Ever wanted to know how long a relationship would last? Who would break up with who? Have a way to figure out if beginning the relationship in the first place is even worth the trouble? Receive all those answers by plugging in a few factors into a mathematical theorem, sounds simple enough to me, and to Colin Singleton. Colin is a new high school graduate, a soon-to-be-ex child prodigy, and this theorem, the theorem that could potentially make him a genius, is the problem he is facing.

You see, Colin has a problem. Colin falls in love very easily. That wouldn't be such a bad thing if it wasn't for the fact that all his "loves" have been named Katherine (exactly 19 of them). Each of those Katherines have broken up with him for whatever reason; and after the love of his life (Katherine XIX) leaves him in a terribly bad place he decides to use that to his advantage. He tries to make himself a genius by coming up with the Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, to not only make himself known for something, but to also figure out why all nineteen Katherines have dumped him.

As a distraction, Colin and his best friend Hassan set out on a road trip to nowhere, in The Hearse (Colin's car). Seeing a sign for the grave of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the boys head to Gutshot, Tennessee; a small town, where they happen upon Lindsey Lee Wells, a girl who is nothing like any Katherine has been for Colin. She reads celebrity rag magazines, her friends, her boyfriend (also named Colin, aptly dubbed T.O.C. aka The Other Colin), and her wealthy mother Hollis, who offers the boys a place to stay. The palace-sized home on top of the hill being more than just large and full of interesting things, but it's also a shade of pink only rivaled by a bottle of Pepto Bismol.

Hollis hires the boys to accompany Lindsey with getting an oral history of Gutshot, which means visiting everyone that works in the factory (which produces tampon strings, just so you know), the people too old to work, and the people so old to work they are in the old folks home. Colin also decides his "Eureka" moment is finishing the Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, but what he doesn't count on is better than finishing any theorem. He not only finds himself, but that there are some things (i.e. chance, memory recollection, the unpredictability of matters of the heart) that can't be solved in a theorem, math, or science. Some things have to be lived, and we follow these three through their adventures, learning to be somebody, mattering as a person without being world-famous, and just growing up.

There are so many things about this book that I love! Upon meeting Lindsey's friends, the boys immediately came up with amusing acronyms for them (J.A.T.T. aka Jeans Are Too Tight, hehe). As someone who lives in Tennessee, I still couldn't help giggle every time Gutshot was mentioned. The footnotes! I forgot how fun those could be! The characters are quirky, and there is the ability to relate to them in a sense, and real. And the book taught me things I didn't know! Just for amusement, here are five things I didn't know before reading An Abundance of Katherines:

Nikola Telsa loved...pigeons (yea, I know)...and had the original electricity idea, not Thomas Eddison.
Looking at it from a scientific point of view, there is no proof that drinking eight glasses of water will do a darn thing for your health.
William Taft was not only the fattest president, but got stuck in a bath tub one time (hehehe, so funny)
Abligurition is an actual word, that I can't pronounce, but means "the spending of too much money on food."
Not only is there a World's Largest Crucifix, but it is in Kentucky.
This is one of the few books that I would recommend to everyone! Don't worry about all the math, there are footnotes and graphics to explain it all. This is a book that guys and girls alike can enjoy! ( )

Out of the three books that John Green has written, I found this one to be the least compelling and I infinitely prefer his novels Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns. Nonetheless, the book is well written, quite funny, and has the occasional smattering of genius that I consider to be the hallmarks of Green's writing style. ( )

Green, John. Abundance of Katherines. New York, NY: Dutton Books, 2006.

Genre:

Humorous YA novel

Themes:

YA, Road Trip, breakup, relationships, child prodigy

Age / Grade Appropriateness:

Teen - Grade 10-12, Age 15-18

Awards:

Michael L. Printz Honor Book (2007)

A Horn Book Fanfare Best Book (2006)

Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist

ALA Best Books for Young Adults (2007)

ALA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults (2009.02 | Journey > Destination, 2009)

Censorship Issues:

Violence, mild language

Plot Summary:

An Abundance of Katherines revolves around the love life of Colin Singleton. Colin is a former child prodigy, who feels that he is losing his “special-ness” as other students catch up to him. Colin only dates girls named Katherine, Katherine with a K. He has dated nineteen of them to be exact. When the latest Katherine dumps him, Colin begins to come apart at the seams. Enter Colin’s best friend, Hassan, a “rather fat hirsute guy of Lebanese decent,” who convinces Colin that they need to take a road trip to alleviate Colin’s funk.
After convincing their parents to let them go, the boys leave Chicago and head south. Upon reaching Tennessee, Colin sees a road sign announcing the grave of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Gutshot, Tennessee. Curiosity piqued, the boys exit the interstate and take the tour of Ferdinand’s grave, which begins from a gas station. The boys make friends with their tour guide, Lindsay Lee Wells, and her mother, who offers the boys a summer job collecting oral histories of the residents of Gutshot. Through a series of misadventures, the boys and Lindsay Lee become fast friends and, of course, help Colin overcome his breakup.

