Wednesday

An Abundance of Katherines

by John Green

"I'm washed up, I'm former. Formerly the boyfriend of Katherine XIX. Formerly a prodigy."

Colin Singleton was a child prodigy.  He speaks no less than ten languages.  He can anagram words and phrases in seconds. He reads and studies for hours a day, practices irregular Latin verbs, and works on his theorem.  And he dates girls named Katherine.  Actually, he dates and gets dumped by girls named Katherine.  

After Colin's breakup with Katherine 19, he and his one friend, Hassan, set off on a road-trip to forget her.  Colin uses this time to work on his theorem - he wants to be able to mathematically predict when a breakup is going to happen, who the dumper and dumpee will be, and graph it as an arch.  Wise-cracking Hassan and heart-broken Colin find themselves stopped in Gunshot, Tennessee for an extended stay during their road-trip.  Here, they learn about themselves, about stereotypes, about community, and about moving forward.

This book was unexpectedly enjoyable.  While I liked Green's other book that I read, I was concerned that this story was going to be too similar - a quest because of a girl.  I was wrong though.  This book tells Colin's story, in his own special way.  He peppers the narrative with footnotes, giving fun ("Not interesting" according to Hassan) facts, and math formulae. He tells the stories of all the Katherines, and how they shaped him, through the narrative.  And he tells the story of Gunshot, Tennessee, hunting a wild boar, and meeting a girl named Lindsey.

An Abundance of Katherines is a good coming-of-age story.  And, if you know me (or know from reading zee blog) I love a coming of age tale.

♥ Meg xoxo

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