An Abundance of Katherines

by John Green

Hardcover, 2006

Status

Available

Call number

F Gre

Call number

F Gre

Barcode

730

Publication

Dutton Books (2006), Edition: 1st, 227 pages

Description

Having been recently dumped for the nineteenth time by a girl named Katherine, recent high school graduate and former child prodigy Colin sets off on a road trip with his best friend to try to find some new direction in life while also trying to create a mathematical formula to explain his relationships.

Original publication date

2006

User reviews

LibraryThing member elissajanine
I started reading An Abundance of Katherines a little hesitantly, wondering if it was going to be a super emotional, kick-you-in-the-stomach kind of read like Looking for Alaska, but right away it establishes a really light and sort of off-beat tone. The main character is a child prodigy who
Show More
worries that he isn't a genius. I mean, once a prodigy is no longer a child, well, all the other people catch up, and then he wouldn't be so special any more. Plus, he keeps getting dumped by girls named Katherine.

I really liked Colin Singleton, and his best friend Hassan. I got nervous when they went on a road trip because "Oh sh*t, that's what my book is about, and this one sounds all funny and quirky and whatever else," but their trip was so short it didn't really count.

Green does a nice job with characterization, and even though the dialogue sounded...um, not exactly forced but sometimes like he was trying awful hard to be clever and to keep that trendy YA voice, I genuinely found the main characters and their struggles interesting. I liked the Theory of Katherine Predictability (and yes, I read the appendix to see how it mathematically worked out) and the footnotes, and I like the way the book sort of comes around full circle in the end, to another road trip. Of course it's completely predictable the entire time that he's going to end up with the girl whose name is not Katherine, but it's all right, really, because she's pretty cool. And of course, the book implies that telling stories is the real way to matter in the world, and I'll all for that idea!
Show Less
LibraryThing member LiteraryFeline
John Green is one of those authors whose name keeps popping up on the blogosphere. I admit I didn't take much interest initially. Then my husband pointed me in the direction of John Green's blog and his video-reviews. Suddenly, I knew I had to read at least one John Green novel. But which one? Upon
Show More
Elizabeth's recommendation, I decided to start with An Abundance of Katherines. And what a treat it was!

I knew from his blog that John Green was a funny person and it comes through in his writing as well. What I especially liked about John Green's An Abundance of Katherines is that it was smart and funny. It was also an endearing story, one about two friends who have just graduated from high school: Colin Singleton, the prodigy with a penchant for anagrams, whose heart has been broken for the nineteenth time by the nineteenth Katherine, and Hassan, his always joking best friend who doesn't want to go to college despite the pressures from his family. Hassan suggests a road trip is in order that summer and the two friends head off, leaving behind Chicago. While Colin passed on the opportunity to see the world's largest crucifix in Kentucky, his curiosity got the better of him when he saw the sign for the Eternal Resting Place of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The two friends make their way to the small town of Gutshot, Tennessee as a result.

After a fall while on the way to the gravesite of the Archduke, Colin has the "Eureka!" moment he has been waiting for all his life. He is sure he can work out a mathematical equation to predict the outcome of any relationship. He calls it The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability.

Hassan and Colin agree to stick around Gutshot for a little while, after being offered a job and a place to stay. There they meet the beautiful chameleon Lindsay Lee Wells, her mother, Hollis, The Other Colin, and various other interesting characters.

Colin is not the easiest person to like, but then, he is more at home with facts and figures than he is with people. He can be very literal at times and occasionally comes across as self-centered. That self-centeredness stems more from insecurity, however, than arrogance. As smart as Colin is, he never quite believes he's good enough and needs constant reassurance.

His best friend, Hassan, on the other hand, is instantly likable. He is funny and charming. He offers a good balance to Colin. Whereas Colin takes life so seriously, Hassan has a tendency to do the opposite. Where Colin is driven, Hassan lacks ambition. At least on the surface.

