An Abundance of Katherines
15 Jul 2009 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: dumpee, dumper, friendship, Journey>Destination, Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults, roadtrip
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
Published by Dutton Books, New York: 2006
215 pgs.
Recommended reading age: 15 and up
VOYA rating: 3P, 3Q
I really loved Looking for Alaska so I jumped at the chance to read some new characters from the head of John Green. I was interested to see how completely different this book was compared to the very serious and somber world of Looking for Alaska. It is a very humorous read with lots of great dialog between two newly graduated friends, Colin and Hassan but I was still slightly disappointed.
Colin is a “prodigy”, not a genius. Clearly being told that he was prodigy and being incredibly good at useless things has messed with Colin’s psyche. Although Colin is incredibly good at things like learning languages and anagramming things, he isn’t very good at coming up with original ideas and thoughts. He still hasn’t had his “Eureka” moment and fears he never will. To be praised as a prodigy at a young age and then growing up to produce nothing of merit has left Colin feeling inadequate and depressed. Colin instead tries to find happiness in other ways like dating. For poor Colin though, the dating scene is difficult. Since his anagramming fetish has caused him to be attracted to “Katherines” Colin keeps coming across them and every time, he gets dumped. The day after graduating from high school and on the cusp of his future, Colin is dumped again for the 19th time and this time it stings worse than normal. Colin is truly in love and infatuated with this Katherine. Colin is left utterly heartbroken by Katherine the 19th.
In an attempt to take his mind off things and get Colin out of a funk, best friend Hassan (who by the way, is not a terrorist) shows up to wish Colin away on a random road trip. What happens next is a strange series of events that are at some time boring but other times hilarious. Hassan and Colin wind up meeting Lindsey, a young store clerk in Gutshot, and before they know it, they are staying with her and her mother being paid to help do research about Gutshot. Colin also finally has his own Eureka moment and he decides to formulate a theory that will mathematically determine whether or not a person is a dumper or a dumpee. The trio gets into a few madcap adventures, one that involves a crazed “feral pig”. They also have some more tame adventures that involve learning about the history of Gutshot through the townspeople as slowly Lindsey and Colin start to get closer and closer. Colin finds himself attracted to Lindsey even though he still keeps thinking about Katherine the 19th and obsessed with his formula.
The story deals a lot with teen friendships and teen relationships during that weird time just after graduation but right before moving off into the world on your own. It is a time that older teens deal with and can struggle with because you are leaving one part of your life behind to go of and do something new and sometimes scary. For Colin, it takes the persistence of his best friend to get him out into the world and out of his depression. Parts of this novel drag and got boring for me to read but then there would always be this hilarious dialog going on to keep me with the story.
Something that rally bothered me to no end was the use of the word “fug” which is consistently used in place of the real “f-bomb”. I was confused and bewildered as Colin and Hassan would use every other swear word in the book but “fuck”. It was utterly ridiculous. It made me want to stop reading the book. I was only able to get over the use of the word “fug” because about halfway through the book the word “fug” is explained.
According to the book, Norman Mailer had gotten in trouble with a publisher once for using the word “fuck” too many times. So to mess with his publisher, he went back and changed all the “fucks” to “fugs”. In An Abundance of Katherines, it is explained that Hassan and Colin found this so hilarious that they in turn decided to only use the word “fug”. Once I got to this part it didn’t bother as much but it was still annoying. They didn’t slip up once! Not even during a fist-fight that leaves both Hassan and Colin badly bruised. I kept thinking of all the negativity and controversy that surrounded Looking for Alaska after it won the Printz award and how some people wanted it banned from bookshelves for its realistic language and content. I couldn’t help but wonder if the use of “fug” was a direct hit at those critics and publishers who didn’t appreciate the authentic language and swearing that he included in that book. If this is true then John Green succeeded in making those critics look just as “mother-fugging” ridiculous as the word “fug” itself.
