An Abundance of Katherines (John Green)



'Abundance of Katherines’, written by John Green
(sneak attack!) Surprise! This book was awesome! I bought it on the cheap at a thrift shop, and didn't read the back of it. I liked the cover, the title, and the fact that it cost a whole glorious dollar… So I bought it.
Turns out, I would have paid full price for this book. Mr Green’s novel is distributed as teen fiction, but reads more like an “easy” adult novel with late teen characters.
Essentially, Colin the ex-child prodigy main character gets dumped by his girlfriend Katherine. She was the last in nearly 20 girls/women he has dated who all shared this name (not Kate, Kat, or Catherine.. always Katherine with a K). His best friend decides to take him on a Post-Graduation road trip to get his moping ridiculously crushed and infatuated self out of the house.
While on the road, Colin decides to write a mathematical equation which will assist him in determining how long a relationship with the next Katherine will last, or better, if the last Katherine will ever take him back. Oh, and I SUPPOSE I should mention he doing it while while avoiding being punched to death by angry jealous redneck boys and interviewing small town old folks who used to work in a tampon string factory…
I found myself grinning wide and laughing out loud as I read this book.
The characters were well thought out, believable, and people I would high five if they shot past on a summertime slip and slide my the front yard.
I found myself especially enjoying the faux-math explanations, the description of equations as art/beauty, the footnotes, and the absolutely constant Norman Mailer references.
Suggested for teens and adults. This is no crappy teen angsty vampire novel. It is a well thought out fiction worth ready.

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