Reviews with content warning for Ableism - An Abundance of Katherines

Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

10 reviews

hayleythegoose's review

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

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bashsbooks's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This is the most meh book I've read in a long time. There were things I enjoyed about it, but it was a slog to read because I found much of the plot, well, boring. Also, I don't recommend reading this in a digital format - because it has a lot of footnotes, it undoubtedly works better in print.

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lisa_m's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No

1.0

Okay so do I misremember every other John Green book I've ever read and liked? This was the absolute worst book I've read maybe ever? I feel like I might have to reread Looking for Alaska (which I really liked 5 years ago..) to see if his writing has really always been this bad? I mean he knows how to be funny sometimes but god this was boring.

I'm kind of sad about not liking this book because it's one of the books that has been on my tbr since forever. I would probably have dnfed it if it had set my self the goal of reading every John Green book... (Do I regret that? - maybe..)

I can't remember ever giving a book 1 star. Usually when a book is bad or I didn't like it I can still see value in it or see how someone else might enjoy it. Not with this one though. The plot was super week - NOTHING happened and there is no explanation for anything. The characters were boring and I didn't care for them.
Also there are so many problematic things that took me out of the reading experience. The word 'retard' is used as an insult frequently throughout the book, the characters religion, weight, ticks and mannerisms were just constantly made fun of and it was uncomfortable to read. Also the whole book is sooo repetitive. I hate the constant use of fug, fugger, fugging.. also what is a jewfro and why is it CONSTANTLY mentioned even though you say the characters is 'not really jewish'???

I did not care about the Theorem and all the maths in this book. I didn't understand it - or even try to understand it but even I as someone who doesn't know a lot about maths, I knows that what he's trying to do is not possible. He's just looking for an excuse as to why he is constantly dumped.

Also the Katherine flashbacks... If they are written well I actually really like time jumps. We could have learned more and more about every Katherine until in the end it all made sense. But in this book those stories were just sort of thrown in there and in the end he even REPEATED it all again! Why did I read all the previous Katherine stories then?? I really don't care. One book that did this well was 'People We Meet On Vacation' by Emily Henry. The flashbacks really built up to a big conclusion and made the book interesting.

Also I love Roadtrip books so I thought this would be right up my alley. Well I thought wrong. The 'roadtrip' is them sleeping in the car once after Colin gets dumped and then finding a nice comfy house where they can stay for free as long as they want?

I'm also mad that Hassan was just used as the fat comic relief character. Colin is really not the best friend and when Hassan addresses that it just gets glanced over and he forgives him for everything.

Also the whole book was so mysogynistic. Refering to women as shallow and sluts/easy. Girls just felt very objectified in general. There was A LOT that made me super uncomfortable so here are 3 of my least favourite examples:

"She was incredibly hot - in that popular-girl-with-bleached-teeth-and-anorexia kind of way, which was Colin's least favourite way of being hot" Are you serious right now?? Also no one cares. Shut up.

They are at a fast food chain: "Colin asked the woman behind the cash register, whose body seemed to have suffered from perhaps a few too many meals at her place of employment,..."

"She looked prettier than she ever had before - Colin always preferred girls without makeup." Once again, we do not care. Also the 'she's prettier without makeup thing' is mentioned multiple times..

I didn't tab the things I hated and I'm definitely not skimming it again to find them so sorry I can't provide more evidence but I feel like this book is only for white male teenagers who want to believe that all their problems in life stem from girls not wanting to date them / breaking up with them.

Honestly I just really wanted this book to end. That is the reason I read it in one day because I knew I did not want to pick it up again tomorrow..

I think I made it clear now that I did not like this book. However the one thing I liked is that it occasionaly made me chuckle. There was some funny imagery but really .. how could anyone genuinly enjoy this book?? I am baffled. There was no storyline, no plottwist, no likable romance, no good flashbacks... Even the really quotable relatable lines that his other books have (to an extent that makes that slightly cringy) are non existent. Like the best 'quote' I could find was "You can love someone so much but you can never love people as much as you can miss them." And like yes, it sounds good. But can you tell me what you are actually trying to say with that?

Endnote: I am really disappointed by this and also very scared to pick up Will Grayson, Will Grayson which is another highly anticipated John Green book. Did I just turn smart enought to see that these books are bad? Or please let it be just this one.

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rory_john14's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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rebeccafarren's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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rebeccafarren's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I first read this when I was 17 and I remember properly loving it. Recently, I found out that it didn't sell well and that received wisdom is that it's not very good, so I was bracing myself to be horrified by the book and by past me. Well, it's 12 years later and I still absolutely bloody love it! I think it loses it's way at the end a bit, but overall, the rereading experience was so joyful. I remember feeling like it was written for me, and I definitely re-experienced that this time around. It is so sociological, and nerdy, and summery, and fun! I love the footnotes so much; I hadn't read much YA back when I first read it, and I thought that footnotes must be a grown-up thing in YA and adult fiction, which is hilarious to me now! But honestly I think they work perfectly in the context of telling Colin's story.

It has a fair bit of offensive and outdated language, and it is niche and weird, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend it now, but if you were a 2000s YA reader of summer road-trip romcoms (even though this isn't strictly a romcom) and you missed this one, it might be worth picking up. As I write this, my heart is hurts, I'm giddy with summer heat and nostalgia, and I'm chuffed to have reread this!

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chaptersofchilly's review

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Had a blind date with this library book! John Green’s characters are always so entertaining and quirky, which always makes me excited to read his works. Weaving a story featuring 19 girlfriends named Katherine, a small town in Tennessee, and a child prodigy is a feat only an author like John Green could accomplish. I had a lot of fun reading this book, but it has definitely aged since it was published 15 years ago. The amount of times the word “fug” appeared it this book was truly absurd. There was also some fat-shaming and use of the r-word which is problematic, so just a brief warning for encounters with that kind of language. Without those last few aspects, I would’ve enjoyed the book a lot more.

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