Critique:

The novel is well written and relevant for teens. The humor present in the novel serves more than just moving the story along; it helps the novel draw the reluctant teen into the story. The novel provides several different perspectives for teens unsure of what to do with their life following their graduation from high school. It is fast paced and the subject of relationships is an emotion that all teens should be able to relate to.
On a personal note, this was by far the most enjoyable book I have read in the past year, regardless of the intended age group or genre. I would recommend this novel to anyone that enjoys well written humor.

Curriculum Uses:

The curriculum uses for this novel include helping teens understand their choices for life after graduation, but the novel is also useful for the parts of the novel that examine the difference between big city life and the slower life of Gutshot. ( )

Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.com

If you had the opportunity to devise a theorem that could correctly predict the outcome of a romantic relationship, would you do it? If it worked, would you use it? Can it even be done? This is the problem plaguing Colin Singleton, recent high school graduate, nearly-former child prodigy, hopeful genius. Colin, you see, has a significant problem. He falls in love quite easily, which in and of itself isn't such a bad thing. The fact that all of his loves, nineteen of them to be exact, have been named Katherine can even be explained away by some form of twisted scientific method. What can't be explained, though, is why Colin has been dumped by all nineteen of those Katherines.

When he's dumped by the love of his life, Katherine XIX, he finds himself in a bad place. He can no longer call himself a child prodigy, since he's graduated from high school. He's not a genius, because he's never come up with anything that will change the world. There's an empty place inside of him where his latest Katherine's love used to live, and he doesn't know what to do with himself. Until Hassan Harbish (Muslim, but not a terrorist) devises a way to get Colin out of his funk--a road trip. With no destination in mind, the two set off in The Hearse, Colin's car, and go where the road leads them.

Where it leads them is a small town called Gutshot, Tennessee, where Colin gets the urge to see the supposed grave of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. It's also where the two meet Lindsey Lee Wells and her mother, Hollis. Not to mention where they get to live in a giant Pepto Bismol-pink house on a hill, interview employees of a factory that makes tampon strings, and eat Monster Thickburgers at the local Hardees.

It's also the place where Colin decides to finish the Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability. Assign numerical value to different variables, plot it on a graph, and you'll be able to predict how long a relationship will last--and who will be the dumper, and who will be the dumpee. Except Colin forgot some pertinent information, like chance, and distorted memories, and the fact that love is never predictable. As Colin and Hassan learn a few things about life in the small town of Gutshot, we get to follow their journey of learning to grow up, to make a name for yourself, and how to matter as a person.

I loved AN ABUNDANCE OF KATHERINES, even more than Mr. Green's previous book, LOOKING FOR ALASKA. That book won the prestigious Michael L. Printz award, and I won't be surprised if this book is nominated, as well. This story is funny, poignant, and informative. For example, if I hadn't read AN ABUNDANCE OF KATHERINES I would never have known that:

1) Fetor hepaticus is a symptom of late-stage liver failure where your breath literally smells like a rotting corpse.
2) The junior senator from New Hampshire in 1873 was Bainbridge Wadleigh.
3) There is absolutely no scientific proof that drinking eight glasses of water a day will improve your health.
4) Dingleberries can be anagrammed into see inbred girl; lie breeds grin; leering debris; greed be nil, sir; be idle re. rings; ringside rebel; and residing rebel.
5) Nikola Tesla did a lot for electricity before Thomas Edison came along and stole some of his ideas, and he also loved pigeons.
6) I still suck at math.

Order this book today. It's great, you'll love it, and you'll actually learn stuff. Three for the price of one! ( )

Although not initially intentional on his part, Colin has dated 19 girls all named Katherine (not Katie, Kathy, etc.). The length of these relationships lasted anywhere from 2 1/2 minutes (Katherine I) to just under a year (Katherine XIX) - all with the same result - Colin gets dumped.

Now graduated from High School, this former child prodigy is obsessed with becoming someone who "matters", and maybe that solution will be found on a road trip with his best friend Hassan ("not a terrorist") in rural Tennessee.

Full of bizarre math facts, exceptionally entertaining footnotes, and a diverse range of characters you are destined to recognize from your own teen years, this was an entertaining read ( )