An Abundance of Katherines

Green, J. (2006). An Abundance of Katherines. New York, NY: Penguin Books.

Summary

Colin has just graduate from high school and was dumped by his girlfriend Katherine XIX. It seems Colin is rather peculiar and only dates girls named Katherine. No variation just Katherine. When he realizes he hasn't really lived life to the fullest because his relationships with others in school are rather superficial after spending so many years together, he decides to go on a road trip with his best friend Hassan. He feels he needs a eureka moment because he just right now feels like a genius, one who knows a lot of information, instead of a prodigy, one who discovers something new. They end up in Tennessee and get a job interviewing townspeople. Colin falls in love with Lindsey but she has a boyfriend whose name also happens to be Colin. Hassan also starts to like someone. The book shows how the relationships grow.  Colin develops a formula that shows how long a relationship will last.  When the other Coline (TOC) is caught cheating on Lindsey, it opens an opportunity for the original Colin to let his feelings be known. They eventually begin to like each other and Colin uses his formula to find out how long they will last which turns out to be four days.  That  proves to be incorrect as Lindsey lets it know she likes Colin and has no intention of breaking up with him. So in the end the boys have found young love and discovered something new about themselves. 

Commentary

I am not big on romance so I am glad his book had plenty of humor instead of just being a sappy romance novel.  John Green writing style develop the characters effortlessly and make it easy for the readers to fall in love with them. I thought Colin was going to turn out to be autistic. He had some many quirks like anagrams and only dating Katherines. But he was just a bit quirky.  The book is appropriate for high school students and would be enjoyed by both boys and girls.  

Connections

Connections 
If it's YA literature, there is going to be a message about love. This one is related to math.  The character discovers matters of the heart can not be calculated like a math equation. It random.  This realization is how the character Colin grows and changes. That is something else common in YA books. The characters go through a change of some sort as they begin to adjust to the adult world.