An Abundance of Katherines is my second book by John Green. I read Looking for Alaska in 2007 (review) and really loved it, but for some reason it took me this long to get around to my second. Unfortunately, I didn't love Katherines quite as much as Alaska. It was good and I read it in a short amount of time (which really counts for something when you tend to read 4 or 5 books at once.)
An Abundance of Katherines is about Colin- once a child prodigy, but not clearly on his way to adult genius. He's just broken up with the last in a very long string of Katherines and is obsessed with finding a mathematical formula that will predict when a couple will break up, and who will do the dumping. To distract him from this, his best pal Hassan takes him on a road trip to Gutshot, TN where the boys find a job and make some friends and, presumably, learn some Important Life Lessons.
I don't know why this one wasn't as appealing to me. I love the math bits (not REAL math, so don't be turned off by it!) and I loved Lindsey, the girl they met. I enjoyed some, but not all, of the interactions between Colin and Hassan. Reviewers seem to love Hassan's humor, but really I just found him a little annoying. The boys are fond of saying "Fugging" in place of another F-word, and they say it a LOT. At one point in the book another character asks why they don't say the real thing, and they have a reason, but regardless of reason it got annoying. (I'm not usually turned off by bad language, this just seemed silly to me though.)
Overall, it was ok. It wasn't what I was expecting, but it doesn't turn me off John Green. I have Paper Towns in my stack for the Read-A-Thon this weekend and I really hope to get to it. I'd like to see which of the previous two is the aberration.
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Poor Katherines, nobody loves it but me :(
ReplyDeleteSeriously, it seems that a lot of people don't like this one much, so you're not alone. Definitely don't be turned off. You'll probably love Paper Towns.
Thanks for the review. I think this might be the only John Green book I haven't read yet.
ReplyDeleteSounds like one I will have to skip. Sorry it didn't do it for you.
ReplyDeleteI love the title of this book, for obvious reasons, so I'm sorry to hear it's not so hot.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of those authors that I see everywhere and feel like I need to pick something up by him but just haven't brought myself to doing it yet. I guess I'll start with Looking for Alaska--I still remember your review from way back then.
ReplyDeleteNymeth is right...no one loves it but her. ;-D
ReplyDeleteNo pressure, but I expect you'll like Paper Towns. Good choice for the read-a-thon!
I can't get any other John Green book but Looking For Alaska here in the UK. I want to read it and love it like nobody but Nymeth does..
ReplyDeleteI have read all three of Green's books and Looking for Alaska was probably my favourite. I still enjoyed the other two books, though. Paper Towns was an interesting idea. I hope you get a chance to read it!
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