Published by Speak; October 16, 2008
Paperback, 228 pages
Borrowed from library
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.
-Description from Goodreads.com
Finally, after a year-long dry spell, I have picked up another John Green book. And it was great jumping back. Mr. Green is hilarious and it shines through with his writing. Since reading The Fault in Our Stars, I've loved the way he incorporates the reader with little inside jokes sprinkled here and there. And let me tell you, An Abundance of Katherines certainly had an abundance of inside jokes (fug, kafir, TOC, JATT, and SOCT - just to name a few).
But An Abundance of Katherines never really excited me the way - and I know I shouldn't be comparing - The Fault in Our Stars did. I liked the math theme and I loved the footnotes but the Theorem seemed like it was put together randomly and I would say that was due to the lack of information we were given. Of course I understand that not everyone wants to know how the hell Colin comes up with the equation to age, popularity, etc. but I do. And while I totally appreciated the Appendix, I would have liked it to have dug even deeper into the Theorem.
One thing I did love was Gutshot, Tennessee. The place was full of personality and with each interview Colin, Hassan, and Lindsey set out to do, my love for Gutshot grew. But because I loved it so much, a bigger emphasis on the setting would definitely have been nice.
When it comes down to it though, there were just two things that really made the book fall flat for me.
1. The way Colin appeared in narration and the way he actually talked were wildly different.
2. A lot of things in this book appeared to be put in randomly, either without any explanation or without any real purpose.
And unfortuantely, I couldn't get much into the book because of the above. But I did love the stories about the Katherines and the inside jokes and Colin, believe it or not! He appeared to be a really cool kid in both the narration and the dialogue. And hey, who doesn't love lengthy algebraic equations?
I really love how John Green's books are all so wildly different. I mean, the styles of TFIOS and AoK are completely different! And I have got to say that I skipped the appendix because I have no desire to look at another maths equation ever again after finishing Year 12 maths haha. Personally, I actually loved the randomness of the book. It was just really interesting to see the events unfolding :)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked this book! I have to say, sometimes I couldn't help but laugh along with Colin and Hassan. I remember my favourite part being the fight scene where they're going at TOC. That was hilarious and definitely the highlight of the book. :)
ReplyDeleteUm, I have been having ...issues with John Green books lately. I love TFIOS, I love Looking for Alaska. But it took a hell lots of motivations for me to finish Paper Town and although it was a great read, I felt more and more bored with John Green books to the point that I cannot finish Will Grayson. There's nothing wrong with the characters but it's just...I was getting this similar vibe from all his books and I felt that all his books are strangely similar... I'm sorry I'll just skip his books this time :(
ReplyDeleteI loved TFIOS and I've heard Looking for Alaska is great but after An Abundance, I'm definitely starting to feel the same way you are. I actually liked Will Grayson, Will Grayson but I enjoyed David's story much more. So I don't know. I feel like I need to like him because he's one of my favourite YouTubers and everyone else is fawning over his books but I'm not so sure anymore. I'm still going to look into Paper Towns and Looking for Alaska though because I don't think I'm ready to completely throw in the towel! Really, a part of me still wants to scream with joy with all the other Green fans.
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