“What is the point of being alive if you don’t at least try to do something remarkable?” This is one of the few dilemmas Colin Singleton faces in John Green’s coming-of-age young adult novel An Abundance of Katherines. Colin is an anagram-loving seventeen-year-old boy who has a deep love for girls named Katherine. He was a child-prodigy with an IQ of over 200, and now he struggles with his individuality and what his future holds for him, and whether that means he will be declared a genius. After being dumped by his girlfriend Katherine XIX, Colin is longing to feel whole and longing to matter. He and his Judge Judy-loving best friend Hassan embark on a road trip to seek out Colin’s purpose and proof of his individuality, and on the way befriend Lindsey Lee Wells, who plays in integral role in
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In a blog post, Green wrote that the novel "needed to be written in third person, because it's about a guy whose brain does not lend itself to narratives, and who struggles to tell stories in ways other people find interesting." The story includes many footnotes that become an essential part to understanding Colin's brain and how it works. The young adult novelist has stated that the footnotes function as a kind of competing narrative that comments upon and problematizes the central narrative." An Abundance of Katherines includes many mathematical terms and academic language, and with the footnotes and the appendix, Green gives his readers "a way of attempting to achieve precision and clarity" of the story in general, but more specifically, Colin's mind. The book consists of 19 chapters to highlight the number 19 because Colin has dated 19 girls named Katherine and that is where the cycle ends. These chapters include Colin's flashbacks, which are "meant to reflect the relationship readers have between chronological narrative and emotional narrative" and are presented in a non-linear
In a blog post, Green wrote that the novel "needed to be written in third person, because it's about a guy whose brain does not lend itself to narratives, and who struggles to tell stories in ways other people find interesting." The story includes many footnotes that become an essential part to understanding Colin's brain and how it works. The young adult novelist has stated that the footnotes function as a kind of competing narrative that comments upon and problematizes the central narrative." An Abundance of Katherines includes many mathematical terms and academic language, and with the footnotes and the appendix, Green gives his readers "a way of attempting to achieve precision and clarity" of the story in general, but more specifically, Colin's mind. The book consists of 19 chapters to highlight the number 19 because Colin has dated 19 girls named Katherine and that is where the cycle ends. These chapters include Colin's flashbacks, which are "meant to reflect the relationship readers have between chronological narrative and emotional narrative" and are presented in a non-linear