Colin has dated 19 girls named Katherine and been dumped by all of them, hence John Green’s title An Abundance of Katherines. Relationships, Colin believes, can be measured by a mathematical equation based on how much a person is a dumper or a dumpee. Reeling from a breakup with Katherine XIX, Colin hits the open road with Hassan, an overweight Arab and his only friend, winding up visiting the tomb of the archduke Franz Ferdinand in Gutshot, TN and sticking around Gutshot.
An Abundance Of Katherines
‘He was generally a pessimistic person, but he seemed to make an exception for Katherines: he always felt they would come back to him. The feeling of loving her and being loved by her welled up in him, and he could taste the adrenaline in the back of his throat, and maybe it wasn’t over, and maybe he could feel her hand in his again and hear her loud, brash voice contort itself into a whisper to say I-love-you in the very quick and quiet way that she had always said it. She said I love you as if it were a secret, and an immense one.’
-pg. 5
I’m impressed by how intelligent John Green’s books are. They are multilayered and quirky, working on plot, character AND writing style levels. Never once did I feel as though An Abundance Of Katherines was dumbed down or pandering for a teenage level.
‘Driving was a kind of thinking, the only kind he could then tolerate. But still, the thought lurked out there, just beyond the reach of his headlights: he’d been dumped. By a girl named Katherine. For the nineteenth time.’
-pg. 15
I love John Green’s gawky protagonists. While he is not quite Miles Pudge or Tiny Cooper (not a protagonist but winsome), Colin holds his own. I love his preoccupation with anagrams and his interesting facts that according to Hassan are not all that interesting. I love that Colin is scared he’ll only ever be a prodigy and not a genius and that he won’t leave an indelible mark on the world.
‘She laughed and pulled her hand away and placed it flat against his knee. Her fingers were soft. He could suddenly smell her over the dank basement. She smelled like lilacs, and then he knew that it was almost time. But he didn’t dare look at her, not yet. He just watched the blank TV screen. He wanted to draw out the moment before the moment—because as good as kissing feels, nothing feels as good as the anticipation of it.’
-pg. 79
Further. There is MATH! Which it totally beautiful, although I don’t understand it. I just really like the idea of math and science. To me, it represents symmetry and intelligence and codes and keys and parabolas.
Then there is the girl lead, Lindsey Lee Wells who is not a Katherine, but awesome and badass and she has the coolest mother ever, Hollis, who owns a tampon string factory. Quirky, no? And how could I not go on a tiny bit about Hassan. His dialogue cracks me up, and he’s such a guy and reminds me of all these males in my life with their wisecracks. But, they both have good hearts and that’s what I love. Characters with heart, even side characters.
An Abundance Of Katherines  is a fabulous read if you walk on the nerdy side and like your characters with a twist of quirky and unique and awkward.
Disclosure: Purchased copy.
Read as part of my Fill In The Gaps Project.
Other Reviews of An Abundance Of Katherines by John Green:
I Eat Words
YA Bibliophile
One More Page
The Book Smugglers
Chachic’s Book Nook
The Book Swarm
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I’ve been saving this one. I loved Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns, so I feel like I have to ration the rest of his books. I’m so glad I still have this to look forward to!
I totally feel the exact same about rationing his books, ha ha.
I have read Paper Towns but this one is still sitting on my shelves, begging to be read!
It’s vice versa with me. I have Paper Towns sitting on my shelves begging to be read!
What a great review. Thanks for bringing it all back to me. I loved Hassan. And, I’m a former math teacher –LOL! My kind of book…
I wish I could understand math 🙁
Hassan rocked my socks!
i love math so much. even if that makes me sound like a nerd. there is something beautiful about knowing that when you begin to understand the “why” rather than just the “how”, all levels of math relate to each other.
also, i kind of like john green. and when i say like i obvs mean OMG I LOVE HIS WRITING. so this is a win win for me.
also, nerdy fact, my math teacher used to say this to us before class every single lesson – god created everything by number, weight and measure.
I love nerdy facts.
Also liking math totally makes you a nerd, but in an awesome way.
Just thinking about this book makes me laugh. It was my first John Green and I cackled my way through the whole thing. Then fairly RAN to the bookstore to buy LOOKING FOR ALASKA.
Yes! I cackled a lot toooo! Pretty much every time Hassan showed up were gut laughs for me.
This isn’t my favorite John Green (it still goes to Paper Towns), but I loved the extreme quirkiness of this book. And Hassan! Such an awesome sidekick. I think this has the happiest ending of all of John Green’s books. 🙂
I still need to read Paper Towns since it seems like everyone loves it so much!
This was my first John Green book and I already have copies of the other two but I still haven’t read them. I need to bump them up the TBR soon! I want to pre-order The Fault in Our Stars because I want a signed copy. I’m glad you enjoyed reading this one, I loved how quirky and nerdy the characters were because that made it easier for me to relate to them.
That reminds me, I gotta preorder The Fault In Our Stars too!
Quirky and nerdy characters are TOTALLY the best!
This IS my fave John Green book. Quirky & altogether delightful!
🙂
Yay!
I still think Will Grayson is my favorite, but again I can’t really judge because I haven’t read them all yet!
Just bought this in a Nook Book sale. Really excited to read it now 😉 Also, love the format of this review with the quotes in-between your thoughts. Would love to see more like this!
Hurrah! I can’t wait to see what you think of it.
And also, I am going to try to do more reviews with quotes in them, because I love quotes!
A long while back I tried to read looking for Alaska but I didn’t get too far into it. By the sound of your review, I think I would like Katherines better.
🙂 I’m putting it in the maybe pile!
Thanks for an awesome review
Aww, sorry you didn’t enjoy Looking For Alaska. I loved that book.
Here’s to trying Katherines, hopefully you enjoy that one!
Hmm, I really need to give this book another try. I checked it out from my library awhile back, forgot about it, and then realized that I only had a few days to read it. I probably only got a chapter in before the pressure of having to read it in a few days did me in.
Man, I love gawky teen characters, though. They are the best.
I hate that pressure!
Also, I love gawky characters too. They remind me of myself and my social awkward teenage years!
I so need to read this one! It looks like such fun! 😀 I really enjoyed Looking for Alaska and I hear such great things about John Green all the time so I definitely need to get this one read ASAP! 😛 Awesome review April!
It is SUPER fun. AND MATH. It makes math awesome.
Pick it up soon, and hey you could count it for Just Contemp!!