When it comes to
relationships, Colin Singleton's type happens to be girls named
Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always
getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact. He's also a washed-up child
prodigy with ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a passion for
anagrams, and an overweight, Judge Judy-obsessed best friend. Colin's on
a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability,
which will predict the future of all relationships, transform him from a
fading prodigy into a true genius, and finally win him the girl.
Letting expectations go and allowing love in are at the heart of Colin's
hilarious quest to find his missing piece and avenge dumpees
everywhere.
First of all, I am a certified nerd. Well not really certified, but you get my point. Colin is also a certified nerd (aka a master of anagrams/child prodigy.) However, he is a kind of foolish nerd, because as the story opens, he has just broken up with his nineteenth girlfriend. It doesn't really matter what her name is, because as it turns out, Colin's type in girls is simply girls named Katherine.
Hassan, Colin's best friend, is not a nerd. In fact, he's put off college for a year, which is soon to become two years since he hasn't filled out anything yet. But he's a good friend. And he decides that he has the perfect cure for Colin's broken heart-- a road trip. Duh.
One of the things I loved most about this book was Hassan's and Colin's friendship. First of all, there's lots of witty banter, as per usual in John Green writing. Somehow, despite their numerous differences, the two have remained friends after an incident with a pupillary sphincter (more on that later) in high school. The witticisms aren't the best part--it's just 'watching' them work together.
Anyways, Colin, noted child prodigy, has a theory: there are dumpers and dumpees. You cannot be both a dumper and dumpee. Also, he is a dumpee. If you don't figure this out in the beginning of the book, there is also a quick description of each beginning/middle/end of his relationships. I'll admit that it sounds, well, kind of boring. Surprise! I actually loved hearing about the Katherines.
So Colin and Hassan decide to stay in Gutshot, Tennessee. (I know. Gut. Shot. Violence, people, violence!) This is because of Lindsey Lee Wells, who finds Hassan and Colin when Colin falls on the back of his head. And that's when Colin has his Eureka moment: a graph of when x=time and y=happiness and lots of other domain restrictions and yay math!
Thus begins Colin and Hassan's stay in Gutshot, Tennessee, filled with many graphs, x and y equations, Calculus, a tape recorder, and also Lindsey Lee Wells. At some point, the math for the dumpers/dumpees curve became complicated to the extent that I kind of skimmed the equations, because there was no way I was ever going to be able to understand that.
On the other hand: I've read some of John Green's other books, and I felt like it wasn't just quite up to par with The Fault in Our Stars, which I actually think is the best out of all that I've read. However, I loved the characters, who were original and spunky. The plot-- who doesn't love road trips? And also anagrams and child prodigies? Not to mention a really bad taste in girls? And, finally, the writing style. I fell in love with John Green from the first book I read by him. It is strong, peppered with humor, serious in a few places, cynical and sarcastic in others, and full of life.
Excerpt: “And the moral of the story is that you don't remember what happened. What you remember becomes what happened. And the second moral of the story, if a story can have multiple morals, is that Dumpers are not inherently worse than Dumpees - breaking up isn't something that gets done to you; it's something that happens with you.”
4/5
First of all, I am a certified nerd. Well not really certified, but you get my point. Colin is also a certified nerd (aka a master of anagrams/child prodigy.) However, he is a kind of foolish nerd, because as the story opens, he has just broken up with his nineteenth girlfriend. It doesn't really matter what her name is, because as it turns out, Colin's type in girls is simply girls named Katherine.
Hassan, Colin's best friend, is not a nerd. In fact, he's put off college for a year, which is soon to become two years since he hasn't filled out anything yet. But he's a good friend. And he decides that he has the perfect cure for Colin's broken heart-- a road trip. Duh.
One of the things I loved most about this book was Hassan's and Colin's friendship. First of all, there's lots of witty banter, as per usual in John Green writing. Somehow, despite their numerous differences, the two have remained friends after an incident with a pupillary sphincter (more on that later) in high school. The witticisms aren't the best part--it's just 'watching' them work together.
Anyways, Colin, noted child prodigy, has a theory: there are dumpers and dumpees. You cannot be both a dumper and dumpee. Also, he is a dumpee. If you don't figure this out in the beginning of the book, there is also a quick description of each beginning/middle/end of his relationships. I'll admit that it sounds, well, kind of boring. Surprise! I actually loved hearing about the Katherines.
So Colin and Hassan decide to stay in Gutshot, Tennessee. (I know. Gut. Shot. Violence, people, violence!) This is because of Lindsey Lee Wells, who finds Hassan and Colin when Colin falls on the back of his head. And that's when Colin has his Eureka moment: a graph of when x=time and y=happiness and lots of other domain restrictions and yay math!
Thus begins Colin and Hassan's stay in Gutshot, Tennessee, filled with many graphs, x and y equations, Calculus, a tape recorder, and also Lindsey Lee Wells. At some point, the math for the dumpers/dumpees curve became complicated to the extent that I kind of skimmed the equations, because there was no way I was ever going to be able to understand that.
On the other hand: I've read some of John Green's other books, and I felt like it wasn't just quite up to par with The Fault in Our Stars, which I actually think is the best out of all that I've read. However, I loved the characters, who were original and spunky. The plot-- who doesn't love road trips? And also anagrams and child prodigies? Not to mention a really bad taste in girls? And, finally, the writing style. I fell in love with John Green from the first book I read by him. It is strong, peppered with humor, serious in a few places, cynical and sarcastic in others, and full of life.
Excerpt: “And the moral of the story is that you don't remember what happened. What you remember becomes what happened. And the second moral of the story, if a story can have multiple morals, is that Dumpers are not inherently worse than Dumpees - breaking up isn't something that gets done to you; it's something that happens with you.”
No comments:
Post a Comment