Impulse Library Picks (1)

Hello All,

I have been taking summer classes at a nearby school, so "fun reading" isn't as abundant as I had anticipated.  I have, so far, read a few novels, so I've got at least a few quick posts to do until I'm finished with my next book.

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

I came to this book partly because I happened upon it in the library and hadn't found enough other books on the journey.  Don't get me wrong, I love John Green's work.  The Fault in Our Stars made me cry.  Katherines was the last solo novel of Green's that I had not read, mostly because every source I'd found had told me that it was the weakest of his books.  After reading it, I'm not entirely sure that I would agree.

Part 1:  The Plot
    Very simply, this is a "rebound" story.  The main character (Colin) is dumped by his girlfriend (Katherine, as you might have guessed).  He is miserable and his best friend really wants to help, so they road trip.  As the story progresses, we see various stages of Colin's life - his history with Katherines, his relationship with his intelligence, his relationship with his peers, and his ambitions in life.
    Colin makes it very clear that he was a child prodigy, but not quite a genius.  This prompts Colin to struggle towards genius status.  He is wrapped up in the idea that he needs to work harder to prove to those around him that he hasn't let them down, hasn't wasted his potential.  To accomplish this, Colin believes that he needs to make a big discovery and leave his mark on the academic world.
    While on his road trip, Colin insists on stopping at a landmark in a small Southern town.  This "quick stop" becomes a road-trip-halting stay with the owner of the biggest job-producer in town, a factory.  Colin and his friend stay at this house and work to collect the history of the town from various sources.  There is love, emotional growth, betrayal, and attempts at hunting.

Part 2:  The Katherines
    To be perfectly honest, the plot piece that I found least convincing whenever I heard the book described was that the main character only dates girls named Katherine.  It seemed very contrived and silly out of context.  Okay, it is also contrived and silly in context as well.
    Turning that around, though, do not let that silliness stop you from reading the book.   
    In my opinion, Colin's history with girls named Katherine is part of his attempt to become something greater than himself.  The first girl to become interested in him was named Katherine, and they met because her father worked with Colin in his studies.  This time in his life is deeply tied to his prodigy status.  He is taking special lessons and is constantly aware that he is different from his peers.  As he grows older, the fear that he is losing his edge is ever-present.  He has dated a few girls named Katherine, and then it becomes an obsession.  He will only date a girl if her name is Katherine.
    As Colin grows older, and loses his "prodigy" label, he is worried that he won't be able to become a genius.  He sees no way that he can control that fate - he isn't able to force himself to have a brilliant idea that will land him in the history books of academia.  He can't keep himself from changing in that aspect, but he can keep one thing constant - he can date girls named Katherine.
    Although it seemed like a silly plot point at first, the whole "dating Katherines" aspect of the book has really grown on me.    

Part 3:  The Formula
    While on his trip, and still sulking about the loss of his most recent Katherine, Colin thinks he can finally make his Major Contribution - the thing that will propel him squarely into the role of Genius.  Colin tries to think up a way to mathematically graph the course of any relationship.  He assigns values to various personality aspects to the two people entering into a relationship and uses those numbers to predict how long the relationship will last and which person will be dumped at the end.  Once he starts this idea, he gets hooked.  He perfects it to fit all of his past relationships, and it is almost ready to release the formula and earn recognition, when all of the events of the summer come together and click into place.  Colin has done a great job of mapping his past, but just as his past as a prodigy cannot predict his future (will he be the genius he has always wanted to be, or will he hit the ceiling of his intelligence and live his life as an average citizen?), taking bits and pieces of a person's previous relationships cannot be used to predict how they will act in the future.  There is no way for a person to use math to predict the future of a relationship, just as there is no way for Colin to force himself into the history books. 

Part 4:  The Message
    Colin is a very interesting character, and very unique.  He has a lot of quirks, but the most universally relate-able part about him is his need to be remembered.  He doesn't want to be just an average person - he needs to be better, be smarter, and be important.  Colin fears being left behind and forgotten, so he pushes himself to work harder and be better, and this is something that everyone struggles with.
    It takes a trip to an unknown town to teach Colin that to live is enough - he doesn't have to do anything extraordinary for his life to have meaning.  This story is about how Colin gains his confidence, and seeing Colin outgrow his old perceptions of himself and society, and to find his new place in his world. 
 
The book is not a very difficult read, but well worth the time you put into it.  I found myself laughing out loud a lot throughout the book, and I definitely recommend it.

Until next time.