An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
Blurb for the back cover:
“A coming of age story but with math”
In An Abundance of Katherines, Colin has just been dumped by his girlfriend Katherine. This would make the nineteenth occasion such an event has happened. All his past girlfriends have been named Katherine and all have dumped him. But after the nineteenth time, Colin has had enough and decides to use his child-prodigy status to develop a mathematical theory to determine if when a person in a relationship will be dumped by the other. He hopes that he will be able to figure out a way to get K-19 (the 19th Katherine) to take him back. This is all fine and dandy, but Colin’s best friend Hassan gets tired of his obsessiveness over K-19 and takes him on a road trip that ends in Gunshot, TN. They decide to stay awhile and befriend Lindsey who shows them what life is like in Gutshot.
The problem I faced with this book is that I read it right after finishing Paper Towns. I loved Paper Towns so I went in to this book with high expectations which is a mistake. That’s not to say this book is bad by no means. Paper Towns and An Abundance of Katherines are different books with similar writing styles. AAoK is more of a dramatic piece as it deals with Colin’s struggle to come to terms with his newly single status. This is really a coming of age story but with math involved. The Lindsey character is a catalyst that forces him to view life differently and leads Colin and Hassan on various adventures. Hassan is there for the comic relief and to provide some insight on how Colin’s thought process works.
I liked the book but felt that reading two different books by the same author back-to-back prevented me from reading them without comparing them to each other. AAoK is an enjoyable book and you should probably read it if you are a fan of John Green or are looking for a story about a road trip.
20 in 2009 Challenge: 4/20
March 27th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
This is the only Green book that I haven't read yet and I really need to! It's just sitting on my shelf…I can see that it would be hard to beat Paper Towns and Looking for Alaska, but at least there's something else to read by him!
March 27th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
I having Looking for Alaska in my pile of “to read” books. I think I will start that one once I finish Christopher Moore's Fool.
March 30th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
I've been wating to read something by him, so I guess I'll choose Paper Towns. Hey, don't you hate it when the main character has your name? I rarely run into a “chartroose” character in a novel, but I kind of feel annoyed when I do.
Later, Gator
March 30th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
I think it's awesome when there is a main character that has my name. :-) It's so rare to see a Colin nowadays.
Also, there are TWO Colins in AAoK. SCORE!.
March 30th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
I loved Paper Towns and still haven't read either of his other two because I just haven't had the time, so I loved this post. Now I can tell myself I haven't read the other two because I'm letting Paper Towns settle so I can read the others without making comparisons. Thank you!
March 30th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
I think it's awesome when there is a main character that has my name. :-) It's so rare to see a Colin nowadays.
Also, there are TWO Colins in AAoK. SCORE!.
March 31st, 2009 at 6:29 am
I loved Paper Towns and still haven't read either of his other two because I just haven't had the time, so I loved this post. Now I can tell myself I haven't read the other two because I'm letting Paper Towns settle so I can read the others without making comparisons. Thank you!
April 27th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
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