(Original review posted on Goodreads: March 10, 2013)
1. John Green is a talented, clever writer with a great sense of humor.
2. Contrary to what I’d like to think, I’m still math-phobic.
3. I’ll never, ever date a has-been child prodigy. Or a washed-up genius. Or a whiny guy who speaks 11 languages. Or whatever it is that Colin’s supposed to be.
An Abundance of Katherines is a hilarious book but it did not make me laugh. Okay, maybe a little but that was more like snorting-in-mild-amusement than full-fledged laughing. I found the humor a little tiresome. But then, I’m the kind of girl who cracks up at things that normal people don’t find even remotely funny so maybe there’s something wrong with me and not the book.
AAoK has a nerdy, heartbroken hero (irritating), some cussing in Arabic (gets taxing after a while), jokes about man-boobs and fractured balls (not really my idea of humor), a lot of math (scary) that strangely looks interesting (I wouldn’t know for sure since I skipped those parts).
Colin really got on my nerves. Whining and theorem-making are not exactly things I’m fond of, and that’s all Colin does (in addition to spewing out random facts). I wish the narration was in first-person; it would have made things more interesting.
The footnotes were a relief. I loved them – even the ones that had math. In fact, they were my sole motivation for trudging through the pages.
This was my first John Green novel and well... I’m not terribly impressed. I hope TFioS and Looking for Alaska fare better.
2. Contrary to what I’d like to think, I’m still math-phobic.
3. I’ll never, ever date a has-been child prodigy. Or a washed-up genius. Or a whiny guy who speaks 11 languages. Or whatever it is that Colin’s supposed to be.
An Abundance of Katherines is a hilarious book but it did not make me laugh. Okay, maybe a little but that was more like snorting-in-mild-amusement than full-fledged laughing. I found the humor a little tiresome. But then, I’m the kind of girl who cracks up at things that normal people don’t find even remotely funny so maybe there’s something wrong with me and not the book.
AAoK has a nerdy, heartbroken hero (irritating), some cussing in Arabic (gets taxing after a while), jokes about man-boobs and fractured balls (not really my idea of humor), a lot of math (scary) that strangely looks interesting (I wouldn’t know for sure since I skipped those parts).
Colin really got on my nerves. Whining and theorem-making are not exactly things I’m fond of, and that’s all Colin does (in addition to spewing out random facts). I wish the narration was in first-person; it would have made things more interesting.
The footnotes were a relief. I loved them – even the ones that had math. In fact, they were my sole motivation for trudging through the pages.
This was my first John Green novel and well... I’m not terribly impressed. I hope TFioS and Looking for Alaska fare better.
I’ll leave you with one of those rare lines that actually made me laugh:
2.5 rounded off to 3
“He tried not to sob much, because the plain fact of the matter is that boy-sobbing is exceedingly unattractive. Lindsey said, “Let it out, let it out,” and then Colin said, “But I can’t, because if I let it out it’ll sound like a bullfrog’s mating call.” ”
2.5 rounded off to 3
I hate math too. I haven't read this one yet but I did read TFIOS and quite liked it (rare for me to like YA books).
ReplyDeleteHaha I remember reading this earlier on GR too. But I didn't notice the last quote you mentioned, Scarlet. Although I don't know what a bullfrog's mating call sounds like and wouldn't like to know that either. XD
ReplyDeleteOh yes, TFioS. Will read that soon (this is like the 10th time I've made that statement lol :P)
ReplyDeleteAnd Samadrita, here's what a bullfrog sounds like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zpajerFI1w
*dies laughing*
Hahaha I bet John Green youtube-d that too.
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