"An Abundance of Katherines" by John Green

227 pages

By his own definition, Colin Singleton is a prodigy. His peers says he's a genius, but he insists that he's not because he hasn't created or discovered anything new. He has potential, though, and his biggest desire is to matter. He wants to use his potential for something important. His biggest weakness and distraction, however, is Katherines. Katherines are his type. He's dated and been dumped by nineteen--yes, nineteen!--Katherines. The latest, K19 (Katherine the 19th), was the love of his life and their break-up left him devastated. To get him out of his funk, his best pal, Hassan, decides to take Colin on a road trip. Without an itinerary or even a destination, the boys head south from Chicago and eventually end up in Gutshot, Tennessee, where they meet Lindsey Lee Wells and her gregarious mother, Hollis, who offers the boys summer jobs in the tampon string factory she owns. City boys Colin and Hassan are totally out of their element in tiny, rural Gutshot, but they stick around and discover that the little town might have something to teach them after all.

I really, really love the way John Green writes. He has such a goofy but also insightful way of telling a story. There's not a lot of action in An Abundance of Katherines, and although I tend to favor fast-paced books I have to admit that this story really doesn't need it. The characters more than make up for any lack of excitement. Colin is someone who, I bet, would be totally annoying in real life but is endearing on paper. He's neurotic and nerdy and sometimes self-absorbed, but I think everyone can relate to him in some way. He's much smarter than the average person, but he feels like it's not enough and I definitely know what it's like to think I'll never meet my own expectations. Hassan, my favorite, is the comic relief. He totally cracks me up, but you can tell that he also has a lot of heart in the way that he looks out for Colin. He's got some issues of his own, though, as he can't seem to grow up. Then there's Lindsey, who can't figure out who she really is (who can't relate to that?) and the rest of the residents of Gutshot, who are hilarious. Although the conclusion is pretty predictable, I didn't care. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and watching them grow so much that it didn't matter to me.