An Abundance of Katherines Review

Author: John Green
Release Date: September 21, 2006
Pages: 272 (PB)
Publisher: Dutton
Most Appropriate For Ages: 14+
Where I Got It: Gifted from family


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, washed up 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. Love, friendship, and a dead Austro-Hungarian archduke add up to surprising and heart-changing conclusions in this ingeniously layered comic novel about reinventing oneself.

After reading Looking For Alaska and loooooooooooving it, I needed some more John Green ASAP. And while incredibly different from Looking For Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines was an awesome book and definitely satisfied my craving.

This book was the funniest one I've read in a long time. I actually used a piece of scrap paper to write the page numbers of my favorite quotes, because I'm sure I'll want to re-read them...and the entire book...but especially those particular quotes.

A thing I loved about this book was that it wasn't just a funny book. This was a classic and very well-done coming of age story, full of lovable, layered characters and a wonderful moral. I even learned a couple of cool facts that stuck with me after I read it.

Question: how I could find Colin to be whiny and selfish and STILL love his character? He was flawed, but not annoyingly so, and I found him to be an awesome protagonist. Lindsey and Hussan were both fantastic characters as well. Basically, I just want to invite them all over for a pizza party or something.

An Abundance Of Katherines was everything I'd hoped for a then a little extra. I didn't think my John Green love could grow, but I guess I was wrong....

Book Report:

Plot: Fun and well-paced.

Characters: Woo hoo, woo hoo hoo hoo.

Writing: It's John Green. He's an a.m.a.z.i.n.g writer.

Ending: Absolutely perfect.

Kid friendly? Eh, not entirely. There's a sex scene, and a little language.

Should I read it? Yeah, fo sho.

Overall: