The book An Abundance of Katherines by John Green is a witty story about a child prodigy named Colin Singleton. Colin is best friends with a boy named Hassan. Colin has been broken up by 19 different girls named Katherine in a row. Being a genius, he feels as if there is a mathematical reason behind this streak. He spends most of his spare time trying to figure out a mathematical theorem behind him being broken up by nineteen Katherines consecutively. Right after high school graduation, him and Hassan decide to take a spontaneous road trip. They ended up in a small rural town called Gutshot, Tennessee. Once they were there they met a woman named Hollis and her daughter Lindsey. Hollis allowed the two boys to stay in her large house as long as they worked for her. They stayed and befriended Lindsey and her friends. Meanwhile, Colin is still working hard at figuring out his theorem.

The theme of this novel is more of a life lesson. Colin continuously is trying to resolve his theorem. This makes him very stressed often and he is always thinking really hard and writing notes and doing math problems. This makes his over all person constantly stressed out. His friend Hassan notices this and says things about it to Colin. Colin needs to learn to just let life happen and that he can’t figure out life from a mathematical equation but needs to leave room for surprises. He tries to learn to just let things happen and not constantly be stressed about figuring out and every little detail of his life.

The book is an easy read and lighthearted. The story had a good and intriguing plot. There were unique and well thought out characters. Points in the book were still very boring. There was too much mention of Colin’s theorem which would bore most, as it did me. The book has John Green’s usual wit in it, which is definitely a good thing.

John Green is my favorite author, but this is the least favorite of my books of his. Green uses many footnotes and anagrams in his writing of this book, which could be very distracting. John Green says that he himself loves to anagram. Green uses an actual theorem in the book, which I found interesting. He created it with the help of Daniel Bliss, 28 year old assistant professor at University of Chicago and research fellow at a mathematics institute. The book builds up as if to something great, and then I looked at the ending as more of an anti climax. The book could have had way more action in a lot of it’s scenes.

Over all, I would rate the book probably a 6 or 7 out of 10. I feel as if it had so much potential that there could have been more done with it. John Green’s unique writing style was still evident throughout the book though, which definitely helped to make it a more appealing read. I would suggest this to be a read that is not one you would jump to grab off of the shelves, but one where if you should find time then you should definitely look into reading to form your own opinion. A certain type of person might enjoy this book very much.