An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

Genre: Young Adult Fiction

Ratings:
Ease with which to read/enjoyable narration style 5.0
Suitable ending 5.0
Personal favoritism 5.0
Poetic language 4.75
Memorable 4.75
Original, creative plot 4.75
Original, well-developed characters 4.5
Probability of recommendation 5.0
Ability to "move" emotionally 3.5
Literary value and/or educational value 4.0
Total: 46.25

Final Rating: 4 1/2 stars

4-sentence summary:
Colin Singleton is a former child prodigy, now at the "washed up" age of 18, facing a life of potential non-genius. His girlfriend, Katherine, has just broken up with him, and he is devastated. But she is in fact the 19th Katherine that Colin has dated. Inspired by his best friend to recover from the breakup, the two embark on a road trip and discover more than they bargained for.

Critique:
I must start this critique by saying that this book is going to be constantly compared to "Looking for Alaska", the Printz Award winner also written by John Green. "Looking for Alaska" is in my top 5 of favorite books ever, so you can imagine that reading a second book by John Green came with high expectations. And I must say, with absolute confidence, that I was not in the least disappointed.

This book, as with Alaska, is full of very unique, quirky, and life-like characters. Colin has so many odd aspects to his personality (such as constantly anagramming words) and has such interesting flaws that he is at once a likeable and memorable character. His best friend, Hassan, (the self-described "non-terrorist) is a witty, chubby Muslim who is the perfect opposite for Colin. I hesitate to use the word "bromance" here, since that term has been associated with some rather crappy movies as of late, but Colin and Hassan exemplify what it means to be best friends: to help one another for better or worse, and sprinkled with a ton of humor. Their friendship is definitely a highlight of the book.

One of the other interesting features of the book is the constant footnotes. As Colin is a child prodigy, his mind is constantly taking the reader down the road of "interesting facts" which are usually explained, with some chagrin, by the author. It's amusing and not at all distracting, much to my surprise.

However; An Abundance of Katherines lacks the depth of Alaska in one simple way: this book is not tragic. For some reason, although both stories focus on a young man coming of age, the tragic story seems all at once more meaningful and full of depth than the one with the humorous, quirky characters. They are obviously written by the same masterful author (his style becomes evident immediately upon reading) and both are excellent stories.

Katherines is a quick read and an enjoyable one and I would highly recommend it for high school students and adults alike.

"There's no romance in geometry."
"Just you wait."