Written by John Green, who also wrote The Fault in our Stars, An Abundance of Katherines is not his best work. The book’s theme itself was a little peculiar. The whole book is based on one guy dating nineteen girls with the same name and creating a math equation to predict the outcome of all relationships. Both of these things seem to be nearly impossible to actually accomplished.
John Green is an extraordinary writer and the book was very well written. It was clear, descriptive, and it wasn’t easily predictable. John Green is known for his plot twists. In all his books, it’s hard to predict what will happen next. The reader can never be sure what is going to happen next.
Colon Singleton is an anagram-loving washed up prodigy who has a little issue. He has dated nineteen girls with the same name; Katherine. Relationships aren’t Colin Singleton’s strongest suit, every relationship has ended with Colin being dumped. Colin decides to embark on a road trip with his best friend, Hassan, to get his mind off his most recent breakup with Katherine IX (19). As a child prodigy, Colin hopes to discover a math equation that will predict the future of any relationship.
In the book there are footnotes throughout the entire book explaining things. This was a new and interesting idea but it made the book seem more like a textbook rather than a fictional story. Considering the book’s theme was based on discovering a mathematical equation, the footnotes were needed in a sense. Also, Colin and Hassan often speak in a different language so very often there would be a footnote explaining what they had actually said.
By the time the reader finishes this book, you are tired of hearing about anagrams and the name Katherine. Both are referred to in the book on almost every page. It gets slightly annoying after a while.
The popular opinion of this book seems to be that this book was not John Green’s best work, but probably his worst.
All around, the book was a good read but it’s not something I would suggest a friend to read. Any other of Green’s books are much better.
