An Abundance of Katherines - John Green

Katherine V thought boys were gross
Katherine X just wanted to be friends
Katherine XVIII dumped him in an e-mail
K-19 broke his heart

When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton's type happens to be girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact.

On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washed-up child prodigy has ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a bloodthirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight, Judge Judy-loving best friend riding shotgun--but no Katherines. Colin is on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avenge Dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl.

Cover

The red cover! It's so pretty! I just loved the cover I had. Not too much, but still pretty. I really enjoyed having this book for a little while (library). I love the red, it makes it shine brightly.

Colin Singleton

While reading other reviews, I found out that many people thought Colin whined too much. I can definitely see where they're coming from, and I can usually spot a whining character very well, but I actually really liked Colin. He was fresh and felt very new to me, and he was a realistic whiner. Yes, he did whine, but no, it wasn't annoying. He just broke up with K-19, so really, what did you expect. 

Other than that though, how can this guy meet so many Katherines? I don't even know 19 people with the same name, so how even can someone fall in love with all of them. Katherine isn't even a name you see that often, but all right, I was willing to let it slide. 

Colin is a very reasonable person. Even though he's a child prodigy and, while I'm smart, I'm not, I could relate to him. I did get tired of his anagrams, however, but they were nice in the beginning.

Hassan (a Muslim character bless)

I liked him. I genuinely did. I liked most characters in this book, actually. I loved how they made him Muslim (I know very little about the Islam, but I do not wish to offend anyone). There isn't much recognition for Islamitic people. And while he stayed true to his beliefs, he was also described as any other atheist or non-orthodox kid. I am glad John Green studied about Islam before writing something either ignorant or just plain wrong (again, I am not a Muslim, so I know very little). 

I'm also glad John made him a bit bigger than other characters I've seen in different books. Hassan is a very humble but reasonable guy. The little fight between Colin and him I liked as well. Hassan is a great character, and more important than most people think he would be. 

Lindsey Lee Wells

What a lovely girl. I sound like a grandma, but it's true. She seems like such a sweet person. Also, that emo phase, I couldn't stop laughing. I love how when she just met Colin and Hassan, she was described as a stereotypical popular girl, but gradually, you started to realize she hadn't been. I believe that meeting her really made Colin happy, made him ''normal'', like he wants to be so deeply. Lindsey was a great character, and again, reasonable.

The Plot (what plot?)

The only, but only sad thing about this book, was that it didn't have much plot. It was pretty much all over the place, and besides the growth of the characters, there wasn't much chance. The weird thing though, was that it didn't bother me. I couldn't stop reading this book. It was a real page-turner, so to say. Some people may be irritated by this, though. 

Just a little warning, this book contains a lot of Maths. I would recommend only reading this if you know at least a bit of Maths. Not that it's really important, but I think it'll be a better experience because of that.

Overall, I was surprised by this. I really didn't like Paper Towns. This was something else, way lighter than most of Green's work. It's a great coming-of-age story, I recommend reading this, but opinions on this book are very diverse, so there is a high chance you might not like it. I loved it, 4,5/5 stars because of the little plot.

Dominique

Title: An Abundance of Katherines (English), 19 Keer Katherine (Dutch)

Author: John Green

Publisher: Speak

Age range: 12+

Price (Paperback): $7,99

Pages (Paperback): 272