Monday, March 19, 2018

Review: AN ABUNDANCE OF KATHERINES by John Green

Rating: 4/5 stars

Colin has dated nineteen girls, and all have them have been named Katherine. But Colin is tired of getting dumped by Katherines, so he takes a post-graduation road trip with his friend Hassan down to Gutshot, Tennessee, a small town in the middle of nowhere, to escape from all the Katherines in his hometown. Here, Colin is able to look back on his nineteen relationships and, being the child prodigy and general smartypants that he is, Colin devises a theorem to determine the length of a relationship, hoping to use it to be able to predict future relationships to avoid getting dumped again.

This story was wonderfully adorable, and I really enjoyed it. I didn't love it like I loved The Fault In Our Stars and Paper Towns, but I still had a really good time reading it. And it was funny! I was actually laughing out loud at parts.

My favourite part was all the math aspects this book contained. There were diagrams, graphs, equations, and lots of footnotes. This sounds complex, but it wasn't. The book is tailored toward any audience, not just those math-loving people out there (of which I am one). Even though there's no way to actually predict the length of a relationship, Colin's theorem seemed so realistic and believable in the story, and I loved that.

I also really enjoyed all the characters in An Abundance of Katherines. Colin could be whiny at times, but I loved how he was so full of knowledge and just wanted to share all that knowledge with people. I was genuinely interested in what he had to say because I love random tidbits of information, but Hassan was always shutting him down. Granted, he was just trying to help Colin be less "socially awkward," but I thought it was rude sometimes. Otherwise, Hassan was a really neat friend. His character is mostly what made the book funny. As for Lindsey, I liked her a lot too. I'm glad she had the realization about herself that she did at the end of the book. All the characters go through some trials and come out stronger on the other side, and that was nice to see in young adult literature.

Overall, any contemporary reader or John Green fan is sure to love this book. Despite the title alluding to many Katherines in the story, there is not actually that much direct romance in this book. There were, however, many of good messages and morals in this book, and the ending is very satisfying.


"He always had books. Books are the ultimate Dumpees: put them down and they'll wait for you forever; pay attention to them and they always love you back." 

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