BOOK REVIEW // An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

I'm about to write something that many of you will take umbrage with: I didn't love 'The Fault in our Stars'. Now, before you plot my downfall, let me explain. I like TFIOS, but I feel that it was somewhat overrated. Undeniably, it was moving, however, I have felt a greater emotional connection to other novels I have read from the same genre. I failed to sob my heart out while reading TFIOS, as so many of my friends did. So, when I decided to read another John Green novel I wasn't expecting much. I picked up 'An Abundance of Katherines' just to give it a try and hopefully, finally understand the hype which seems to be surrounding John Green.

I bought 'An Abundance of Katherines' on a book spree in Dublin a few days ago. Initially I was drawn to the bright red cover, with a lightbulb on it. It was simple, yet, striking at the same time. I am definitely a girl who judges books by their covers! When I flipped to the back cover, I was met with the following blurb

"19 Katherines and counting...
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 blood thirsty 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."

                                                            (John Green)

From my first reading of the blurb I thought it sounded silly - but in a nice way - and a little bit far-fetched. But, I decided to give it a go.

So, there I am, fifty pages in and I'm thinking "I was right, I don't like this. What a load of rubbish!!". But then (BUT THEN!), I realised that I was NOT able to put it down. 

The story follows Colin Singleton (child prodigy, potential genius and dater of Katherines) who mopes around the house for days after being dumped by Katherine XIX. His best-friend Hassan, decides enough is enough and drags Colin on a road trip. The road trip itself does not last long, as they make a stop in Gutshot, Tennessee and decide to stay put. The two young men manage to get themselves jobs recording an oral history of Gutshot for Hollis, a local business woman. They end up staying with Hollis and her daughter Lindsey in their large pink mansion. As the blurb suggests, Colin begins working on his Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predicitability in the hopes that it will be robust enough to predict the future of any relationship, and in doing so, prove that he is, in fact, a certified genius with his own EUREKA! moment.

I enjoyed the characters in this book. They were refreshing. Colin, the protagonist, irritated the hell out of me at first, but I grew to love him - which is unusual for me. If someone is irritating, they stay irritating to me. But not Colin. It's interesting to see the life perspective of a young man who was a child prodigy, and now fears that he does not have what it takes to be a genius. Lindsey and Hassan were my favourite characters. Hassan, because he was funny as hell. Hassan has his own revelations towards the end of the book and it was nice to see his character resolution. It leaves you with a warm feeling, knowing that one of your favourite characters is going to be a-okay. Lindsey, was refreshing in the sense that she is extremely relatable to the masses - not only teenage girls.

Another thing I really enjoyed was the maths element to the book. I am a total maths nerd (no shame) and I like the fact that it was incorporated so strongly into a YA fiction novel. The use of footnotes throughout the book was a really interesting idea too. Considering Colin is a prodigy, he talks about a LOT of things that I don't really know about or even understand, so the footnotes explaining these topics are a great addition. Colin also speaks 11 languages, so that helps.

Overall, I though it was a really good book. It was quirky and it was sweet. I enjoyed it, which is probably the most important thing to me when I'm reading. It's not going to change lives, but it was fun, it was different and it was well written. 4/5 stars from me. :)