An Abundance of Katherines

Locations
Call Number: R Printz Honor 2007, Teen Fiction / Green, John, Teen Book / Fiction / General / Green, John
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Malletts Creek Branch, Pittsfield Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown Kids Reference 0-week checkout	R Printz Honor 2007	0-week checkout	Library Use Only
Downtown Teen, 1st Floor 4-week checkout	Teen Fiction / Green, John	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Downtown Teen, 1st Floor 4-week checkout	Teen Fiction / Green, John	4-week checkout	Due 04-29-2024
Downtown Teen, 1st Floor 4-week checkout	Teen Fiction / Green, John	4-week checkout	Due 05-09-2024
Malletts Teen Books 4-week checkout	Teen Book / Fiction / General / Green, John	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Malletts Teen Books 4-week checkout	Teen Book / Fiction / General / Green, John	4-week checkout	Due 05-05-2024
Pittsfield Teen Books 4-week checkout	Teen Book / Fiction / General / Green, John	4-week checkout	On Shelf

Having been recently dumped for the nineteenth time by a girl named Katherine, recent high school graduate and former child prodigy Colin sets off on a road trip with his best friend to try to find some new direction in life while also trying to create a mathematical formula to explain his relationships.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

School Library Journal Review
Booklist Review
Publishers Weekly Review
Summary / Annotation
Fiction Profile
Excerpt
Author Notes

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

An amazing book submitted by Lillie Schneyer on July 9, 2011, 12:30pm I really enjoyed this book. In this book, the main character, Colin, struggles with himself. He is currently a child prodigy, and he is not sure where to go next. In addition, he has just been dumped by his 19th girlfriend. Colin's one and only friend Hassan decides that this situation calls for a roadtrip. The two somehow end up in Gutshot, Tennessee, where Colin meets Lindsey Lee Wells. She teaches him a lot about himself, and she finds things out about herself in the process. By the end, Colin realizes what matters, and he manages to learn to tell a good story a long the way. This book is hilarious, and even manages to teach you something, due to the random facts Colin finds it impossible not to share.

Great book submitted by chloeandrews on July 9, 2012, 10:20pm I really liked this book. As Koalabook said it teaches while being funny and exciting.

quirky submitted by jayin on June 14, 2013, 2:17pm This is a fun read with interesting characters

nineteen katherines submitted by unknown on July 29, 2013, 6:02pm I should preface this by saying that as 30something adult, I don't seek out "YA" (young adult, aka teen) fiction for my leisure reading. In the case of this book, I didn't realize it was a YA title until I was already hooked, and since I'm a fan of quirky coming-of-age novels, it pretty much fit right into my comfort zone. The story is about recent high-school graduate Colin. A former child prodigy, he is now merely another smart teenager with underdeveloped social skills and a yearning to leave his intellectual mark on the world. With the summer between high school and college to kill, he's also heartbroken because his girlfriend, Katherine, just dumped him. Actually, she's the nineteenth Katherine to sever relations with Colin (hence the title) -- although one of the book's enduring mysteries is how someone as neurotic as Colin manages to have relations with 3, let alone 19 girls, whatever they may be named.

In any event, Colin is fortunate to posses a roly-poly sidekick/best buddy named Hassan, who promptly prescribes a road trip as the cure for his malaise. Couch potato Hassan provides much-needed comic relief with his blunt talk, tough love, and love for bad daytime TV. It's also nice to see an Arab-American character in such a role. The road trip takes them to a small town in Tennessee, where they stumble into jobs and a place to stay for the summer. They also luck into friendship with a cool local girl named Lindsey and spend a good deal of time hanging out with her and her Abercrombie-wearing friends. Meanwhile, Colin is hard at work trying to figure out the variables needed to plug into a mathematical formula which will graph the rise and fall of any relationship. This provides the excuse to learn about the 19 Katherines, although thankfully just enough to help the reader understand how they affected Colin.

As the summer progresses, the story unravels much as one might expect, with the notable exception of an unlikely hookup between Hassan and another character. Lindsey naturally turns out to have hidden depths, and despite the expected heart-warming developments at the end, the story kind of peters out without the closure one might expect. Overall it's a worthwhile read, although it's not a particularly challenging story and Colin is simultaneously too self-pitying and too handy with the ladies to be a truly sympathetic protagonist. Some of Green's stylistic tics work, such as the many footnotes, but the mathematical relationship formula felt kind of gimmicky. Still, this is the second YA novel by Green, and it's definitely enjoyable enough to make me think about seeking out the first.

Fun! submitted by emjane on August 9, 2013, 9:43am Colin Singleton, former child prodigy and serial-dater of girls named Katherine, embarks on a road trip with his best friend Hassan to attempt to get over Katherine-19, who just dumped him. The two end up in small-town Gutshot Tennessee, making connections with the locals, and Colin attempts to create a formula that will predict the ends of his future relationships.

Colin's struggles with reading social situations and the strange way his mind jumps from subject to subject are well-rendered in the storytelling and are especially evident in the slew of clever footnotes that pepper the pages. Perhaps because of the full development of Colin, the other characters are only viewed on the surface. However, despite the simple characterization, teens of both genders will find An Abundance of Katherines are fast-paced, fun read.

Recommended.

Incredeble. submitted by aparna70 on June 26, 2014, 5:24pm A good read.

Cheerful submitted by bluepapaya on June 26, 2014, 5:27pm This is an upbeat fun book. It may just be my favorite John Green book.

Great submitted by Dannihu on July 9, 2014, 8:38pm Great

Just ok submitted by onpaper24 on August 11, 2014, 11:29am I don't think it was as good as most reviews I've read, but it wasn't bad either. I was kind of bored by the main character by the end of the book.

My Fav submitted by jmb.mlis on August 31, 2014, 10:54pm My very favorite of John's books, this one includes lots of footnotes that make reading the book fun.

Great book submitted by Lize Van De Keere on June 27, 2016, 7:50pm I liked reading this book, just like all the other John Green books. Interesting characters and fun story!

ok submitted by GwenC on August 3, 2016, 12:27pm It was kind of hard to read in the beginning. It got better, though.

So-so submitted by hahahame on July 24, 2017, 6:20pm It was a decent plot, but did not grab me.

Okay submitted by zmclaugh on July 25, 2018, 2:43pm A simple, fun story. Some parts are very predictable.

Alright submitted by c_zhang on June 27, 2019, 11:00pm Kind of hard to get through in the beginning, but the story is decent.

Good book submitted by jasonc1177 on July 31, 2019, 7:52pm this book is great
！@#￥%……&*

Alright submitted by sydcha on August 2, 2019, 10:25pm Though John Green’s plots are always wonderfully crafted and thought out, the execution of this one was not my favorite. The concept is great, and it’s still a good read, but I’ve enjoyed his other books more.

Katherine #12 was my favorite. submitted by tbbrown76 on June 20, 2020, 9:24pm John Green is a really good writer. I can see the characters and empathize with their situations. This book gets a little silly in a couple of places but I still highly recommend it. It's fun.
TB

An Abundance of Katherines submitted by jhaberich on July 15, 2023, 9:24pm I would say this book was pretty good. There were a few town interviews I definitely skipped over but I thought the overall plot was rather interesting and I liked the unique footnotes. John Green delivers a fascinating story about a child prodigy attempting to find a formula fitting all romantic relationships.

Not Bad submitted by libbymcfarland on March 19, 2024, 3:23pm It's another John Green road trip book with quirky characters. This is an innocent book about first love and finding purpose. I would recommend this to teens but not so much adults unless you want to read something easy and light-hearted.