An Abundance of Katherines

Summary:Colin Singleton, a grownup child prodigy, has been dumped nineteen times. And get this, all of them are named Katherine. After graduating from high school, Colin and his humorous (and only) friend Hassan embark on a road trip. They end up in Gunshot, Tennessee where they meet some pretty interesting Tennesseans and Colin works on a theorem that will predict the "future of any relationship" (taken from the summary). See where Colin and Hassan's adventure leads them as they deal with friendship, love, craziness, and a Monster Thickburger.

My Thoughts:

What I Liked: If you are unfamiliar with John Green's writing, he adds a bit of umph in his books leaving us with several messages which really leaves the readers to digest for themselves. Hassan's character is so awesome, whenever he is in a scene, I was grinning throughout--he is hilarious (even when the situation is bad) and is the ultimate best friend. The character development in this book is great as well. I enjoyed the ending and I thought it ended on a good note. The footnotes were interesting to read and I got a feel for how Colin's mind worked; he was always thinking extensively.

What I Disliked: I'm not going to lie, this book was pretty darn slow until I reached about halfway. Thus, it took me a while to get through since I was putting the book down every chapter. I wish we learned more about the Katherines he dated throughout the book (or more on Katherine XIV at least).

Conclusion: Although this book starts out slow (maybe even boring to some?), don't be discouraged to keep on reading until you reach halfway and from then on you might as well finish it. I think I went into this book having super high expectations because I read Looking for Alaska before this (John Green's debut novel).

Reader reviewed by Ava

Reader reviewed by *Samantha*

Ever wanted to know how long a relationship would last? Who would break up with who? Have a way to figure out if beginning the relationship in the first place is even worth the trouble? Receive all those answers by plugging in a few factors into a mathematical theorem, sounds simple enough to me, and to Colin Singleton. Colin is a new high school graduate, a soon-to-be-ex child prodigy, and this theorem, the theorem that could potentially make him a genius, is the problem he is facing.

You see, Colin has a problem. Colin falls in love very easily. That wouldn't be such a bad thing if it wasn't for the fact that all his "loves" have been named Katherine (exactly 19 of them). Each of those Katherines have broken up with him for whatever reason; and after the love of his life (Katherine XIX) leaves him in a terribly bad place he decides to use that to his advantage. He tries to make himself a genius by coming up with the Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, to not only make himself known for something, but to also figure out why all nineteen Katherines have dumped him.

As a distraction, Colin and his best friend Hassan set out on a road trip to nowhere, in The Hearse (Colin's car). Seeing a sign for the grave of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the boys head to Gutshot, Tennessee; a small town, where they happen upon Lindsey Lee Wells, a girl who is nothing like any Katherine has been for Colin. She reads celebrity rag magazines, her friends, her boyfriend (also named Colin, aptly dubbed T.O.C. aka The Other Colin), and her wealthy mother Hollis, who offers the boys a place to stay. The palace-sized home on top of the hill being more than just large and full of interesting things, but it's also a shade of pink only rivaled by a bottle of Pepto Bismol.

Hollis hires the boys to accompany Lindsey with getting an oral history of Gutshot, which means visiting everyone that works in the factory (which produces tampon strings, just so you know), the people too old to work, and the people so old to work they are in the old folks home. Colin also decides his "Eureka" moment is finishing the Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, but what he doesn't count on is better than finishing any theorem. He not only finds himself, but that there are some things (i.e. chance, memory recollection, the unpredictability of matters of the heart) that can't be solved in a theorem, math, or science. Some things have to be lived, and we follow these three through their adventures, learning to be somebody, mattering as a person without being world-famous, and just growing up.

There are so many things about this book that I love! Upon meeting Lindsey's friends, the boys immediately came up with amusing acronyms for them (J.A.T.T. aka Jeans Are Too Tight, hehe). As someone who lives in Tennessee, I still couldn't help giggle every time Gutshot was mentioned. The footnotes! I forgot how fun those could be! The characters are quirky, and there is the ability to relate to them in a sense, and real. And the book taught me things I didn't know! Just for amusement, here are five things I didn't know before reading An Abundance of Katherines:

1. Nikola Telsa loved...pigeons (yea, I know)...and had the original electricity idea, not Thomas Eddison.


2. Looking at it from a scientific point of view, there is no proof that drinking eight glasses of water will do a darn thing for your health.


