Chapter 27: A Book Set in High School

An Abundance of Katherines, John Green

Taking a little liberty since the majority of this novel takes place during the summer after high school graduation, I think this one still counts for this category. I know lots of adults who love Green's The Fault In Our Stars, and Katherines looked interesting for a weekend on the road, so I checked it out from the library while I take a break from a more difficult novel.

Katherines is about a former child prodigy, Colin Singleton, after he has been dumped for the 19th time by a girl named Katherine. Heartbroken and searching for The Meaning of His Life, he chooses the all-American option and hits the road with his best friend, Hassan, a Judge Judy loving fat kid who isn't concerned with such philosophical quandaries. Meanwhile Colin is also trying to perfect an mathematical formula to express and predict the arc of every romantic relationship, using his string of Katherines as his data pool. This equation will propel him to genius status and make him matter.

Interstate 65 leads the duo to Gutshot, TN and the grave of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Thus begins the coming-of-age story, complete with adventure, romance, and a moral.

While I didn't love this book, I am surprised by the number of people who flat out hate it. While Colin is a bit of a whiner, he's also a nerdy teenager with a broken heart. So I expect him to be self-absorbed and pathetic. His sidekick, Hassan, is hilarious. He loves Judge Judy and institutes a policy of saying "dingleberries" when Colin brings up another annoying reminder that he hasn't enrolled in college. Dingleberries. Dude, that's funny. He also alerts Colin when he goes off on an uninteresting tangent. We all could use a friend like Hassan, who can love us even when we're are boring, self-absorbed weirdos.

The arc of Katherines is a predictable teenage story of finding oneself and getting the girl, but it was still a good story. The citizens of Gutshot, the tangential footnotes, and the love of Hardee's Monster Thickburgers made this one enjoyable. Unlike many YA novels, there's (almost) no sex, no drug abuse, and very little drinking. It was refreshing and still realistic, and the only apocalypse is that of being dumped. Again.

Overall, I think Katherines does a good job of capturing the Dumpee experience and tells a good story of what matters. I probably won't read it again and will return it to the library. But I would not hesitate to recommend it for some light reading to people who don't easily tire of quirks like anagramming (a skill I do not have and find fascinating). An Abundance of Katherines earns 3 Marias.