An Abundance of Katherines is John Green's second novel. This book follows Colin Halter, a washed up child prodigy who has recently been broken up with by his nineteenth girlfriend. As alluded to in the title, her name (as were the names of the eighteen before her) was Katherine. Sulking, Colin is visited by his best friend Hassan, an overweight, Muslim boy a year older who has no ambitions. Hassan deems that the only way to cheer Colin up is to take him on a roadtrip.As do all road trips, this comes to a stop in a rural town populated with nice people who were born in the town and will die in the town. They all work in a textiles factory owned by one of the residents, and unbeknownst to them, the factory is becoming less and less needed. Colin meets Lindsey, the daughter of the factory owner (to whom he is attracted, but refuses to let himself completely acknowledge because her name isn't Katherine). Lindsey finds Colin's infatuations with Katherines funny. They become friends and her mother hires both Colin and Hassan to interview the townsfolk who work at the factory. In working with Lindsey, Colin grows more and more attracted to her, but alas, she is unattainable-- she has a boyfriend named Colin.
While somewhat sloppy and a little rambly, Katherines holds better as an interesting read than Green's first book, Looking for Alaska. Colin can be relatable and though he has little to no personality, he has some interesting tidbits of information and his relationship with Hassan deals with the fact that Hassan is a sidekick. (Theme to watch for in Green's work: sidekicks.)
A short note: Colin is half Jewish. It is brought up many times by Hassan and Colin, though the fact that Colin is half Jewish doesn't affect the plot or do really anything for the story. But being fully Jewish, I noticed something. John Green isn't Jewish. Jews only refer to their fabulously puffy hair as Jew-Fros when they are in the presence of people who will find it funny. Usually those people are other Jewish teenagers, because it's a little obnoxious to constantly be calling it something that might be offensive to sensitive people. John Green uses the word "Jew-Fro" in the book a total number of seven(7) times. In dialogue, and in descriptions. I think that this is way more than enough. I've read many Jewish books by Jewish authers about Jewish teenagers for Jewish teenagers and the term Jew-Fro has only turned up once. In all of the books put together. Using slang in such a way when it isn't in character and when it doesn't further the story is taboo and just plain ridiculous.
Overall, this book is a half thumb up. It's a little hard to get through and should have been much shorter.
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-LL
