An Abundance of Katherines
An Abundance of Katherines was a 2007 Michael L. Printz Honor book and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. It was also named one of the books of the year by Booklist, Horn Book, and Kirkus.If you would like to read this book in another language, go to the Translations page.
Reviews (Spoiler Alert!)
“Imagine an operating room at the start of a daring but well-rehearsed procedure and you will have something of the atmosphere of ”An Abundance of Katherines”: every detail considered, the action unrolling with grace and inevitability.”
-New York Times Book Review
“Green follows his Printz winning Looking for Alaska (2005) with another sharp, intelligent story. The laugh-out-loud humor ranges from delightfully sophomoric to subtly intellectual.”
-Booklist, Starred Review
“Fully fun, challengingly complex, and entirely entertaining.”
-Kirkus, Starred Review
“Laugh-out-loud funny, this second novel by the author of the Printz winner Looking for Alaska charts a singular coming-of-age American road trip that is at once a satire of and a tribute to its many celebrated predecessors.”
-Horn Book, Starred Review
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I love, love, love this book. It is by far my far. John Green book. I think the speach that Hassan gave is sooo incredibly funny. (:
” She gave us the job because a fatty always trust another fatty.” Classic!!
Beautiful John Green, just beautiful.
There’s a mistake! On page 64, when the subtext is telling the sentence about all the 99 digits of pi Colin knew, one of the digits is wrong. It’s a seven instead of a six! The word is garfish, G, 7. The section says, “Duly, garfish babysit for…”
4,7,2,6. It should be 4,6,2,6. Look it up yourself if you don’t believe me!
DFTBA<3
there are actually 4 mistakes, the one you mentioned plus three more. instead of 0,2,7,7,4 (…just because garfish get delight…) it ought to be 0,2,8,8,4, so two mistakes there and then later instead of o,6,2,8,6,2,0,7 (…joy fades but hurt feeling bring just grief…) it should be 0,6,2,8,2,0,8. it seems to just be on the sevens.
I’ve read all four books, and love them all! I can’t pick a favorite because they are all so great. John always makes every character so lively, so real. I find myself falling in love with them all. It’s as though I have friends printed on the pages of these books, and I never want them to end. I’ve read each book at least a minimum of 5 times. Tfios I absolutely know will not disappoint. Thank you, John, for making me fall in love with books all over again.
Just read TFiOS, and although is is great, this book is still my favorite. I love all the random facts I have learned from it, and sitzpinkler (hope I spelled that right) has now become part of my regular vocabulary.
(BTW, I can’t help but notice that all of the comments are left by females… Come on male nerdfighters! Speak up!)
Ha! Sitzpinkler is part of my daily vocabulary as well! My friends are all like, “What…” Lol.
What about kafir? I use that one ALL the time… And, some might say regrettably, the phrase “Daddy like.”
John–
How did you translate the Arabic in An Abundance of Katherines? Is it specific to a Lebanese dialect or is it Modern Standard Arabic? I can’t tell and I’m curious. Did you use dictionaries, or a friend?
Wow, this was a really great book. I’m trying to learn the Dvorak keyboard, so I’m tempted to type up at least a few of Shakespeare’s plays…
Does anybody know if Hassan’s name is pronounce HAH-sahn or hah-SAHN?
I’d say the first one. Being a native Lebanese, I’ve met more HAH-sahn than hah-SAHN, but both are correct. You just apply more pressure on the s in the latter.
HAH-sahn means “good”. Hah-SAHN means “someone who does good”.
I was just getting into this book, but the exclamitory remarks in God’s name stoopped me. Really, it was if John Green has blasphemy tourettes! Can’t we respect all faiths? :(
1. Read your comment 2. Lol’d
Um he does. It’s a book. Chill
dingleberries!
Oh my lord, Im only on chapter six and I already adore this book. I have already read all the other books you have written John and I just can’t get enough. The first book I read by you was “Looking for Alaska” I knew from the very beginning that I was gonna love it and you. Then I read TFIOS and I balled like a baby at the end (Granted I cried while reading “Looking for Alaska”. Thank you from the bottom of my heart Mr. John Green. You made me fall in love with your characters and I will forever be a nerdfighter. My kids WILL read your books! Thank you once again. DFTBA!
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