Back of the book
19 Katherines and counting...
When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton's type is girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact.
On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washed-up child prodigy has ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a blood thirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight Judge Judy-loving best friend riding shotgun – but no Katherines. Colin is on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avege Dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl.
My thoughts.
Contrary to enjoying books with important morals and deeper meaning, I don't feel this book had either and it was fun. Colin and Hassan are great unique characters with an unlikely and unbreakable friendship. Most of the 'not interestings' were actually interesting, although I couldn't follow the math at all. I feel smarter just for reading this book though.
As a self-diagnosed "nerd" or unpopular person (I mean, I read books as a hobby so...), I have never before questioned many books unsavoury attitudes towards popular people, until this one. Why do so many books portray popular kids as the enemy? Perhaps popular people are assumed to not read, so they can't be offended? Perhaps the unpopular people are the ones that always write books so they write with the worldviews they know. Trashing the popular kids does not feel like an injustice, because I don't identify as one, but it could be a little biased.
The plot was a simple classic; heartbreak and a road trip. Although plenty of books use these devices I felt this one had enough original subplots to make it feel new again. This book knew it was being silly, with Katherine-only dating and a host of other unlikely events. I liked the prodigy but not a genius distinction, sending the message that you can appear good, but still not feel good enough. I love the idea about sense of worth Colin struggles with, the is that just because I was special, doesn't mean I always will be. Dingleberries was another fantastic inclusion. A lot of close friendships involve low-stakes insults, but dingleberries gave the characters a really easy out to spare the friendship. I loved this communication. This felt like a realistic example of health communication, because if most people are like me, directly telling someone, "stop it I don't like it" is scary and intimidating. Dingleberries is easy, a little fun and silly, and communicates how you feel.
The writing style was nothing flashy, and I didn't actively notice it while reading so there wasn't anything overwhelmingly good or bad about it. A small criticism for JATT and SOCT, who were introduced early and by the time we met them again I forgot what their acronyms stood for. With that blip aside, this is a low effort fun and silly read.
TL:DR
A light-hearted book with classic tropes done anew: road trip, heartbreak, friends have a fight but then make up before the end. Despite what Hassan might say, I found it interesting.
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Spoilery Book Reviews
ספרות לא בדיוניתBook reviews written by me. All reviews will contain spoilers. Some books are ones I have read millions of times and are my well known favourites. Some books are really random and bizarre picks for me that were complete surprises.
