotten friday" are an excellent idea! I should probably do the same – although, in the name of honesty, I should probably call it "procrastination friday"!
I read all three of John Green's books this year (and actually reviewed them. yay!). This one was good. Looking for Alaska was my favourite.
I added this to my To Read list. I've never read anything by him, although Looking for Alaska is coming up soon for one of my book clubs.
This is the only John Green book I still need to read. I loved his other two.
That's a great idea, doing catch-up reviews on Friday. You know what I remember most about this book? That scene when Colin's best friend (Hassim?? — can't remember his name) sees his girlfriend having a good time without him, if you know what I mean. I loved his reaction. I haven't read Paper Towns, yet, but I'm shooting for reading it in September, after my ridiculous over-booked self gets un-over-booked. Unless I can come up with a good excuse to sneak it in (you never know).
I love this new feature! And I so agree with you about this book. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as his others either, but I still loved it. It's like saying "cherry is my least favourite kind of cheesecake". Yeah, but it's STILL cheesecake
Also, my review is here.
What an awesome idea Forgotten Friday is!! My problem is that I don't rush to review library books and then months later I'm just too lazy
I love what you said about Hassan, he was such a great buddy character. He had enough presence and development in the story that I'd be overjoyed to see a spin-off book all about him!
I had not heard of John Green. Will definitely have to add his books to my much too long TBR list.
This one was my least favorite, with Looking for Alaska being my favorite of the three by a large margin. Green is a very intelligent writer, but this one didn't do it for me.
I too read and loved this one but never gave it a real review. Too bad; I thought Colin and Hassan were so funny and this was such a great book! I actually liked it better than Looking for Alaska, unlike everyone else I've talked to about it.
I agree with Nymeth… this is my least favorite of his books, but the margins are so small that that doesn't really mean much. I suspect you're going to love Looking for Alaska!
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