1/06/2009

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

When Colin Singleton, amateur anagrammer and noted child prodigy, was eight years old, he was kissed by a girl named Katherine. Three minutes later, she dumped him.

Nine years later, Colin has just been dumped by a girl named Katherine. For the nineteenth time. Seeing him devastated, Colin’s best friend, Hassan, pulls him out the door and into the car, on a road trip that eventually winds up in a small town called Gutshot, Tennessee. Colin and Hassan soon land a job with Hollis Wells, factory owner and lover of everything pink, and begin to hang out with her daughter Lindsey.

Seeking to get over Katherine XIX, as he refers to her, and to finally “matter,” Colin conceives the Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, a mathematical formula for predicting the course of a relationship based on five personality traits of the people involved. Lindsey and Hassan offer their help and advice, and soon a road trip becomes an extended vacation in the middle of nowhere.

This book is a bundle of fun, funny, and fantabulous. Colin is a totally relatable character (if a bit pathetic at times.) It absolutely cracked me up. The book makes occasional attempts to be thought-provoking, and does not entirely succeed, but that doesn’t detract from its coolness. I give it four out of five daggers.


Anagrammatically yours,


Tay Darramont


3 comments:

Gabriel Gethin said...

This book sounds rather amusing. You said at the end of your review that the author attempts to be really thought-provoking but fails. What kind of thoughts does the author attempt to provoke?

Tay Darramont said...

Oh, it is rather amusing. I would even go so far as to say very amusing. Very amusing indeed.

Mostly, the attempt at provoking thought has to do with the fact that the future is unpredictable, so even though you can make logical sense out of past events (i.e. Colin's relationship theorem) you can never apply those results to predict future events.

Like I said though, the attempt didn't really work, mainly because a. the author pretty much states what I just said straight out (instead of making you think about it on your own), and b. that particular passage in the book was pretty boring.

Still a good book though, if you're looking for a laugh.

Twyla Lee said...

I have this book sitting on a shelf waiting to be read. I keep almost picking it up, but somehow, always get sidetracked by something else.

I will read it though. Soon.
--Twyla