Review: An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

SUMMARY FROM GOODREADS:

When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton's type is 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, washedup 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.

MY TAKE:
I was reluctant to start this book because of the reviews, but I'm glad I tried it anyway.

In An Abundance of Katherines, all of Colin's ex-girlfriends are named Katherine. After the latest breakup, he and his best friend go on a road trip and end up in a small town filled with interesting people. While there, in an attempt to understand why all of his ex-girlfriends dumped him, and also because he's feeling the pressure of being a former child prodigy, he decides to formulate a theorem that can predict how a relationship will turn out.

The most common criticism I found of this book was that Colin was whiny. While I agree that he was a downer sometimes, I found his whining and self-centeredness tolerable, if only because I thought he might have Asperger's or something. I did like his best friend Hassan more, though. He's funny and positive. Also, for some reason, I kept imagining him as Rusev the WWE wrestler, even though Hassan is Arab and not Bulgarian.

The whole Katherine thing, while unlikely, was an interesting plot point for me. Obviously, the endgame romance was predictable and I'm not a real fan of the girl, but the getting there was actually fun.

I was fascinated by Colin's theorem. I mean, I pretty much forgot everything that wasn't basic mathematics, algebra and geometry after college, so I couldn't make sense of the formula on its own, but I had no trouble understanding the explanations Colin gave. I'm interested to see if this works on real-life couples as well.
 
THE GOOD:

1. There are plenty of great quotes.
2. It touches on topics that teens will be able to relate to.
3. The theorem is actually interesting. 

THE BAD:

1.  Colin can be a downer sometimes.

FAVORITE QUOTE/S:

“Books are the ultimate Dumpees: put them down and they’ll wait for you forever; pay attention to them and they always love you back.” 

READ IT IF:

1. You like math.
2. You like stories with something to say.
3. You've ever wondered why you're always getting dumped.

RATING:


SOUNDS INTERESTING?