The funniest moments in the novel involved both Colin and Hassan. I loved how they played off each other. The story itself was one I think many of us can relate to: the sting of heartbreak and the search for direction in our lives. Not everything always works out as we might hope, and sometimes the answers we are searching for are right in front of us. I enjoyed An Abundance of Katherines quite a bit and look forward to reading more by John Green in the future.

DFTBA fellow Nerdfighters!
Show Less
LibraryThing member HarlequinTwilight
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,
Show More
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!
Show Less
LibraryThing member melydia
I came into this expecting to love it, as I have loved every other John Green book I've read. And I did, though there were parts that hit uncomfortably close to home. Colin is a prodigy - that is, he learns and retains information extremely well and quickly. He is not necessarily, he maintains, a
Show More
genius (someone who comes up with truly original ideas). When the 19th Katherine in a row dumps him right after high school graduation, his hilarious friend Hassan takes him on a road trip that ultimately lands them in Gutshot, Tennessee. I picked out the love interest in about three nanoseconds, which was kind of annoying, but the characters themselves were so much fun it didn't really matter. I fell a little bit in love with Hassan, but that seems par for the course with me and Green's secondary characters. This book says a lot about self-centeredness and being special, lessons I took a long time to learn. In short, I wish I'd read this, like, fifteen years ago. Too bad Green is almost my same age, and probably hadn't learned these lessons yet fifteen years ago either. Oh well. I'll get a TARDIS and remedy this at some point, I'm sure.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Whisper1
Yet another book found in the Young adult section of my local library, but, this one is a lot more humorous than some previously read.

Dumped 19 times by Katherines, Colin Singleton, a recent high school graduate is a mesa plus genius who now struggles with the existential reality that there are two
Show More
types of knowledge, ie book learning and life experience.

While Colin is able to immediately site tid bits of irrelevant facts, he lacks social skills and thus has only one lone friend.

Fearful that all his prodigious abiltiies will come to naught and that he will not make a mark in society, with a broken heart from the recently failed relationship with Katherine #19, Colin and his friend Hassan take a long road trip.

Stopping in Gunshot Tennesse, they meet a lovely, spunky, intelligent young woman who lives in a pink mansion with her CEO mother of a factory that employs many of the local population.

Green's writing is creative and I enjoyed the way in which his words seemed to bounce, much as the old car driven by Calvin and Hassan along the southern roads.

The only negative is that I couldn't follow the teen age boy banter and exchanges. At times, this aspect of the book seemed forced and redundant.

