Review: An Abundance of Katherines

When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton's type happens to be girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact. He's also a washed-up child prodigy with ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a passion for anagrams, and an overweight, Judge Judy-obsessed best friend. Colin's on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which will predict the future of all relationships, transform him from a fading prodigy into a true genius, and finally win him the girl. Letting expectations go and allowing love in are at the heart of Colin's hilarious quest to find his missing piece and avenge dumpees everywhere.


(Summary from Goodreads)

Review:  Colin's a childhood prodigy. He's fresh out of high school with yet another failed relationship. A girl named Katherine dumped his sorry butt. Oh yeah, and she's the nineteenth Katherine to have broken his heart. Sucks to be him. (Okay, this is super mean of me and also very stupid, but if Collin's as smart as he seems, then why hasn't he realized that Katherines just don't work for him? You'd think that by the fifth or tenth Katherine, he'd realize that there was something wrong with the equation.)


Hassan, the best friend and proud fat guy, drags Collin Singleton out of his room and decides a road trip is needed to end Collin's moping. The road trip ends at Gutshot, Tennessee where Hassan and Collin get a job compiling the history of the town. Here, Collin begins to write his super special theorem. Oh, and this super special theorem of his? It maps out the outcome of a relationship.


I have very mixed feelings on this book. It was a fun (not so) quick read, but there wasn't anything that made this novel click for me. I think it's because of the main character. Don't get me wrong, his nerdiness was charming and hilarious but there was something about Collin that I couldn't relate to. Maybe it was because he was supposed to be a prodigy. Collin's need to be someone and be loved are the most relatable characteristics that many people have. That's probably where the majority of the readers clicked with him. (that and the whole being dumped thing) But maybe it's not that. Maybe it's because I'm just really bad at reading third person narratives.


Hassan and Collin were an awesome pair. The two of them were geeky and totally funny. Their conversations (what ever language they were in) usually had me giggling in the middle of my Biology class. The characters in this book were likable and quirky. I laughed so many times while reading this. My abs are not happy.


The style this book was written in was absolutely amazing. I adored the footnotes. In fact, I think the footnotes were my favorite part of this book. John Green's helpful explanations kept the story chugging along without leaving the readers in complete confusion. Even with the footnotes, I probably had a permanent expression of something between amusement and confusion stuck on my face. It was SO darn funny to read John Green mock his main character in the footnotes. The translations were also very helpful.  If I could get the pronunciations right, I could have a few more foreign insults up my sleeve.


This book includes a bit of math. Because, you know, Collin's writing a theorem about relationships. It's fairly easy to understand if you've passed Algebra 1 but still isn't something to just pass over. The back of the book includes a more detailed explanation of the theorem and how it works and other math-y things. I admit that I got bored and didn't read it.


Overall, it was a fun(ny) read and very entertaining. In a few months, I probably won't remember the specifics of it, but it was still worth the time. The characters are so gosh darn lovable and the footnotes are just plain awesome. John Green is a spectacular author (Read The Fault in Our Stars) and I'm slowly trying to make my way through all of his published books.


Rating: 3.5/5 stars