An Abundance of Katherines
By: John Green
Award: Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book
Summary:
Colin Singleton is a child prodigy. Katherine XIX has just recently dumped Colin. Colin’s friend, Hassan, comes over to Colin’s house. He tries to talk him into getting over the break up and moving on, but Colin explains to him that he feels like nothing when he isn’t with Katherine. While talking to Hassan, Colin decides that a trip with Hassan might solve his problems. It was difficult to convince both of their parents to let them go, but they told them that Colin needs this vacation and promised them they would both get a job. Colin decides that he will drive. While driving, he realizes that someone always has to be the dumpee, and the other…show more content… At moments, he is self-conscious about his body figure. In the beginning of the book, he makes jokes all the time. Hassan can never really take anything seriously. Many people have encouraged Hassan to attend college, but he thinks that it is a waste of time. When he is told about Hollis’s business disaster at the end of the book, Hassan realizes that he really isn’t a doer like Hollis. He sees now that he is a no doer. By the end of the book, he has made a decision to become a better person. He helps Hollis with all the work she has to do to keep her business ruining. He has also decided to attend college. His personality has become less humorous and a little more…show more content… He is trying to figure out a way to get over Katherine the XIX. In the beginning of the book, he doesn’t know who he is without Katherine the XIX. Colin also wants to figure out how to become somebody that people will remember. Colin decides that a trip is the solution to figuring all these things out. During his stay at Lindsey’s house, he solves all of his problems by the end of the book. He no longer has feelings for Katherine the XIX, and Lindsey and him start dating. He has gotten over his streak of getting dumped by Katherines. Colin also realizes that even if he was famous, he would eventually be forgotten by people. He is content with how things are going and isn’t worried about the future.
Reflection
Recommendation- I wouldn’t recommend this book to people. I think there are better books to be read by people. The book was really slow moving. Nothing interesting happened until over half way through the book. I thought it was hard to stay focused while reading. The beginning didn’t really grab my attention.
Changes/weaknesses- I would change the beginning of the book. I thought the book started off weak. The flashbacks telling the story of each Katherine was kind of confusing. The transitions from present tense to past tense was hard to recognize. The number of Katherines that Colin dated was also a weakness of the book. It was difficult to keep each Katherine straight from one