Book Review: An Abundance of Katherines

Title: An Abundance of Katherines

Author: John Green

Publication Date: September 21, 2006

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile

Genre: Realistic fiction

Pages: 229

Age Rating: Readers over 13

My Opinion: 9/10

Hi, Readers!

       Lately, I have been addicted to novels by John Green.  Seriously addicted.  They are the only books that I want to read because Green creates characters that seem to leap off of the pages and come to life.  I just finished reading An Abundance of Katherines, my third John Green novel, and I am yearning for more.

       Colin, a washed up child prodigy, only dates girls named Katherine.  Not Catherine, or Cathy, or Katie.  He has dated nineteen Katherines since third grade, and each one has dumped him.  So when Colin's best friend, Hassan, suggests a road trip after the nineteenth break-up, he grudgingly accepts.  The two arrive in a tiny country town, and their lives change completely when they meet Lindsey Lee Wells, a teenager who takes them in and gets them jobs.  All the while, Colin is still smarting from his break-up, so he decides to create a mathematical theorem to predict future relationships.  Colin has to work through his own self-confidence issues as he makes his own way in the world and attempts to figure out who he really is.

       An Abundance of Katherines is absolutely stuffed with quirky characters.  Each and every character has something (or multiple things) about him that makes him unique and interesting to read about.  For instance, Colin is a child prodigy who can anagram anything, so Green explores ideas such as Colin feeling inadequate when he cannot solve a problem.  Also, Green includes flashbacks throughout the novel to Colin's past relationships with Katherines, and they are told in an endearing and funny way.  Each Katherine has affected Colin and he has loved them all, so the break-ups influence who he becomes as a person.

       Although An Abundance of Katherines is not John Green's strongest novel, it is still an excellent book that made me laugh out loud.  It is not as serious as other John Green novels, and it does not deal with as many social issues, but everybody could use a lighthearted read every once and a while.  With such an entertaining plot line and hilarious characters, Green couldn't go wrong.

Happy reading!