An Abundance of Katherines

This is the second Young Adult novel I've read by John Green, the first being The Fault in our Stars. It's completely different but just as enjoyable (in a different way). Green is probably the best of his generation at capturing young adult idiosyncrasies (sort of like John Hughes was with his movies), and he writes characters that are interesting while not being sort of traditionally attractive.

Colin Singleton is a nerdy prodigy who, upon graduating from high school in Chicago, is dumped by his 19th girlfriend named Katherine. Yes, always Katherine, always spelled that way. His friend Hassan decides that the only thing to pull Colin out of his funk is a road trip, so they hit the road with no particular destination in mind. When they see a sign advertising the tomb of Franz Ferdinand -- in Gutshot, Tennessee of all places -- the boys have to check it out. They wind up making friends with Lindsey, who's mother owns the textile factory in town, and get offered jobs and a place to stay.

The writing is witty, the characters are interesting, and the story is really well told. My only real problem with it is I felt that it ended very abruptly. I would have liked to have had a few more things worked out before the end. But it was a really great read.

An Abundance of Katherines