If you are looking for a book wherein you don't have to think a lot and you want to laugh, then this is one for you.
Show Less
LibraryThing member ArmchairAuthor
This book was all over the place, it tried to handle too many issues in too small a space: heartbreak, maintaining self-worth in the face of unreasonable expectations, the problems with an apathetic approach to life, the perils of fitting in versus those of standing out, and it even shoehorned in a
Show More
few nods to loyalty and tradition. Nineteen girlfriends is quite a lot for a recent high school grad, even by Colin’s broad definition, and then when you add the conceit that they were all named Katherine (and with that spelling)! It’s a lot of disbelief to suspend. Especially when the dater of these nineteen Katherines is a completely self-absorbed whiner who has given his life to his studies. Thinking back on it I feel that John Green wrote a book around the idea presented by the math: an equation to predict relationship length. While he likes the math, the way he writes about it makes it clear he doesn’t really understand how it works, and that bothered me more than the abundance of footnotes. Colin’s anagramming habit did not bother me either, I had one myself when I was younger. The rest of the plot just doesn’t live up to the concept, and that’s a shame. Colin’s neuroses are hard to take for hundreds of pages with only a stereotypical in every way friend and a lackluster love interest to break through his self-doubt. There is a bit of high-drama at the end that just feels a little strange, because I didn’t really care for any of the characters and their already surreal situation. A lot of window-dressing on a rather dull story.
Show Less
LibraryThing member erinbreland
This book is a great book,of course, it was written by John Green. The boy in this book's name is Colin and he has just recently graduated from high school and been dumped by his 19th girlfriend named Katherine. And what i mean by that is that he has dated 19 girls all with the name Katherine. His
Show More
bestfriend whose name is HAssan, is a year older than him and has sat around for a whole year watching judge judy and did not go to college. After Hassan has to pick Colin up off the floor of his bedroom because he is too heartbroken to move, the two set off on a road trip. They end up in Gutshot, Tennessee where they meet the beautiful and multi-talented, Lindsey Lee Wells. She is the town tour guide and also an EMT in training. They stay in Gutshot for quite a while because Hollis who is Lindsey's mother asks the two boys to stay and help with a documentary she is making. She asks them to stay becasue she recognizes Colin off of a child genius show because when he was younger Colin's parents used to think that he was going to be a child prdigue, which he is a genius he speaks 12 languages, including Arabic. The adventures they have while in this town are awesome and make the book hard to put down most nights. I never give away the end of the book and even though i would like to i can't. This one is really worth reading.
I think that this book is just in general a great book to add to your classroom library, but the language is rather rough, so i would reccommend it for eith grade and up. The reading level is much lower than that but the language is just so bad. This book can be used to teach self-confidence and security, and I especially think that it would be a great book for seniors to read because it shows that although neither one of the boys knew what they were here for they still lived their lives or learned to live their lives despite what had and hadn't happened to them. They especially learned that the future is coming no matter what and you can not always help what happens when is does come.
I absolutley love this book. I can't decide if l like this one better or looking for alaska. I told everyone to read looking for alaska and i would say the same thing about this book. Needless to say i will always remember the auhor John Green and i will be reading more of his books. So i will keep everyone updated on the progress, if the books get better or worse, for now they are looking very good.
Show Less
LibraryThing member krau0098
I read Paper Towns by Green and absolutely loved it. So, I decided to read his previous books as well. This was a great coming-of-age/road trip story that was quirky and entertaining. A highly recommended read. I did like Paper Towns a bit better than this book, but this book was still a great
Show More
read.

Colin is a child prodigy; he learned to read at an incredibly early age, knows a magnitude of strange random facts, and is constantly anagramming in his head. He also has a quirky thing for Katherines; he has dated 19 of them and been dumped by them all. After being dumped by Katherine 19 he has fallen into a funk; his buddy Hassan decides what Colin needs is a road trip. So off they go on a road trip. Colin is determined to use the time on the road to develop a mathematical theorem that will predict how long a relationship will last.

This was a fun read. Full of interesting footnotes and quirky mathematical equations; as well as interesting characters. All of the characters are exceedingly well done. Green's writing is superb. He does a great job of putting a lot of interesting facts, a lot of quirkiness, great humor, and some coming of age lessons into this interesting read.

The book was very engaging; I never got bored. I liked all the funny facts that Colin knew, I also enjoyed Colin's struggle to work through the mathematics to predict the relationship equation.

There wasn't much that I didn't like about this book. But I did like Green's book Paper Towns better than this one, I think it is mainly the characters that make the difference. This book isn't quite as adventurous or mysterious as Paper Towns was. I never really liked Colin all that much, he was a bit self-centered...that made a difference in how I liked the book overall.

Overall this was a great read. I didn't like it as much as Paper Towns but it was close. I look forward to reading the only John Green book I haven't read yet "Looking for Alaska".
Show Less
LibraryThing member AmeKole
I wanted to like this more than I did. Young love can be enchanting, but I just couldn't identify with the main character and his issues. I understand the distinction between "prodigy" and "genius", but lord, please stop whining about it. And while you are at it, stop whining about you ex. It got
Show More
better towards the end, but at that point, I just didn't care.
Show Less
LibraryThing member SheReads
I was intrigued by this book. I think John Green was very clever and creative with the story. Who would have thought to bring math into romance. Then again who would think of dating 19 people with the same name. Sometimes the math is a little distracting and I found myself skimming over parts, but
Show More
over all I loved this book and would recommend it.
Show Less
LibraryThing member DF1A_SarahG
This was a really good book. I liked the main characters and their personalities a lot.
LibraryThing member mrsrallymonkey
I liked it; I didn't love it. I wish we'd seen more about the Katherines (we really only saw one). I also wish Green had fleshed out the idea that the narrator's various problems stemmed from his selfishness and his inability to trust anyone to like him. He brought it pretty close. I hope, though,
Show More
that this book is the kind of thing that makes YA geeks (cough, cough) feel like there's hope for love for them etc. It is a nice celebration of geekiness.
Show Less
LibraryThing member ALoyacano
This book is wonderful for any young man (or woman) who is tried of the typical teenage novel. The main character uses his brain throughout the whole novel instead of just his teenage instincts.
LibraryThing member BookinKim
Colin has an abundance of Katherines in his life. His story starts when the nineteenth Katherine that he has dated breaks his heart. Join Colin and his friend Hassan on the road trip that follows Colin's hearbreak. Will being a child prodigy allow Colin to figure out a mathematical equation to
Show More
explain and predict his love life? The humorous footnotes in this book keep the reading light, even for those of us who are not as mathematically inclined as Colin.
Show Less
LibraryThing member midnighttwilight101
Colin has dated 19 girls in his life, all named Katherine. And every time it was spelled exactly that way, not Kathryn, or Catherine, or any other variations. It wasn't intentional, some guys are attracted to blond hair, some are attracted to blue eyes, Colin is attracted to Katherines. But when
Show More
K19 breaks up with him Colin and his best friend Hassan go on a road trip hoping to bring Colin's spirit back up. Colin is a child prodigy, but he thinks it is all tapped out, prodigies don't always become genius's. But when he sees a sign for the grave of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand he decides to check it out. Colin then finds that a tiny town named Gutshot may be just the thing he needs to have his "eureka" moment.

Once again another amazing book by John Green. This was an awesome book about love and loss, and long math equations trying to graph the rise and fall of every relationship based on factors. Throughout this book every character learns things about themselves, and it rubs off on the reader a little bit. There is also a great interview with John Green in the back of the new edition.
Show Less
LibraryThing member SoccerGal
Colin finally graduated High School. Through out his years of schooling, he has dated 19 girls. The funny thing, though, is they all have the same name-Katherine. No Kate, not Katies. Katherine.

K-19 (as he calls her) broke up with him, leaving him desperate.

Colin and his best friend, Hassan, decide
Show More
to go on a road trip. What to find? They don't know!

Read An Abundance of Katherines and enter Colin's world.
Show Less
LibraryThing member hockeycrew
A fun story about a young adult child prodigy trying to find meaning in life after having been dumped by 19 girls named Katherine. I found it funny as the main character, Colin, tries to develop a formula that will determine who will dump who first.
LibraryThing member adge73
This story about how Colin (a former prodigy obsessed with facts, languages, and anagramming) copes with being dumped by his 19th Katherine. This is an excellent novel -- completely original and so well-told.
LibraryThing member tasha
This is the second book by the winner of the Printz Medal for Looking for Alaska. I know that he won the Printz for that book, but I enjoyed his second one even more. I always appreciate books for teens that have a great sense of humor, because it is that humor that will get kids through those
Show More
years of angst and hormones.

Colin has just been dumped by the 19th girl named Katherine he has dated. He feels like a piece of himself has gone missing and that he has no idea how to find it. His best friend, Hassan, forces Colin on a road trip to help take his mind off of his depression. They find themselves in Gutshot, Tennessee visiting the grave of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Why? Because Colin is a child-prodigy who enjoys collecting facts. But he considers himself a failed prodigy because he has yet to do anything remarkable. The two boys discover much more than a monument in Gutshot in this funny novel filled with swearing in several languages, fascinating factoids in footnotes, and a theorem that just may predict if relationships will thrive or fail.

