An Abundance of Katherines

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green, 2006 Dutton Books

     Colin Singleton has graduated high school and his girlfriend (the nineteenth) Katherine has dumped him. Colin's claim to fame, other than the number of Katherine's he's dated, is his propensity for anagrams and status as a child prodigy. After winning a televised competition Colin has funding to do whatever he'd like to get over this latest breakup.
     Hassan is Colin's best friend; the one who reminds Colin which subjects are uninteresting and what is interesting. Hassan is also an avid fan of Judge Judy and has decided to live off his allowance for the foreseeable future, despite the smarts to be accepted to North America's most selective universities and colleges.
     When Hassan suggests a roadtrip to get Colin over the latest breakup the two friends put Colin's winnings to good use--anything to get Colin back to himself, but no Katherines. Starting in Chicago and heading southeast across the United States the boys end up in small town Gutshot, Tennessee where they meet Lindsey Lee Wells. Lindsey helps her mother run the local store and is the town's darling.
     Colin and Hassan decide to stick around for a while - Lindsey's mother offers to pay them to collect the verbal history. While the boys work, sometimes with and sometimes without Lindsey, they find themselves partaking in the local pastimes. Colin begins a mission to find the Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability which will predict any relationship and bring justice to all dumpees everywhere.
     Examining his past relationships highlights the quirky nature of childhood love and young romance and teaches Colin that not everything is as simple as it appears. Colin, Hassan, and Lindsey turn a post-graduation, post-breakup road trip into a foray into new culture and possibly new romance.
     The three become friends as they learn to move away from the comfortable of home and childhood and into ever-changing adulthood. Written for teens and young adults, readers of all ages can enjoy the humor and somewhat sardonic tone which balances Colin's human- and emotion-centric search for an answer with complex mathematical rationale.