An Abundance of Katherines

The greatest obstacle to liking this book is getting past the first chapter, because you think you cannot stand learning more about the pitiful life of self-centered Colin Singleton, single pampered son, former child prodigy and winy and whimpering post-graduation dumpee, who seems to be liked only by a passing string of short-term girl-friends (all nineteen of them went by the name of Katherine) and his best friend Hassan, an overweight, Judge-Judy-addicted partly strict Muslim - but no terrorist as he likes to point-out -, who does not like to work and "saves his Thunderstick for a very special lady". By the second chapter, when Hassan and Colin go on an anti-heart-break road-trip across the states in Colin's battered car "Satan's Hearse" you may have already started to rather enjoy the funny and intelligent banter between the boys. When and if you read on to the part when they stop at the small town Gutshot, Tennessee, which is centered around a tampon-string factory owned by pink-clad and pink-housed Hollis Wells, you may notice - as I have done - that you have miraculously fallen in love with the complete set of characters (even Colin), the story and the somewhat absurd setting. The story proceeds in Gutshot with Colin and Hassan acquiring summer jobs and Colin working on a formula that can predict the outcome of any romantic relationship by mathematically analysing his failed attempts at love, because he needs to become a person that "matters" to humanity in a Nobel Prize worthy way. The plot includes wonderfully romantic scenes between Colin and his first Non-Katherine, deep-musings about life, popularity, friendship and personality, lots of dry humor, clever and superfluous footnotes and laugh-out loud hilarious moments (i.e. when they take part of a feral hog hunting party and accidentally shoot into a hornets nest as they are trying to scare the boar away). Unsurprisingly the author interview in the end reveals that the movie rights have been sold. The book is definitely a keeper worth rereading. Presently I am secretly plotting on how to persuade my husband to pick up the German translation.

Mit Colin hat der Autor einen wirklich tollen Protagonisten geschaffen. Ein Wunderkind, das an der Schwelle zum Erwachsenwerden Angst davor hat, in Vergessenheit zu geraten und nebenbei auch noch mit einem gebrochenen Herzen da sitzt. Colins Spleens und Eigenarten finde ich wunderbar erfrischend. Auch die anderen Figuren wie Hassan und Lindsey sind großartig getroffen. Das ganze Buch ist von einer Vielzahl an Fußnoten durchzogen, was den Lesefluss aber nichts stört. Viel mehr tragen sie zum Charme des Buches bei. Die Storyline kommt ohne größere Dramen aus. Anders als die momentan so beliebten Bücher mit den alternativen Realitäten und Horrorzukunftsvisionen, kommt dieses Buch mit der Welt aus, die wir kennen. Auch wenn ich hiermit keineswegs andeuten will, dass das Buch langweilig ist. Mir hat „An Abundance of Katherines“ sehr gefallen. Punkt.

John Green Fans werden das Buch lieben! Eine kuriose Geschichte über einen Jungen, der schon 19 Freundinnen mit dem Namen Katherine hatte!

When we are talking about girls, Colin has only one type that he likes. Girls named Katherine. But he does not seem to be very successful with that, because each time he’s the one who gets dumped. So far there were 19 girls named Katherine who dumped him. To get over his broken heart he goes on a road trip with his best fried Hassan. Now he’s also on a mission to write a theorem that predicts how likely someone will dump someone. This is supposed to help predict any relationship and finally win him the girl. As a math geek myself I really liked the idea of a guy trying to find a theorem to predict relationships. Never would I have thought that the guy doing so is this annoying. Colin Singleton must be the most whiny person you can find. He knows that he is annoying and whiny but that does not make it any better. His best friend Hassan was only a small improvement. Supposedly he is the funny guy but most of his jokes were just truly bad. I mean he had his fun moments but there could definitely have been more of them. The plot itself was just plain boring. Nothing really exciting happened and I could not really see the characters evolve in any way. However I did enjoy some of the „useless knowledge“ that Colin provided and I also did like the theorem that he created. The rest was just not for me and so I can’t really recommend this book to anyone who’s looking for an enjoyable YA story.

When we are talking about girls, Colin has only one type that he likes. Girls named Katherine. But he does not seem to be very successful with that, because each time he’s the one who gets dumped. So far there were 19 girls named Katherine who dumped him. To get over his broken heart he goes on a road trip with his best fried Hassan. Now he’s also on a mission to write a theorem that predicts how likely someone will dump someone. This is supposed to help predict any relationship and finally win him the girl. As a math geek myself I really liked the idea of a guy trying to find a theorem to predict relationships. Never would I have thought that the guy doing so is this annoying. Colin Singleton must be the most whiny person you can find. He knows that he is annoying and whiny but that does not make it any better. His best friend Hassan was only a small improvement. Supposedly he is the funny guy but most of his jokes were just truly bad. I mean he had his fun moments but there could definitely have been more of them. The plot itself was just plain boring. Nothing really exciting happened and I could not really see the characters evolve in any way. However I did enjoy some of the „useless knowledge“ that Colin provided and I also did like the theorem that he created. The rest was just not for me and so I can’t really recommend this book to anyone who’s looking for an enjoyable YA story.