Green's humor will have you laughing outloud. Truly. The wild pig hunting scene had me doubled over laughing as I tried to continue to read, only to start guffawing again. To pay it the ultimate compliment, it rivaled Gary Paulsen's Harris and Me. Thoughout the book readers will find little gems of humor that beg to be read aloud and shared. I think this will be the type of book passed from one teen to the other just to enjoy a good laugh together.

Even better, the book is not just funny, but also has insights into being popular, accepting your own strangeness, and realizing that to be different does not mean that you are alone. This is a book for all real teens out there. It will speak to them and they will see themselves somewhere in the pages looking back. Simply great.
Show Less
LibraryThing member abbylibrarian
John Green does it again. In order to get over his girlfriend who broke his heart, Colin Singleton goes on a road trip with his best friend Hassan. They end up in Gutshot, TN where they meet the beautiful and sweet Lindsay Lee Wells (who, of course, has a boyfriend). Colin, who has dated (and been
Show More
dumped by) 19 Katherines and was a child progidy, begins to work on a theorem that will predict how long a relationship will last. The cast of quirky characters, as well as John Green's dorky footnotes, make the story charming and amusing. I love it!
Show Less
LibraryThing member Runa
Oh. Wow. That was amazing. Snappy writing, footnotes (!!), math, humor humor humor, love, Theorems, a total formula for success. It's the most natural-sounding book I have ever read. EVER. Random thoughts while reading: I loved that Colin had a Muslim friend, albeit a very non-practicing one, but
Show More
still, I thought it was pretty cool. You just don't see that in books, especially YA books, and it was quite refreshing. I want Colin as my best friend. Seriously, he's perfectly sensitive and clingy and basically my soul mate, got it? The thing with the Katherines was without a doubt, pure genius. Amazing. Amazing amazing amazing. I thought for sure that Colin had made the Katherines up, or that they were all the same person, but nope, all but K1 and K19 were different Katherines, stunning! The story of Katherine the third was also quite intriguing, and you could see that coming without seeing it coming. (There's another point to bring up: the totally wonderful unpredictability of the book! Who'd have thought they end up in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere and enjoy themselves, not to mention, entertain the reader the whole way through?!) The anagrams were brilliant, although please tell me I wasn't the only one who noticed that they totally weren't around in the middle, that was saddening. Actually, the middle didn't have as many awesome footnotes either. Weird. And the footnotes! Random facts FTW, am I not right? I was wiki-ing stuff left and right, and knew that the Archbishop Franz Ferdinand was not buried there :D I wish we'd gotten more of the Katherine stories though. I was terribly glad that we got at least a paragraph for each, but still, in-depth Katherine stories, what an amazing book that would make. Prequel anyone? Oh, and the best quote ever? "You can love someone so much, but you can never love people as much as you can miss them." So strikingly true
Show Less
LibraryThing member km3scott
Colin Singleton has only dated girls named Katherine. Not that he's really had any success-he's been dumped nineteen times. This story begins the nineteenth time. Colin's friend Hassan suggests a road trip as the cure for Colin's despair. Their journey takes them to Gutshot, Tennessee. Here they
Show More
find jobs, relationships, and some pretty crazy adventures.Colin also creates his "Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictiblity", which is one crazy math equation. John Green creates characters who deal with questions we all face: Will I find love and acceptance in this world? And can I love and accept myself? completed 2/07
Show Less
LibraryThing member Jenson_AKA_DL
Colin is a child prodigy on the cusp of adulthood. The knowledge that he has not become the genius he wanted to be along with his recent breakup with Katherine XIX has left Colin despondent. So, when his best (and only) friend Hassan suggests a road trip Colin is willing to let himself get talked
Show More
into going. What Colin doesn't expect is that this road trip will end rather abruptly and may lead to exactly what he was waiting for all along. Could it be that Colin has found his Eureka Moment and his missing piece all in one unusual place?

