#An Abundance of Katherines

[oblivionsdream]

If your fav isn't here then add it in the comments!

#the mortal instruments #tmi #the infernal devices #tid #the hunger games #divergent #book poll #2010's ya books #maze runner #percy jackson #twilight #the cruel prince #the raven cycle #the raven boys #shadow and bone #six of crows #the fault in our stars #tfios #an abundance of katherines #looking for alaska #paper towns

[bnmxfld]

You don’t remember what happened. What you remember becomes what happened.

John Green / An Abundance of Katherines

#john green #An Abundance Of Katherines #text #quote #quotes

[absoluteprick96]

#turtles all the way down #book quotes #john green #tatwd #the fault in our stars #paper towns #an abundance of katherines #will grayson will grayson #let it snow #the anthropocene reviewed #hank green #quotes #book #literature

[escapeintothepages]

“What matters to you defines your mattering.”

An Abundance of Katherines, John Green

#an abundance of katherines #john green #reading #book quotes

[krystalkoldstone]

You don’t remember what happened. What you remember becomes what happened.

— John Green, An Abundance of Katherines

#relatable stuff #quotes #relatable quotes #john green #words #memory #truth #an abundance of katherines

[glitterpaperrings]

"How you matter is defined by the things that matter to you. You matter as much as the things that matter to you do."

#john green #an abundance of katherines #colin singleton #lindsey lee wells #literature #literate rp #booksbooksbooks #books and reading #books and literature #quotes #book quotes

[bashsbooks]

An Abundance of Katherines Book Review

★★★☆☆ ~ 3 out of 5 stars

Like most tweens and teens in 2012, I read The Fault in Our Stars and loved it. It was always my intention to go back and read more of John Green’s books in the future, which I only managed with a little success over the past decade, despite coming across John Green himself everywhere - at school via Crash Course, on TikTok and Instagram where he posts funny personal videos, and here on Tumblr, where he has long been the butt of a rather vicious bullying ‘joke.’ After running across him online once again at the end of 2022, I resolved that in the new year, I was finally going to get back to that goal and read more of his work. 

Enter An Abundance of Katherines, a book I had long been intrigued about from its title alone. What did that mean? I knew from skimming a synopsis that it had something to do with a teenage boy who only dated girls named Katherine - nineteen of them, to be exact - but otherwise, I had little concept of what was going to happen in this book.

To give a more comprehensive summary, An Abundance of Katherines is about a former child prodigy named Colin Singleton, who worries that he doesn’t have what it takes to be a true genius and that he will never find love after Katherine XIX dumps him. Colin and his best friend, Hassan, take a roadtrip to a small town in Tennessee where they meet a girl their age, Lindsey Lee Wells, and her mother, Hollis, who offers the boys a summer job interviewing locals about their lives. In the downtime between navigating this new job, town, and burgeoning friendship with Lindsey, Colin is trying to figure out a theorem that perfectly predicts the trajectory of any relationship - how long it will last and who will dump who. This last part means there was more math in this book than I’d hoped for, though, as Green points out in the footnotes at one point, not more than absolutely necessary. 

An Abundance of Katherines was written in 2008, and in some ways, it feels like a product of its time (most glaringly through Lindsey’s sporadic use of the r-slur). In other ways, it feels defiant of this time, though: Hassan is a Muslim who speaks Arabic regularly throughout the book, and Colin notes how his theorem will work for gay couples. This tension of succumbing and overcoming its time are a great microcosm of the messiness that it is deeply entrenched in every layer of the novel - from the clash of Chicago-natives Colin and Hassan with the small town folks of Gutshot, Tennessee, to Colin’s obsession with being a genius against Hassan’s satisfaction with not doing much of anything, there are a lot of differing ideas rubbing shoulders in this book.

Overall, this works well for An Abundance of Katherines. It is messy in a realistic way; the characters are far from perfect, but they’re not the worst people in the world. This is something I particularly enjoy about Green’s writing - he has an amazing ability to humanize his characters. There were points throughout the book where I thought each member of the main cast was being annoying or irritating, but this was not so pervasive that it kept me from rooting for them and ultimately wishing them a happy ending. 

