Abundance of Katherines

by John Green

[clementine]

Hmm. As usual, I did like Katherines better the second time around, although it's still easily my least favourite of John Green's books. It's his characterization that makes him so compelling to me - his plots are fun enough, but are rarely anything spectacular. It's the exploration of his characters - and their development - that I really like.

Colin isn't a very sympathetic narrator. He's whiny and annoying, and aside from that and "really fucking smart", I don't know what personality he really has. As usual, the main character's best friend ended up being a highlight. Lindsey I did like - she was interesting, and I liked that she was presented as a ditz at the beginning but very quickly becomes likeable and interesting. The other supporting characters are less good. The Other Colin, in particular, was such a stereotypical meathead, and Katrina was nothing other than "The girl who cheats with her best friend's boyfriend."

I love the premise for this book, and I feel like it wasn't explored enough. The road trip and subsequent arrival in Gutshot was fine, but it seemed like wasting the idea of the 19 Katherines. I mean, the backstory was given, and it was important in terms of the Theorum, but I felt like there were two separate stories that weren't super successfully merged.

However, it was, as always, funny - John Green does that well. The dialogue was snappy, the descriptions were interesting, and it was just generally a quick and engaging read. I think I would like this book more if it weren't by John Green. It's just that I know he can do better - and I don't even mean with his tearjerkers. Will Grayson, Will Grayson and Paper Towns were much less serious than LFA and TFiOS, and they were great. Katherines is not great. If I could give half ratings, I would give this 3.5. I'm rounding down because I just do not think it deserves 4.