Move aside Harold and Kumar, your White Castles has nothing on the Monster Thickburger

Where do I start? John Green's "an abundance of katherines" is a laugh aloud funny book, well paced, well written, and footnoted. Moreover, this book has heart. Not the red construction paper cut-outs that you hand out during Valentine's Day, but the beating gory vitality of two young men and a young woman who meet in Gutshot, Tennessee.

(Spoilers warning.)

After graduating from high school, uber-geek Colin Singletary is a mental wreck after being dumped by his girlfriend Katerine Carter. His wise-cracking and Thickbruger-wolfing friend Hassan drags him from the doldrums and into a random road trip out of Chicago. They randomly stop at Gutshot, Tennessee to take a look a random road side attraction, the grave of Archduke Ferdinand, and meet Lindsey.

The geeky duo meet Lindsey's mother Hollis who recognizes Colin from a TV quiz show. Hollis hires them to make a history of Gutshot. During their stay, the three discover more about themselves and take another step toward growing up.

A wise man once told me "If there's nothing serious, there's nothing funny." Green applies this principle like a judo master uses his opponent's leverage. The title comes from Colin's nineteen failed romances with girls named Katherine, which lends a sense of unreality to Colin's pain. However, Green manages to interweave his need for Katherine XIX with his deep seated questions about his own value.

Like real teens, Colin, Lindsey, and Hassan philosophize, angst, and joke, but Green keeps the story moving on a positive note. The author aimed for an excellent pace and achieves it at the expense of the messy vacillations found in real life, and I think that it is a good trade off, because "an abundance of katherines" tackles a real question about self worth and identity.

Here is a sample exchange between Collin and Hassan while hunting. This is why this book felt like flying down the road at 80 mph with the wind in my face with my best friends sitting next to me.

"Dude," said Hassan softly. "Khazeer."[73]
"Matha, al-kanazeer la yatakalamoon araby? [74]" Colin asked.
"That's no pig," answered Hassan in English. "That's a goddamned monster." The pig stopped its rooting and looked up at them. "I mean Wilbur is a fugging pig. Babe is a fugging pig. That thing was birthed from the loins of Iblis."[75]

73 Arabic: "pig"
74 Arabic: What, pigs don't speak Arabic?
75 Arabic: Satan