Green, John. An Abundance of Katherines. New York: Dutton Books, 2006
“When it comes to girls (and in Colin’s case, it so often did), everyone has a type. Colin Singleton’s type was not physical but linguistic: he liked Katherines. And not Katies or Kats or Kitties or Cathys or Rynns or Trinas or Kays or Kates or, God forbid, Catherines. K-A-T-H-E-R-I-N-E. He had dated nineteen girls. All of them had been named Katherine. And all of them—every single solitary one—had dumped him.” (p. 15)
When his heart is broken by Katherine XIX right after he graduates from high school, Colin’s friend Hassan convinces him to go on a road trip to cheer him up. The pair land summer jobs in Gutshot, Tennessee, a middle-of-nowhere town with boring tours to the grave of European Archduke Franz Ferdinand, a former reputation for illegal prize fighting, and Lindsey Lee Wells—a beautiful, funny, intelligent girl. Who already has a boyfriend.
But Colin’s problems are not limited to his…shall we say, unique…love life. He is also a former child prodigy who doesn’t understand why it’s not cool to talk about his pupillary sphincter. (I’ll let you all read to find out about that one.) Like many former child stars and prodigies, he is finding out exactly how painful that “former”-ness is. And he is determined to leave his mark on the world by inventing a mathematical theorem to predict the success or failure of romantic relationships. Care to find out how successful he is?
