A Road-Trip for a Broken Heart | An Abundance of Kathrines by John Green | Book Review

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"It hurt like the worst ass-kicking he’d ever gotten. And he’d gotten plenty."

That quote is from a book called An Abundance of Kathrines, written by John Green. My life’s been a roller coaster and I’ve been incredibly busy lately, but I luckily I’ve found time to head to the library.

An Abundance of Kathrines is the first book I’ve picked not so much for the title, but because of the author. John Green is a bestselling novelist who’s created classics like Paper Towns and The Fault in Our Stars. I’d never heard of this book before, but seeing who wrote it, I figured I’d give it a read.

An Abundance of Katherines follows Colin Singleton, a child-prodigy who’s growing out of the whole ‘child’ phase. Fresh out of high school he gets his heart broken by K-19, his latest girlfriend named Kathrine. Yes, there were 18 other Kathrine’s before her (it’s a long story, read the book). Anyway, in an attempt to cheer him up, his best friend Hassan convinces Colin that they should go on a summer road trip to clear his head, and along the way they get into some crazy mischief-and lot’s of adventure.

If you’ve read some of my previous book reviews, you know I love a good road trip story, and this book was here to deliver.

The novel was very funny. I had some laugh-out-loud moments from Hassan’s jokes and certain moments in the story.

The main character was written beautifully. Colin allowed me to peer into the life of a child-prodigy, as well as the many expectations, hobbies, and social struggles that come with it. I got to read about his many talents and felt his emotions too. Colin’s thoughts and feelings were described very well which allowed me share his emotions. I felt so sorry for Colin in the early chapters, when his break-up wounds were new and fresh.

The characters have depth and personality. My favorite part was an action scene towards the end which I will not spoil in case you wanna read the book for yourself. The action feels so real and unpredictable, and I was hyped reading it.

My favorite character was Colin’s best friend Hassan. He was funny, and wasn’t afraid to be honest with himself and those he cared about.

While I wish the book would have been a little more descriptive with settings in some parts, An Abundance of Kathrines is a humorous-adventure road-trip story that will have you in the feels for some chapters and at the edge of your seat in others.

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