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An Abundance of Katherines

John Green

Start date: February 1, 2014

Finish date: February 28, 2014

Discussion: Group Read

Why we're reading this: Contemporary Group Read
[close] Contemporary Group Read

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What Members Thought

Apr 09, 2013 Julie rated it liked it

Shelves: already-re-read-2013, books-i-own-print, ya-botm-bc-2013, 2013-contemp-bc

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

“Books are the ultimate Dumpees: put them down and they’ll wait for you forever; pay attention to them and they always love you back.”

The quote above sums up my reading experience of An Abundance Of Katherine's. I had to keep dropping it because of time constraints, exhaustion due to a busy schedule and my frustration at trying to keep up with John Green's elitist (in my opinion) writing. However, as I kept coming back, I eased into the typical language style and ca Actual rating: 3.5 stars

“Books are the ultimate Dumpees: put them down and they’ll wait for you forever; pay attention to them and they always love you back.”

The quote above sums up my reading experience of An Abundance Of Katherine's. I had to keep dropping it because of time constraints, exhaustion due to a busy schedule and my frustration at trying to keep up with John Green's elitist (in my opinion) writing. However, as I kept coming back, I eased into the typical language style and came to love (once again) the writing, full of metaphorical resonances and deliciously uplifting quotes on life and the realities of the world.

Whenever I read a book by John Green, I'm always surprised by how philosophical and smart his thinking seems to be (in my opinion). He adds that he is terrible at math, yet this book is chock-a-block full of math theorems and general mathematical mumbo-jumbo which confused me to no end. This lead me to feel a large appreciation for him as not just a nerd-fighter but a writer. The amount of research he has to go through, to create a book like An Abundance Of Katherine's must be riddikulus (wink, wink) and I tend to feel just that little bit smarter after completing a book of his which is a great feeling to have in all fairness.

Another wonder is the maddening frustration I get when I begin a book of his, and yet I still keep returning. I tend to do my best to finish books in general but Green somehow makes me enjoy my return which does not happen in some cases even if I finish the book in the end. His ability to create such depth to his character's is a talent I commend him for and just one of the reasons I enjoyed this, and all his other books too.

However, I have only rated this 3.5 stars because I did find it quite tedious and slow during the first few pages. This may be another reason as to why it took me so long to complete. In addition, very little happens so lovers of action may not enjoy this. I do love action myself, but I can also enjoy books as long as they have decent plotlines or well fleshed-out characters that I can connect to in some way.

An Abundance of Katherine's is based on a child-prodigy named Colin Singleton (not child-genius, just prodigy) who happens to have a certain type; girls named Katherine, ("not Katies or Kats or Kitties or Cathys or Rynns or Trinas or Kays or Kates or, god forbid, Catherines. K-A-T-H-E-R-I-N-E.") When he is dumped by K-19, he goes off on a road trip with his best friend to find his own Eureka! moment. This leads him to a town named Gutshot, where he comes up with a theorem of all theorems: how to predict the longevity and inevitable fate of a couple and figure out who will be the dumper and dumpee. He meets many interesting characters along the way and eventually comes to question his aims in life and go through his own period of self-actualisation and grow and help others to do so also as a character.

As you read it, you will travel with Colin on his journey, and maybe even come to realise a few things about yourself along the way. I would recommend this to all John Green fans, those who love annotations and general facts and fans of in-depth lovably frustrating characters. I did truly enjoy this book, despite my inner battles on whether to keep reading at times and I'm sure you will come to love it to in your own way. ...more

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Dec 03, 2013 Emma rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ya, 2013, one-shots-series-starters, romance, contemporary

Read the original review here:
http://thegiantpencil.blogspot.com/20...

It's amazing! I thought that since Green wrote this so many years ago, it wasn't going to be that good. And, although it did take me longer than usual to finish a Green novel, I found that I enjoyed it. A lot.

Be warned, potential readers, there is a plethora of smart-ness and complicated looking math (of course, this is debatable. The math included can look complicated to some, but not to, perhaps, a child prodigy/genius or ...more

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Apr 28, 2013 Marie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

omg I loved Colin he was so sweet <3

It was kind of, well not kind of it was REALLY predictable, but I loved it all the same, it's nice to have a book that doesn't have so many plot twists that it makes you want to strange yourself... ;)

I got the "Fred.N.Dinzanfar" thing quite early on, surprisingly, i'm generally crap at anagrams :')

I loved all the little notes at the bottom of each page, and the little hide out place was the cutest :) ...more

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