3. William Taft was not only the fattest president, but got stuck in a bath tub one time (hehehe, so funny)


4. Abligurition is an actual word, that I can't pronounce, but means "the spending of too much money on food."


5. Not only is there a World's Largest Crucifix, but it is in Kentucky.

This is one of the few books that I would recommend to everyone! Don't worry about all the math, there are footnotes and graphics to explain it all. This is a book that guys and girls alike can enjoy!

Reader reviewed by David Dunkerton

I could definitely see how this book wouldn't appeal to everyone, but I enjoyed the unique writing style. I found the vague references to algebra to be  interesting, and they would probably be especially interesting to teens who are taking algebra, moreso than to most adults who never did anything with algebra since high school. I thought the use of footnotes expanded the story and made it more meaningful and interesting. Another book that does this is Drawing a Blank, or How I Tried to Solve a Mystery, End a Feud, and Land the Girl of My Dreams by Daniel Ehrenhaft.

Reader reviewed by EshInoBi

An Abundance of Katherines was okay. It was cheesy, odd,
weird, but it wasn't exactly bad. It's young-adult, and I highly
recommend that you don't read it if you're below... uhm, let's say 15?
Nah, you probably could, but there were just some parts that were just
plain gross. The idea of the story was interesting, but the end of the
story wasn't that satisfying. Also, the main character, Colin,
apparently is a prodigy, and though he's really smart, his main 'thing'
is anagrams. It just wasn't right. And the whole story takes place on a
road trip, and, well... the ending just wasn't, well, you don't know
what'll happen... But it was still okay. I just wouldn't recommend it
to anyone... Not just because of the... err, gross parts, but the
quality itself.

Reader reviewed by KK

I'm the type of reader that enjoys books that you are able to relate to your own life is some aspect.

This story is about a boy named Colin Singleton who recently graduated from high school, and was considered to be a childhood prodigy. In his lifetime, he has only dated 19 girls who were named Katherine and all of them dumped him, as far as he can remember. At the end he realizes that he actually dumped one of them. After their graduation, Colin and Hassan, his best friend, decide to take a road trip. They end up in Gutshot, Tennessee where they want to visit the grave of archduke Franz Ferdinand and meet a young lady named Lindsey. Even though Colin only dates girls named Katherine, he slowly finds himself falling for Lindsey. After a personal and emotional break through within himself he overcomes all personal fears and finally goes for what feels right rather than his normal lifestyle.

I reccommend this book if you have an interest in stories about a lost boy who finds hope within himself with the help of his best friend, and everyone new he meets.

Reader reviewed by Megan the Librarian

First of all, let me say that any book by John Green is a book that I want to read.  He is funny, smart, and a master of suspense.  This book evoked many emotions in me -- joy and frustration at the forefront and I found myself wanting more when it was over. 

Colin Singleton is going through the identity crisis many teens undergo when they graduate from high school and can no longer use that to define who they are.  But Colins problem is a little bit more serious not only can he no longer define himself as child prodigy, but he can also no longer define himself as the boyfriend of a Katherine.  His 19^th Katherine has just dumped him, and Colin doesnt know what to do.  Hence the reason why he and his quirky friend Hassan end up in a little town interviewing people about their lives. 

Colin is a likeable character; dont get me wrong, hes frustrating sometimes with his inability to just be without overthinking everything, but hes still likeable.  Hassan is hilarious as he attempts to ground Colin from his flights of fancy, and Lindsey (their new friend from Gutshot) provides the perfect balance.  I would recommend this book to any teen who came into my library, and I believe that most of them will enjoy it. 

Reader reviewed by Kathleen

Reader reviewed by sara

this story follows colin an almost genius but not quite.  he is quite depressed after his breakup with the newest Katherine ( he has gone out with many).  in an effort to cheer him up his best friend takes colin on a road trip.  while there he manages to come to terms with the fact that he isnt getting any smarter and he keeps getting dumped by katherines.  he meets many interesting characters and a small town thats only factory is making tampon strings (colin doesnt know what that is). a good read but not my favorite book.

Reader reviewed by wdebo

Colin Singleton is a child prodigy not a guiness, whose only has one type of girl, that called Katherine. Though he is always dumped by Katherines, 19 times to be exact. After Katherine the 19th his best friend Hassain takes him on a road trip and together Colin tests his theories about the dumper and the dumpee.

This book was interesting. It was comical but it felt like some of the jokes just kept getting repeated so after a while it got monotonous and boring. The charts and graphs were cool at first then got boring and monotonous also. I did enjoy the book, I found it to be ok.