Books › An Abundance of Katherines
An Abundance of Katherines
First published 2006 · 576 pages
A nerdy, footnote-heavy summer road trip about graphing the trajectory of heartbreak and learning to live outside your own head.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like riding shotgun on a sweltering summer road trip with your smartest, most exhausting, and most endearing friend. It is a brisk, dialogue-driven comedy that balances hyper-intellectual trivia with deeply relatable teenage angst. The prose is distinctly quirky, heavily annotated with footnotes, anagrams, and mathematical graphs that perfectly capture the protagonist's desperate attempt to quantify human emotion. Beneath the wry humor and rapid-fire banter lies a tender exploration of the burden of potential and the fear of not mattering. It is a sun-drenched, nostalgic read that will delight chronic overthinkers, math nerds, and anyone who has ever tried to logic their way out of a broken heart, ultimately offering a warm embrace of beautiful, unpredictable mediocrity.
- Mood
- quirky
- nostalgic
- sun-drenched
- lighthearted
- Tone
- wry
- nerdy
- self-deprecating
- earnest
- humorous
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- the burden of potential · moving on from heartbreak · the search for meaning · platonic friendship · reinventing oneself
- The writing
- Witty and dialogue-heavy, peppered with footnotes, anagrams, and mathematical graphs that highlight a hyper-intellectual but emotionally stunted worldview.
- The arc
- From obsessive, self-centered heartbreak and a desperate need to be special to a grounded acceptance of ordinary, messy reality.
- Who it's for
- Chronic overthinkers and trivia nerds who appreciate a mix of math jokes, road trip shenanigans, and coming-of-age angst.
Content notes
- mild language
- underage drinking
About the book
Katherine V thought boys were gross Katherine X just wanted to be friends Katherine XVIII dumped him in an e-mail K-19 broke his heart
When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton's type happens to be girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact.
On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washed-up child prodigy has ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a bloodthirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight, Judge Judy-loving best friend riding shotgun--but no Katherines. Colin is on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avenge Dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl.
Love, friendship, and a dead Austro-Hungarian archduke add up to surprising and heart-changing conclusions in this ingeniously layered comic novel about reinventing oneself.
Description from Open Library.
Books like An Abundance of Katherines
See why they match
Turtles All the Way DownJohn GreenAn intensely intimate, philosophical dive into the claustrophobia of the mind, anchored by the fierce, messy bonds of teenage friendship.
Will Grayson, Will GraysonJohn Green and David LevithanA chaotic, big-hearted collision of teenage angst and theatrical joy that celebrates the messy reality of finding your people.
The Realm of PossibilityDavid LevithanA tender, kaleidoscopic exploration of teenage life told through a chorus of poetic voices.
Eleanor & ParkRainbow RowellA tender, mixtape-fueled exploration of first love that feels as visceral and fragile as a bruised heart.
FangirlRainbow RowellA warm, witty ode to the introverts who live their best lives online but are slowly learning to brave the real world.
Anna and the French KissStephanie PerkinsA cinematic, banter-filled love letter to Paris and the dizzying, agonizing thrill of an all-consuming crush.