Book Review: An Abundance of Katharines

John Green

★★★★★

Reading level: Ages 12 and up
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Dutton Books (Imprint of Penguin Group USA)

An Abundance of Katharines tells the story of noted child prodigy Colin Singleton. Colin had dated 19 girls, all named Katharine- not Katie, or Kat, or Kitty, or Cathy, or Rynn, or Trina, or Kay, or Kate or, God forbid, Catherine. But K-A-T-H-E-R-I-N-E. And now K-19 has broken his heart. One a road trip to nowhere in particular with his Judge Judy loving, overweight best friend, Colin sets out of a mission to prove the Theorem of Underlying Katharine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, average Dumpees everwhere, and finally win him the girl.

An Abundance of Katharines has to one of the funniest, most brilliant stories I have ever read. John Green creates a cast of characters that are funny, smart, and very memorable. There is actually nothing that I didn’t love about this book- it was that good! I loved Colin, and by the end of the book I wish I knew someone like him. I liked the idea that this was not just about him proving a theorem or getting over a girl. This story really explored Colin as a person, who he was and what he wanted- which was, overall, to be remembered, to not be forgotten. Everyone wants that.

I quickly found out while I was reading this book that with it's an original concept, this was a laugh-out-loud funny story, complete with satire, and an American road trip that's unlike any road trip I ever took! I loved Colin’s view on the world and I can very much relate to his ability to not being able to talk with people. Honestly, even that is a skill I have yet to master. I also loved that I actually learned and remembered things from his novel. Some was trivial to the plot and others were bits of information that Green placed in footnotes that I thought was a most brilliant idea ever! These are things I never knew until I read this book:
1) Fetor hepaticus is a symptom of late-stage liver failure where your breath literally smells like a rotting corpse.
2) The junior senator from New Hampshire in 1873 was Bainbridge Wadleigh.
3) There is absolutely no scientific proof that drinking eight glasses of water a day will improve your health.
4) Dingleberries can be anagrammed into see inbred girl; lie breeds grin; leering debris; greed be nil, sir; be idle re. rings; ringside rebel; and residing rebel.
5) Nikola Tesla did a lot for electricity before Thomas Edison came along and stole some of his ideas, and he also loved pigeons.
6) Sitzpinkler is German slang for “wimp” which literally means “a man who sits to pee”.
7) There is a difference between a genius and a prodigy.

I think as a girl, I was hoping for a bit more romance, but being the tomboy that I am, I loved that it never overflowed with icky heartaches and over the top “love at first sight” crap. During the period of reading this book there was never a moment I was not smiling or laughing- which incidentally got me trouble for laughing in class, but who cares? I usually love just reading fantasy fiction novels, but John Green has shown me that sometimes reality is cool too.  

Hassan is the funniest, always the joker, and it was wonderful to see that not only did Colin progress as a character, but so did Hassan, and Lindsey.

Honestly, I can parttle on and on about how amazing this book it, but then I’d be giving away a lot of spoilers. In short: An Abundance of Katharines is funny, smart, and very entertaining. John Green has a very, to say the least, interesting way of writing that defiantly brings a voice to literaturethat is beyond amazing!
I cannot wait to get my hands on all his other books!

Also, click here if you would like to design the new cover for An Abundace of Katharines- ends November 21st, 2011.

DFTBA- Don't Forget To Be Awesome!


Where to find John Green:
Amazon: John Green Author Page
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Twitter: @realjohngreen
Author Website: John Green Books
Contact Info: Stalk John Green