Book Review: An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

An Abundance of Katherinesdumping him is all that Colin seems to experience in life. Despite his genius prodigy status, after Katherine XIX (K-19) dumps him, he hits rock bottom and ends up in the tiny town of Gutshot, Tennessee with his friend Hassan. There, despite nearly getting gored by a feral hog, chased by a hoard of angry hornets, and beaten up by The Other Colin (TOC), Colin realizes his missing piece can be found in unlikely places.

This book was an absolute riot. I hardly stopped laughing all the way through. I don't normally like this kind of book either, but I found myself enjoying it and marking parts that I loved. Colin was quirky and I love nearly all of the minor characters - particularly the Gutshot residents. The footnotes just added to the overall excellence as well. The book was not only humorous, it was also real - the characters were believable, the struggles of trying to understand who you are and what you want to do all seemed natural. And the writing was just fabulous. I guess the major drawbacks to this are the swearing and the mrg-content. I imagine that walking down the hall of a high school would sound exactly like this, but I got really tired of it. Anyway, I really enjoyed my first foray into John Green novels. I think I'll have to pick up another.

Read-alikes:
From what I hear, all Green's books have similar plots, so try Looking for Alaskaand Paper Townsby him

Just wanted to list a couple of my favorite quotes:

"What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? How very odd, to believe God gave you life, and yet not to think that life asks more of you than watching TV." p. 33

"Because like say I tell someone about my feral hog hunt. Even if it's a dumb story, telling it changes other people just the slightest little bit, just as living the story changes me...I will get forgotten, but the stories will last. And so we all matter - maybe less than a lot, but always more than none." p. 213

"Books are the ultimate Dumpees: put them down and they'll wait for you forever; pay attention to them and they always love you back." p. 110

RATINGS:
s-factor: !@#$
Yeah, it's everywhere. Interesting change from the usual "ck" ending to "g," though I guess it was Norman Mailer's idea.

mrg-factor: XXX
Boy, they sure talk about it a lot, though it isn't described really.

v-factor: ->
Some people get beat up.

Overall rating: ****

Book Review: The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt

The Wednesday Warsbegin when Holling Hoodhood is the only kid in his class who doesn't spend Wednesday afternoons being religiously instructed. Instead he must spend those afternoons with Mrs. Baker, the teacher who hates his guts, reading Shakespeare and fighting off demon rats.

This book, from the very start, had me in stitches. Holling is the ultimate junior high school suffering student - forced to read Shakespeare. Even as he discovers plenty of excellent cuss words and somehow wears yellow tights with feathers on the...never mind...he learns about friendships and understanding people who are different. I also managed to learn a lot about the late 60s and the Vietnam war, which I know too little about. For some reason, this book has stuck with me for a while. My husband and I have been reading this one (off and on) together and he's really loving it too. If you haven't read this yet, do. it. now.

Read-alikes:
Rather unique, but for the humor, it was like A Year Down Yonderand A Long Way From Chicagoby Richard Peck
For the junior high school experience: Diary of a Wimpy Kid and the sequels by Jeff Kinney

RATINGS:
s-factor: none
(though I love the alternatives)

mrg-factor: none

v-factor: none

Overall rating: *****

Quotificent #4

I'm currently reading An Abundance of Katherinesby John Green and I have been loving all the fun writing. I am having a really hard time deciding what to put in here, but I think this is the best I've found so far:

"Anyway, you see a snake, you kill it. That's just how I was raised up. So I shot it. Split it right in two. And that evening Caroline Clayton come over to my house - she's passed on now, bless her heart - and she's screaming and crying that I killed Jake, and I told her that someone else musta killed Jake whoever the hell he was, 'cause all I did was shoot up a [darned] rat snake. But then turns out Jake was the snake, and that she loved it like the child she never had. She never married, of course. Uglier than sin, bless her heart."
"The snake probably didn't care that she was ugly," Colin pointed out. "They have very poor eyesight."

Anyway, the characters are just awesome. Watch for my review coming soon. (Sorry about the swear word editing, I didn't really want to type it, call me a prude.)