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| An Abundance of Katherines | 
| Author: John Green
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Category: Book
List Price: $16.99
Buy New: $5.74
You Save: $11.25 (66%)
New (45) Collectible (1) from $5.74
Avg. Customer Rating:  33 reviews
Sales Rank: 105325
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.3 x 0.9
ISBN: 0525476881
EAN: 9780525476887
ASIN: 0525476881
Publication Date: September 21, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: brand new with all the trappings of newness
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| Customer Reviews:
 Who knew math could be this much fun? September 8, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Picture this: You used to be a childhood prodigy. Member of an academic game team. You excelled in school. You were special. You met a girl named Katherine and the two of you started dating.
Then she dumps you.
Then eighteen more girls named Katherine dump you.
Suddenly, you're a teenager with no claim to fame except for your former status as a prodigy. No new ideas. No girl. No plans for the summer excepting wasting away in your room and moping.
This is not your life. But it is Colin Singleton's life immediately after his graduation from high school.
Given Colin's history with girls, you might not be surprised that John Green chose to name his second novel An Abundance of Katherines--a title that proves itself even more apt as the novel progresses.
After sulking for several days after being dumped (again), Colin is dragged out of his room by Hasan, his best friend. Hassan is confident that the only cure for Colin's depression is a road trip. So Colin and his Judge-Judy-loving, overweight, Muslim pal head off for the great beyond that is the United States between the coasts. Their road trip stops in Gutshot, Tennessee. But the adventures don't. Hired by a local bigwig to compile an oral history of Gutshot, Colin and Hassan find themselves staying with Hollis and her daughter, Lindsey. It is in Gutshot that Colin finally has what he has always wanted, a truly original idea. Thus, Colin begins to create a theorem of love in his attempt to understand his own rocky love life.
Most of my friends who have read this book and Green's first novel Looking for Alaska agree that his second novel is not as compelling a read. Having only read "Katherines," I cannot make a judgment one way or the other. What I can say is that I loved the style of this book. There has been a growing trend to use footnotes in novels--notable examples include The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Johnathan Stroud, Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next novels, and Ibid A Life by Mark Dunn which is a novel written entirely of endnotes. Green continues that tradition here to good effect.
The tone throughout is quirky, nerdy, and generally fun. I don't know that reading this novel will change any lives, but it will certainly get a lot of laughs. The best parts are, undoubtedly, the dialogues between Hassan and Colin. The guys are just so likable! In addition, Green's writing is snappy--all the better to keep the laughs coming.
Some readers might find the name John Green familiar although they cannot say why. This year John and his brother Hank have earned a good amount of notoriety on the internet for their Brotherhood 2.0 vlog project (available on YouTube) in which the brothers send videos back and forth each weekday in lieu of text conversation (if you're curious be sure to check out the Feb. 14, 2007 post because it's my favorite). They are really funny and seeing John Green and his brother in these vlogs makes it easy to see how Green came up with the idea for Colin Singleton.
Like Nothing but the Truth by Justina Chen Headley, this book includes a bit of math. The "real" math behind Colin's theorem appears in the back of the book in an appendix and Green even has a website where you can use the theorem for your own relationships (if it doesn't crash your computer). Despite all of that, Green is a self-proclaimed lost cause when it comes to math. (The theorem was drafted by friend (and "resident mathematician" for Brotherhood 2.0), Daniel Biss.) I wanted to share this for a couple of reasons. First, because I think it's great that Green is writing outside of what some might call his "comfort zone" and, second, because it should illustrate that you don't have to like math to enjoy a book that features a lot of math.
Anyway, if you need a cheerful book with some fun, lovable characters I don't think you can do better than this book which was recently nominated for the LA Times Book Award in addition to being selected as a Printz Award honor book (Looking for Alaska won the actual Printz Award, just to put that into perspective).
 Finally, Math Gets a Spotlight August 29, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Colin Singleton is a self-professed prodigy. He can anagram the heck out of any word combination (except a few un-anagramabble words), and he was once on a show called Kranial Kidz. He's the type of character one would call book smart but not very street smart. Colin's one big bummer in life is that he has been dumped by a procession of 19 Katherines. So he walks around looking for the next Katherine, although he is sure Katherine 19 is THE one.
When we first meet Colin, he has just been dumped by Ms. 19. His best friend, Hassan, decides to hornswaggle Colin into a summer road trip, meant to shake him out of his doldrums. They don't get too far. The boys find their nesting place in Gutshot, Tennessee, home to a factory where tampon strings are created. They meet the owner of the factory, Hollis, and her daughter, Lindsey. Isn't that just the most beautiful name ever? Why you would want a Katherine when you could have a Lindsey, I'll never understand.
Hollis decides to hire the boys for a unique summer job: to interview the residents of the town/employees of the tampon string factory, for which she will pay them the sum of $500 a week, plus room and board. On top of that, Colin has his own project: to create a mathematical formula that predicts when someone will get dumped, specifically, himself.
This is the first young adult math concept book I have ever seen. There may be other books where math is used, but not to this same extent. In fact, at the end of the book, John Green (the author) has his math buddy explain the formulas.
Green also makes really good use of footnotes. Footnotes are something I remember only seeing in works like Shakespeare, Grendel, and the Canterbury Tales. Maybe this will spawn a whole new generation of footnote readers.
My big thing in books is I have to feel a strong connection with the characters, and I have to cry at least once. (I did shed some tear, by the way). Well, I did like some of the characters. I didn't particularly like Colin. All he seemed to do was whine about getting dumped. I found that boring. Now, his best friend Hassan was infinitely likable. Hassan is an overweight Muslim with a quick wit and a huge heart. I feel like Hassan saved the show on the character plethora.
Coming second to Hassan was the character of Lindsey and the residents of Gutshot. They all seemed to be very down home, lovable people. Everyone knew everyone else and they loved their town. I felt very cozy towards the townsfolk. I just wish I could have liked Colin better. Has anyone ever seen John Cusack in the movie High Fidelity? Now he was a likable/lovable dumpee. Sure, he whined, but he also had clever things to say. His witty banter with Jack Black and Todd Louiso was a highlight for me.
I still think it's worth a read, and a lot of people must, since this book took a Printz Honor.
 Perfect for the reader within us all August 29, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Of course, if you really are a math nerd, it doesn't take long to fall in love with Colin, our dear hero. He's a geeky, nerdy, anagram-loving high school graduate, waiting to start his college life. The outline is simple: Colin's been dumped. He's depressed. Quirky, hilarious best friend Hassan declares that there's only one thing to do - road trip.
That's how Colin ends up in a hole in the wall type town, working alongside Hassan and a girl named Lindsey, who essentially is the reason they even stayed in town. Lindsey is an interesting character, normal, and intelligent, something Colin doesn't really expect when they first meet (he sees her reading a trashy magazine and assumes he's dealing with someone ignorant and stupid). Colin meanwhile becomes obsessed with creating a formula that accurately portrays his 19 failures with Katherines. The story thus progresses.
If there's one thing that's great about "An Abundance of Katherines", it's that there's something for everyone. Math nerds will love the concept. Teens will love the characters. Adults will love the humor. Or just everything, because it's fun to love. It's a great book, one that will suck you in from the first moment and keep you until the end. Funny characters and interesting situations keeps this book moving.
Perhaps this is more appropriate for teens, who will let some minor issues go more easily (the ending was nice and good, but not as incredible as the rest of the book...). Even so, adults will be just as able to enjoy this fun, funny, enjoyable book.
(P.S. The footnotes are probably the best part)
A Perfect Cure for a Slow Day August 26, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
One intellectual prodigy, one Lebanese best friend (who's repeatedly not a terrorist), one chameleon of a girl, and eighteen different Kathrines.
Quick, comical, interesting; An Abundance of Kathrines is just the thing to get you smiling (and thinking)! Beautiful characters, all with unique backgrounds and views on young adult life, placed inside a wonderfully written and easy to read story.
so simple, yet riveting August 20, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Colin Singleton is a child prodigy with a thing for girls named Katherine. Unfortunately, they don't seem to have the same "thing" for him.
This story is all about character development. And even though we know which way Colin's character is going to develop, we don't know how it's going to happen, making this book predictable in unpredictable ways. Ironic, since part of the story is about predicting relationships. Quite clever. :)
This book is proof that one can successfully write a non-edgy YA novel. And it was laugh-out-loud-funny in many places. A definite re-read is in the future.
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