An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
Young Adult Coming of Age Fiction
ISBN: 0-525-47688-1
215 pp.
Suitable 14+

Readers Annotation: Colin is a washed up child prodigy who decides to go on a road trip with his best friend and solve a theorem on his past relationships.

Plot Summary: Colin is a washed up child prodigy. He reads, studies, and obsesses constantly on trying to further himself in becoming a genius. Hassam is his wise-cracking best friend who likes to be lazy. Colin is trying to fix his broken heart after his latest girlfriend dumped him. In fact every girl he's dated has dumped him and all their names are Katherine. Together, Colin and Hassam go on a road trip to find themselves and more importantly, for Colin to solve the theorem on his past relationships. On their journey, they visit the resting place of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in a small Tennessee town, and meet Lindsay, a paramedic in training. They find themselves employed by Lindsay's mother, Hollis, who owns a factory producing tampons. They end up living at the Hollis residence while taking in the culture, Lindsay's boyfriend, and her friends. As Colin struggles to solve the theorem, he is starting to fall for Lindsay and vice-versa but her boyfriend stands in his way, Hassan starts dating one of her friends, and Hollis, for some reason, is more stressed than ever.

Critical Evaluation: Though this story has a decent plot, it is the characters that drive it forward. Each character, whether its Collin, Lindsay, or Hassan, feed off each other with such naturalness that you might think that they are real. They are similar to, and have a formula reminiscent of those in Looking for Alaska. The chapters range from long to very short, depending on its genius content. There are numerous flashbacks strategically placed throughout the book about Colin's past Katherine relationships that cleverly show exposition while pushing the story forward. The third person narrative puts the reader as an observer, though it does dwell inside the mind of a washed up child prodigy. He's a self-centered loser but he's likeable in the sense that he's not a jerk and means well but seems so aloof that you don't mind him getting into trouble and finding out what works and what doesn't for himself. It's all about finding yourself, and in Colin's case, the theorem of his love-life, but one things clear, the future is unpredictable and your heart can change in an instant.

Author: John Green was born in 1977 and his stay in boarding school largely inspired his debut-novel Looking for Alaska. After he graduated, he worked in Chicago for Booklist Magazine. His debut novel was published in 2005 and won the Michael L. Printz award. His second and third novels, entitled An Abundance of Katherines and Paper Towns, were published in 2006 and 2008 to great critical praise and awards.

Green currently resides in Indiana with his wife, Sarah, his son Henry, and his dog. Sarah and him had their first child together just recently. Just recently, Green announced that he is working on a fourth novel, entitled The Sequel.

Booktalking Ideas:
1) Frienship
2) Dating
3) Road Trip
4) Predictability
5) Prodigy/geniuses
6) Relationships
7) Self-centered

Challenge Issues: There are no challenge issues present in this novel.

Why Included: I absolutely loved Looking for Alaska and therefore decided to read the entire John Green canon. And I'm glad I did.