Book Review: An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

Colin Singleton graduated high school and got dumped for the NINETEENTH time by the NINETEENTH Katherine. In John Green's second young adult novel, An Abundance of Katherines, he introduces readers to the annagram-obsessed former child prodigy, Colin Singleton. The fact that he has dated and  has been dumped by nineteen Katherines, "not Katies or Kitties or Cathys or Rynns or Trinas or Kayes or Kates or, God forbid, Catherines" is mind blowing. In order to help him forget about Katherines, he and his best friend, the Judge Judy- loving Muslim Hassan embarks on a road trip to prove a mathematical theorem he hopes will let him predict the future of any kind of relationships which ends up being a trip of self discovery for both boys. 

Their road trip has an unexpected final destination at a small town called Gutshot, Tenessesee. Here, the boys meet Lindsey Lee Wells, and her mother Hollis. Colin then begins to work on his 'theorem'. He believes that every child prodigy must have their "Eureka moment" and his was the theorem. Throughout the novel, Colin undergoes quite a personality change, and eventually learned that he is actually a "dumper". And most importantly, "if Colin had learned one thing from Gutshot, it's that you can't stop the future from coming". 

  

You will enjoy this novel for thousands of reason. The book was written with lots of witty languages and humors. It's phenomenal. The dialogues are quick, realistic and EXTREMELY hilarious. It is also filled with funny footnotes with anagrams that are completely random. Take note that the story is written in third person point of view, instead of first. 

From my point of view, Colin is actually a very unlike-able character as he is self-centered and egotistical only because he's a child prodigy. Which is why I think John Green created Hassan. I have a strong feeling that he created Hassan to counter Colin, as Hassan is as thoughtful and faithful about his religiosity. His existence in the book is perfect. Readers will find it funny how they are always giving each other hard times. Their back and forth banter is exactly how any two guy best friends would behave, which made me laugh so hard I cried. 

Colin is in search of meaning of his life and the Eureka moment he reckon he'll find once he finishes the 'Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability' which I can't help but to disagree with. Do we really have to achieve greatness just for the sake of having the sense of accomplishment now that "our lives' finally worth living"?

This book features a formula which, according to Colin, can predict who's going to dump who and when will it happen. John said he's rather bad at math, but frankly speaking, I think it's a brilliant formula as it actually works for a good percentage of the time (trust me, I've tried!).

Thank you John for making another great book, that thousands of readers can undoubtedly relate to. I now calls everyone 'sitzpinkler'. 

Rating

"Eventually, he found the bed too comfortable for his state of mind, so he lay down on his back, his legs sprawled across the carpet. He anagrammed “yrs forever” until he found one he liked: sorry fever. And then he lay there in his fever of sorry and repeated the now memorized note in his head and wanted to cry, but instead he only felt this aching behind his solar plexus. Crying adds something: crying is you, plus tears. But the feeling Colin had was some horrible opposite of crying. It was you, minus something. He kept thinking about one word – forever – and felt the burning ache just beneath his rib cage. It hurt like the worst ass-kicking he’d ever gotten. And he’d gotten plenty."