A review by robdabear
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
3.0
Two John Green books in two-ish days (not really, but roll with it). Yikes.
I quite frankly did not expect to finish this so quickly because I didn't particularly care for it off the bat. This one felt slightly closer to relatable in the context of my age gap to the 2006-era target audience, but our hero Colin is not very likeable and his goofball best-friend Hassan is mild comic relief at best.
My biggest issue with the book is, just, come on...just say 'fuck.' You can say the word 'fuck.' It's okay. Even when Colin and Hassan (unsatisfactorily) explained why they prefer to use "fug" instead, it made me irrationally angry every time I read "motherfugging," and I was half tempted to take a pen and cross out every instance and replace with the appropriate profanity.
But seriously, I felt little sympathy for our teenage, washed-up child prodigy, and the romance was lukewarm at best. Also, there was a lot of abstract fake math from Daniel Biss, who (comically, to me) politics now. Abstract math is a no-no for a person who is trying to read a book that isn't making him think too much. I have too much Dostoevsky and Tolstoy waiting for me on the shelf for that.
There were, however, a few saving graces that led me a to a subjective three-star review of "liked it." 1. Footnotes and math remind me of DFW, a person (RIP) who is partly responsible for my renewed interest in Green, 2. The message seems to be genuine and sort of endearing, if concluded a bit cheesily, and 3. My alma mater is mentioned at least twice, and it just so happens that I too took a 10 am writing composition class at Loyola University in Chicago during my freshman year.
I didn't hate it. I thought it was a little better than "it was ok."
Geez. Does anyone even read these anymore? Am I just getting old and trying to hold on to something that I've long since lost? I don't know. Find out next time in my review of Paper Towns, which I will not be reading next, as I need to spend a little more time thinking about my own writing, and a little less on the word 'fugging.'
I quite frankly did not expect to finish this so quickly because I didn't particularly care for it off the bat. This one felt slightly closer to relatable in the context of my age gap to the 2006-era target audience, but our hero Colin is not very likeable and his goofball best-friend Hassan is mild comic relief at best.
My biggest issue with the book is, just, come on...just say 'fuck.' You can say the word 'fuck.' It's okay. Even when Colin and Hassan (unsatisfactorily) explained why they prefer to use "fug" instead, it made me irrationally angry every time I read "motherfugging," and I was half tempted to take a pen and cross out every instance and replace with the appropriate profanity.
But seriously, I felt little sympathy for our teenage, washed-up child prodigy, and the romance was lukewarm at best. Also, there was a lot of abstract fake math from Daniel Biss, who (comically, to me) politics now. Abstract math is a no-no for a person who is trying to read a book that isn't making him think too much. I have too much Dostoevsky and Tolstoy waiting for me on the shelf for that.
There were, however, a few saving graces that led me a to a subjective three-star review of "liked it." 1. Footnotes and math remind me of DFW, a person (RIP) who is partly responsible for my renewed interest in Green, 2. The message seems to be genuine and sort of endearing, if concluded a bit cheesily, and 3. My alma mater is mentioned at least twice, and it just so happens that I too took a 10 am writing composition class at Loyola University in Chicago during my freshman year.
I didn't hate it. I thought it was a little better than "it was ok."
Geez. Does anyone even read these anymore? Am I just getting old and trying to hold on to something that I've long since lost? I don't know. Find out next time in my review of Paper Towns, which I will not be reading next, as I need to spend a little more time thinking about my own writing, and a little less on the word 'fugging.'