Submitted by Gerti
I’m
not sure if this book is supposed to be for adults or young adults,
but John Green’s “An Abundance of Katherines” has a charming
pre-college narrator who has a bright, contemporary voice. His
tortured tales of teen romance took me back to my own glory days.
Colin Singleton is a child prodigy who is working hard on becoming a
genius, and in his spare time, he romances 18 different women with
the same first name. That is just one of the quirks about Colin that
makes him such a delightful narrator, even though he is busy trying
to survive his breakup with Katherine 19. It’s that breakup that
precipitates a road trip of self discovery, as he and his best (only)
friend Hassan head down I-65 from Chicago to take Colin’s mind off
his heart.
Colin
spends his time (while trying not to focus on his latest breakup) by
coming up with a mathematical formula that will predict the course of
any relationship, based on such factors as a person’s sex, and
whether the person asking is more likely to be the dumper or the
dumpee when it all falls apart. In the tiny roadside berg of
Gutshot,Tennessee, Colin and Hassan meet an equally charming and
quirky girl named Lindsey who shows them the grave of Franz
Ferdinand, the famous Hapsburg whose assassination in 1914 lead to
the start of World War I. When her mother offers them a summer job
interviewing the locals to help her write a history of the town, the
boys decide to stay.
Of
course, Colin falls in love with the girl who by virtue of being a
Lindsey breaks him out of his Katherine rut. He also comes out of his
geeky, fame-driven shell and does things he could never imagine doing
before during his sheltered and dysfunctional upbringing, like wild
hog hunting with a 12-gage shotgun. Hassan, who is a Muslim, also
does a number of things that are not haram,
including kissing a girl
and drinking beer. So at its heart, this is a coming of age novel
involving both of the boys, which is certainly a classic form when
writing about teens. But as opposed to reading something by a dead
author like Thomas Mann, this bildungsroman
is as light and fluffy as
meringue and as contemporary as a gluten allergy. In fact, so many of
Green’s characters grow and change during this novel that it is as
refreshing as a hit of wasabi as we watch these characters to whom
we’ve formed an attachment become more alive and real every minute.
You almost expect them to step off the page and show up outside your
door, ready to eat cheeseburgers and watch Judge
Judy.
I
don’t know what the Printz medal is, but after having read this
book, I fully believe that John Green deserved to win it with this
charming, easy-to-read novel that will take all its readers to the
heart of what it means to be young, smart and in love. I can’t wait
to read more by Green, and imagine that this book is destined to
become a movie.
Just so you know the Printz medal: The Michael L. Printz Award annually honors the best book written for teens, based entirely on its literary merit, each year. To read more about it click Here