I wouldn’t suggest this book to a reluctant or noncommitted reader because of all the graphs and footnotes. I can appreciate a good footnote but they got a little too boring after awhile. I still read them but I found myself skimming over them rather quickly. I also got bored with the graphs. Some readers really enjoy this type of nonlinear story telling so for that clientele this would be a great book. Since there wasn’t a lot of action in the book I felt that the copious graphs and footnotes only made the story drag.
I agree with what was said in class about the cover of this book. It looked too girly when this is a story that would really be more relatable to guy readers. The girly rainbow cover was not a good idea.
Thirteen Reasons Why
14 Jul 2009 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: depression, friendship, Keepin' It Real, suicide
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Published by RazorBill, New York: 2007
288 pgs
Recommended reading age: 14 and up (for language and sexual content)
VOYA rating: 4P, 4Q
This is a page turner. Once you start this book, you are hooked and have to keep reading until you find out exactly how it all ends. It is a mystery but it is also a love story and a story about friendship. It has suspense. It has sex, parties, alcohol and other risky teen behavior that might be controversial for parents but still very appealing subject matter for a teen reader.
Hannah has committed suicide, which you find out almost immediately. Rather than leave a long suicide note she has instead chosen to record her reasoning behind her suicide on cassettes that she is having passed around after her death. She plans things rather intricately which, is one of the unbelievable things I had to take with a grain of salt about this novel. You follow the story through first person narrative through the voice of the protagonist Clay.
Clay use to work with Hannah at the movie theatre and has had a major crush on her for a very long time. Clay had a real crush on Hannah based not just on her looks (although they had a bit to do with it) but on her personality as well. He is shocked to find out he is one of the 13 individuals who have been given a tape. He can’t figure out what he could have possibly done to Hannah when all he ever wanted to be was a good friend, and maybe her boyfriend.
The story unfolds and the reader is compelled to keep reading to see what each person has done to Hannah. Clay finds out that all of these tiny little events from long ago have left ripples and caused evil rumors to spread about Hannah and her reputation. One thing just builds on another as Clay learns how all of these misconceptions had severely messed with Hannah’s head. It is like a bad car crash that you can’t help but looking at. You are sad that she has committed suicide, but you want to see all the gory details and be able to judge Hannah for yourself as the reader.
I don’t know how believable it would be for someone who is suicidal to plan things so well down to the last detail. According to Hannah this type of planning is apparently recognizable and typical of a depressed and suicidal person so maybe this is just from my lack of knowledge on the subject. Also, Hannah manages to sound so upbeat and happy through her tapes. She speaks so intelligently. She is witty, cunning and funny which makes her suicide all the more heartbreaking.
You eventually find out that Clay actually didn’t do anything to cause Hannah to commit suicide. He was actually one of the good people in her life which is a type of relief to Clay but also still heartbreaking. Clay is still left with the burden of knowing all the terrible things that happened to Hannah and all the lies that were told about her. He left wondering if there was something more he could have done to stop her had he only known. It is as if he is being punished even though he isn’t the one who deserves it. It speaks to the fact that Hannah just didn’t want to be alone in her sorrow. I think she just needed someone, other than the people who had shamed her, to know her real story. Clay is changed by the tapes too. He decides to start talking to an ex-girlfriend who seems to be heading down the same depression path that Hannah had taken.
I think this is an interesting story but was at times bothered by Hannah’s choices. Maybe it is the cynic in me, but I wonder what teens would think of Hannah’s suicide. Would teens argue that she had committed suicide over inconsequential events that many teens deal with? Would they judge her actions harshly or would they be sympathetic. I think this would make an EXCELLENT book discussion for a teen book club, even though the subject matter is a little dicey.
The photo of a girl on a swing used as the cover is a little heartbreaking because she seems so innocent and childlike yet you know after reading the book that she was really in a dark and strange place at the time. Teens might relate to the cover because she is a real teen dressed trendy and cute who is hiding behind the cassette tapes. I though the use of “Th1rteen R3asons” in the cover’s title was clever because it reminds the reader to read between the lines to find out the truth about the tapes and why Hannah is dead.
