REVIEW: An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

Oh how I adore John Green. I'd read Looking For Alaska last year and it was almost life-changing. So I had really high hopes for An Abundance of Katherines, and while I thought it was incredibly funny and nerdy, and I loved Colin and Hassan and their relationship, it wasn't quite as emotional as I'd like. And yet I still loved it.

Colin Singleton is a child-prodigy who's pretty talented at languages and anagramming, but one who hasn't gone on to becoming a genius. Instead, he's been dumped by a whopping 19 girls named Katherine. He's a total Dumpee. So just after his high school graduation, his best friend Hassan decides that the only thing to do is to go on a road trip. And somehow Colin and Hassan end up in Gutshot, Tennessee, home of the grave of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand. There, Colin tries to work on a mathematical theorem that will predict how long a relationship will last. They meet Lindsey and her mother Hollis, who owns a company that produces tampon-strings and while there, Colin and Hassan have some pretty interesting adventures including a hilarious pig-hunting trip.

I really did love the relationship and banter between Colin and Hassan. I think their dialogue was the reason that I loved this book so much. At the start I wasn't really drawn to Colin as a character, but by the end his social-ineptitude was kind of adorable. I thought the anagramming and the footnotes to fun facts were a nice touch. I kind of skimmed over the maths, because maths isn't really my sort of thing. But I did appreciate the graphs and everything in a way. It's all so nerdy. And I do love nerdiness. I also loved how the novel turned into a reflection of sorts on story-telling and the story Colin tells at the end about his relationships with the Katherines really blew me away.

I'm glad that I read this. It was funny and sweet and intelligent. And John Green, you sure didn't forget to be awesome!