Tuesday, February 12, 2008

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

This book was absolutely captivating and well-written. Everything about it just fit together so well. Green did an excellent job of both characterization and scene-setting.

Colin has just finished high school and been dumped by his 19th girlfriend named Katherine. He's at a loss of how to spend his summer when his best friend Hassan proposes a road trip. They end up in the hick town of Gutshot, Tennessee, where they decide to settle down for a while.

The thing is, the author could have written any series of adventures for these characters and it would have been equally as entertaining. Colin's a former child prodigy who feels that since he has outgrown his prodigy-hood, he has nothing else interesting or unique to show the world. To me it seemed like he had a touch of Asperger's, but that is never mentioned in the book. Hassan is his devout-Muslim-when-it-suits-him friend who graduated from high school a year prior and although he's smart, he specializes in laziness. He's the fat funny kid. The author does really well at showing people's common insecurities, and he effectively deals with the theme of being able to be yourself. All the main characters deal with some form of this issue.

I would absolutely love to read a sequel to this book- I just want to know more about Colin's life and see how things turn out for him.

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