I must confess, though, that while I found this messiness interesting, I found most of the book ultimately boring. Not bore-me-to-sleep boring and not I-can’t-finish-this boring, but it just did not feel like much happened. Its problems, at times, can be a little too mundane - interpersonal teen drama and the threat that a financial crisis can pose to a small town. That is not to say these aren’t important issues to cover, just that they are not the most exciting things in the world to read on their own. And personally, I find advanced math to be a bit boring, so when it was necessary to read about the theorem and how it functions, I found myself yawning. 

Additionally, though I like footnotes in fictional texts (House of Leaves rights), and generally appreciated the layer that An Abundance of Katherines’ footnotes added to the narrative (as these footnotes competing with the main text for attention also adds to that nice messiness I mentioned), I did not like them in a digital format. If you give this book a read, I highly recommend picking up a physical copy, unless you want to keep clicking back and forth between the page you’re on and the accompanying footnotes. I understand this is not a fault of the text itself as much as the medium in which I chose to read it, but it compounded my boredom with a certain tediousness that made most of this book a slog for me. 

Ultimately, this book was a solid 3 out of 5 stars for me. It was fine. Not the worst, not the best. I really don’t have much else to say about it. Read it if you like. I think it makes for fine leisure reading. But don’t expect anything terribly exciting or revelatory.

#an abundance of katherines #john green #books #book reviews #my book reviews #3 out of 5 stars

[acronychalwitch]

That's who you really like.

The people you can think out loud in front of.

-John Green

#john green #an abundance of katherines #quotes #book quote #quoted #aesthetic #self love #chaotic thoughts #chaotic academia #dark academia aesthetic #literary #light academism #musings #museums #dark academia #pinterest #dark acadamia aesthetic #english literature #introvert #yearning #self writings #self written #hashtag #selfwrote #art #music #lover #longing #ernest hemingway #albert camus

[bitethebulleeet]

#an abundance of katherines

[books-to-add-to-your-tbr]

Title: An Abundance of Katherines

Author: John Green

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2006

Genres: fiction, contemporary, romance, coming of age

Blurb: Katherine V thought boys were gross; Katherine X just wanted to be friends; Katherine XVIII dumped him in an email; K-19 broke his heart. When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton’s type happens to be girls named Katherine...and when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact. On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washed-up child prodigy has ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a bloodthirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight, Judge-Judy-loving best friend riding shotgun...but no Katherines. Colin is on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avenge dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl.

#an abundance of katherines #abundance of katherines #john green #standalone #2006 #fiction #contemporary #romance #coming of age

[skygazerrrrr]

Most John Green books:

Weird MC who has mental health issues

Even weirder best friend

Obscure, really "cool" love interest

A poem, or book or quote, which is tied to the story

An epic, coming of age journey

#teen fiction #john green #an abundance of katherines #looking for alaska #bookstagram #the fault in our stars

[anosewithlegs]

john green, 'an abundance of katherines'

#i am very sorry #or am i #six the musical #katherine howard #catherine of aragon #catherine parr #john green #an abundance of katherines #also an abundance of ann[a/e]s #and a single jane #meme #random thought

[whoop-de-soup]

I finally found myself reading An Abundance of Katherines by John Green. I don’t think I will ever forgive how many concepts in this book where shot down as “not interesting”. I am currently dying for John Greens explanation of the role that salt has played in human history. To say the least I am very salty.

#john green #an abundance of katherines #Role of Salt #Who Knows #Does this mean I have to do my own extensive research #even if I do my own research it will still lack John Greens insight and the unsolvable mystery as to why he deemed the topic uninteresting #stay salty #I feel I read this book a little late

[escapeintothepages]

“You don't remember what happened. What you remember becomes what happened.”

An Abundance of Katherines, John Green

#an abundance of katherines #john green #reading #book quotes

[twicedailyquotes]

He was nearsighted. The future lay before him, inevitable but invisible.

John Green

An Abundance of Katherines

#quote #quotes #john green #an abundance of katherines #book quote

[dearallyhansen]

*opens a John Green book* why am I crying

#john green #an abundance of katherines #turtles all the way down #paper towns #the fault in our stars #vlogbrothers