As he did in Looking for Alaska John Green has created an unusual central character with a one of a kind fixation, in the case of Colin, An Abundance of ex-girlfriends all named Katherine. However, I really enjoyed all the characters in this story much more than I did the ones in Alaska. Hassan made a perfect sidekick and foil for the overly studious, serious Colin. I also really enjoyed Lindsey's character and the relationship that she had with her mother. Parts of the story made me smile, especially the scene with the hog and the wasps. I also found all the trivia, footnotes and math (which I didn't really understand at all) to be fascinating. The only thing I didn't really like is during some of the conversations it was too easy to lose track of who was saying what which meant a lot of retracing what I had already read. Although contemporary stories will probably never rate as favorites for me, I enjoyed this book and would be happy to read more of Mr. Green's clever tales in the future.
Show Less
LibraryThing member laserxlemon
Technical, honest, and deceptive in the best sense of the word.. this book was everything I wanted it to be. Filled with interesting characters, foreign languages, and a very interesting final twist.
LibraryThing member nbmars
Those who have read The Fault in Our Stars will recognize the main theme of this book: the desire to matter; to make a mark on the world. What’s interesting is that the resolution of the protagonist’s existential angst in this story is quite different from that expressed in The Fault in Our
Show More
Stars.

The book begins on the day after high school graduation for Colin Singleton, age 17 and “noted child prodigy” obsessed with making anagrams. He has just been dumped for the nineteenth time by a girl named Katherine. Colin is weepy and morose and self-absorbed. As he says to his one friend, Hassan:

"Oh my God, I’m alone again. And not only that, but I’m a total failure in case you haven’t noticed. I’m washed up, I’m former. Formerly the boyfriend of Katherine XIX. Formerly a prodigy. Formerly full of potential. Currently full of sh*t.”

Hassan (who introduces himself to people as “Hassan Harbish. Sunni Muslim. Not a terrorist.”) decides what Colin needs is a road trip, and they take off for points south.

In Gutshot, Tennessee, they stop to see the alleged burial site of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and meet up with the Wells family. Lindsey Lee Wells, 17, is the tour guide for the gravesite, and her mom, Hollis, is the owner of the only factory in Gutshot. Hollis offers the two boys a job interviewing workers in the factory, and provides them with room and board as well in her big pink mansion on a hill. Before long, Hassan is dating Lindsey’s hot girlfriend Katrina, and Lindsey is helping Colin refine his mathematical Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability. More importantly, Lindsey is teaching Colin how to tell a story that will affect another person, and Colin is learning that there is more than one way to “matter” than to be famous.

Discussion: I love the questions about the meaning of life raised by Green in his books. For example, Hassan loves to watch Judge Judy, and Colin takes issue with him:

"…he just didn’t get Hassan’s apathy. What is the point of being alive if you don’t at least try to do something remarkable? How very odd, to believe God gave you life, and yet not think that life asks more of you than watching TV.”

(On the author’s website, there is this Q and A exchange over that quote):

"Q. Are you aware that the quotation, “What is the point of being alive if you don’t at least try to do something remarkable?” has been quoted more than ten thousand times on twitter?

A. Yes, I am aware. For the record, I think there are many meanings to a life that is not lived in pursuit of the remarkable. Life is a series of very small gestures and that if you ignore those little gestures in pursuit of some ill-thought-out vision of greatness, you stand a fair chance of ending up really unhappy and also historically unhelpful regardless of whether you meet your constructed definition of remarkability. (Let us think, for instance, of Kim Kardashian.) But, I mean, Colin does say that in the novel. I do wish twitter would attribute the quote to him and not to me, though. :)"

Evaluation: Green’s writing is delightful, and he is a master at channeling very smart, nerdy, pretentious teenage boys, as well as their friends and their girlfriends. This book has a number of footnotes, which makes it even more fun. But Green does more than just tell you a story: he makes you think about all kinds of things, and (in both books reviewed on this blog) makes a convincing argument about how important stories are to changing the reader, and maybe even changing the world.
Show Less

Rating

½ (2655 ratings; 3.8)

Pages

227
Page: 3.2175 seconds