An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

An Abundance of Katherines
by John Green
Date Released: September 21, 2006
Pages: 227

Summary:

When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton’s type is girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact.

On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washed-up child prodigy has ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a bloodthirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight, Judge Judy-loving best friend riding shotgun but no Katherines. Colin is on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avenge Dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl.

Love, friendship, and a dead Austro-Hungarian archduke add up to surprising and heart-changing conclusions in this ingeniously layered comic novel about reinventing oneself by Printz medalist John Green, acclaimed author of Looking for Alaska.

My Review:

So I know those of you who are big John Green fangirls are going to kill me for saying this, but I wasn't crazy about this book. There were things I did like about it, don't get me wrong. But there were also a couple things I didn't like about it.

One thing about it was it just didn't really hook me at any point when I was reading it. Normally when I read a book the story will have hooked me to the point where I will make time to read it. Whether that point comes in chapter two or half way through, it doesn't matter. But I just didn't find that in this story. I mean I guess overall the story was good, it just didn't bring the reader in as much as I would have liked.

I also didn't like the character of Hassan very much. I think I finally started to warm up to him by the very end of the book, and had this been a series book I probably would have started liking him as the series went on. One thing that turned me off from him was how a lot of the things he said were very crude. And while my tolerance level for that kind of thing is very high when I'm hearing it in person, but for some reason that tolerance level shoots way down for books, so it just wasn't flying for me.

I also found the only three characters I really liked were Hollis, Lindsey, and Colin (not TOC, I hated him, but Colin Singleton). But this ties into the things I did like about it. I liked those three characters. My favorite was by far Lindsey though. I liked her immediately after she was introduced. Colin took a couple of chapters of warming up to. Same with Hollis. But I ended up liking them both.

Another thing that John Green did really well was the dialogue. Especially in the last chapter or so when Lindsey and Colin are talking. I was really impressed with the way that the author showed that they kissed without telling us. The way he had the four lines of ellipses and some dialogue and the reader had to figure it out.

If you are a big fan of contemporary or realistic fiction, then this book is probably for you. But in my case I'm more of a fantasy/dystopian/sci-fi reader who occasionally dives into the world of contemp fiction. If you're like me, then I would advise steering clear of this book.

My Rating: