{Review}: An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

An Abundance of Katherines
by John Green
Release Date: September 21, 2006
by Dutton Juvenile
Number of Pages: 229
Series: Not applicable

Goodreads
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. 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.


Oh John Green you had the chance to make this an amazing book, but you totally blew it!

I'll start by saying that this wasn't my favorite book by John Green, but that isn't automatically followed by saying that I didn't like it. I didn't dislike it but I also didn't like it either. On the good side, it was charming, witty, quirky, and totally sweet. But I feel that no matter what, this book can't quite measure up to The Fault in Our Stars, Looking For Alaska, or even Paper Towns.
An Abundance of Katherines is the only book that I've read by John Green that's told in the third person narrative. Well I don't like it as much as his first person. When he gives his hero or heroine an actual voice, the outcome is so magnificent. But in this book, I didn't feel like I got to know the characters or the situation because the main character wasn't telling the story. This was a great disappointment to me and I knew from the start that I wasn't going to like the 3rd-person thing as much as the 1st person.

This book is about a teenage boy, Colin, who has been dumped 19 times by girls named Katherine. Nineteen. Doesn't that seem like a lot for someone so young? I don't know, maybe this is all relative, but 19 is a lot of girls. Especially girls named Katherine. I guess that was kind of the point but I think John Green could've chosen a more realistic number, like 13 or 14 maybe. I liked the craziness of this idea, and I think it's a really cool thing (being attracted to girls who all have the same name...cool idea, right??) but I think the staging could have been done better.
One thing I did like about this book were the footnotes. They were quirky and witty and they were probably the best thing about the book. They never failed to amuse me or interest me. So that was one thing I loved.

At best this book is ok but I really think it could have been a lot better. It was disappointing to me and I expected more from John Green, but if you're a fan of John Green, then I'd recommend going for it-- you might like it, who knows.

2/5 stars