Summer Reading: An Abundance of Katherines by John Green; Entry #4

I chose this book because I like the author and have read lots of his books. Also, a few of my friends have read it and recommended it to me.

What drew my attention to this book was how unique it seemed. It didn't seem like a love story, as much as it just being funny how the guy dated 19 girls named Katherine.

The only personal connection I found between myself and the novel was that I do have a passion to travel like they did; without any distinct destination.

I really enjoyed the book, I actually started off reading it for pleasure then realized I could use it for this assignment. I would highly regiment this book to young adults/teens who are interested in a comedic, light-hearted story.

Summer Reading: An Abundance of Katherines by John Green; Entry #3

"Colin wanted to be all-the-way happy, he really did - because ever since he saw the steepness of the curve with Lindsey, he'd been hoping that it'd be wrong. But as he sat there on the bed, the note in his still-shaky hands, he couldn't help but feel that he would never be a genius. For as much as he believed Lindsey that what matters to you defines your mattering, he still wanted the Theorem to work, still wanted to be as special as everyone had always told him he was.

The next day, Colin was feverishly trying to fix the Theorem while Hassan and Lindsey played Hold 'Em poker for pennies in the Pink Mansion's screened-in porch. A ceiling can blew the warm air around without really cooling it. Colin was half paying attention to the game while scribbling graphs, trying to make the Theorem account for the fact that Lindsey Lee Wells was, quite clearly, still his girlfriend. And the. Poker finally clarified  the Theorem's unfixable flaw. 

Hassan shouted, "she's all in for thirteen cents, Singleton! It's a huge bet. Should I call?

"She does tend to bluff," Colin answered without looking up.

"You better be right, Singleton. I call. Okay, then 'em over, kid! Gutshot Dolly has trip Queens! It's a hell of a hand, but will it beat-A FULL HOUSE?!" Lindsey groaned with disappointment as Hassan flipped over his hand.

Colin knew nothing about poker except that it was a game of human behavior and probability, and therefore the kind of quasi-closed system in which a Theorem similar to the Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability ought to work. And when Hassan turned over his full house, Colin all of a sudden realized: you can never make one to predict future poker hands. The past, like Lindsey had told him, is a logical story. It's the sense of what happened. But since it is not yet remembered, the future need not make any sense at all.

In that moment, the future - uncontainable by any Theorem mathematical or otherwise - stretched out before Colin: infinite and unknowable and beautiful. "Eureka," Colin said, and only in saying it did he realize he had successfully whispered. 

"I figured something out," he said aloud. "The future is unpredictable." 

Hassan said, "Sometimes the kafir likes to say massively obvious things in a really profound voice.""(Green,211-213)

The entire story, Colin Singleton was working on a theorem to predict the future of every relationship. He was very confident in himself while working on it.

He always desperately wanted to get back with his ex girlfriend, Katherine #19. In the end, those 9 letters didn't matter; they didn't have to be the name of his next girlfriend. He realized, after about a month in Gutshot, Tennessee, that he was in love with Lindsey Lee Wells. 

Of course, by this point he had, (or had thought,) that he had successfully finished the theorem. He plugged in Lindsey and himself to the equation and it said they would only last 4 days. Luckily, his theorem did not work.

On the 4th day of their relationship, Colin discovered no one can predict the future. Finally, he didn't care about being famouse or being a prodegy. All he now wanted, was to live his life excited for the surprises the future brings.

Summer Reading: An Abundance of Katherine's by John Green; entry #2

   In this novel, every character is looking for adventure, or at least not to hold boring lives.

   The main character in this story, Colin Singleton, misses his ex girlfriend, Katherine #19, so much. It almost seems that everthing he does is to either get her back or get over her. He had been spending a lot of time on a math formula he called "The Theorm of Underlying Katherine Predictability " that is soppose to predict the future of his relationships with upcoming Katherine's. Lastly, Colin just wants to be remembered. Being a child prodegy, he was always hoping everyone would be impressed and eventually he would become famous.

   Hassan Harbish really just never wants to go to college. Since his father didn't go and turned out to be very successful, Hassan doesn't feel the need to go either. Despite being smart, he is almost the opposite of Colin. 

   Lastly, Lindsey Lee Wells is happy just where she resides: in Gutshot, Tennessee. There isn't much there, but she has a boyfriend and since her mother owns a big factory, Lindsey has never had to worry about money. She would much rather go to Bedford Community College than study to be a docter like her mother wants.

Summer Reading Assignment: An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

   Colin Singleton just graduated high school in Chicago as valadictorian. He was known as a child prodegy; just naturally having a passion to learn more. The only problem is he is a Katherine-adict.

   "Colin Singleton's type was not physical but linguistic: he liked Katherine's. And not Katie's or Kat's or Kittie's or Cathy's or Rynn's or Trina's or Kay's or Kates or, God forbid, Catherine's. K-A-T-H-E-R-I-N-E. He had dated nineteen girls. All of them had been named Katherine. And all of them - every single solitary one - had dumped him." (Green, 15). Katherine XIX ended up dumping Colin on graduation day, sadly, she seemed like the hardest to get over. 

   After a night of feeling sorry for himself, Colin and his best friend, Hassan Harbish, leave for a road trip to help Colin get over Kather #19 and to get Hassan a job. He always jokingly try's to convert Colin to Islam, but also helps him learn what is too smart and annoying to say aloud. The two boys set out from Chicago with the $10,000 Colin had saved, to Gutshot, Tennessee. 

   There, they meet Lindsey Lee Wells, (whole I predict Colin or Hassan will develop feelings for,) who takes them in the tour to see the tomb of the Archduke. Lindsey has a boyfriend at this time in the story, but I'm assuming that will end because she is spending lots of time with Colin and Hassan.

   Since I have read a few of John Green's novels, I know that there are good plot twists that tramadicly change the flow of the rest of the story. Therefore, I'm hoping something I don't see coming will happen in the near future. What do you think the plot twist will be?

Final Blog Post Questions

1.    What specific words/phrases demonstrate your writer’s voice? How do these words/phrases showcase your personality as a writer?

            My writing voice is sometimes kind of sarcastic. “Hannah, Aria, Spencer, and Emily are just getting over the fact that their best friend had been slaughtered. They try to ignore it and avoid the topic, but somehow it always comes up,” I wrote on my most recent blog post. It is kind of hard to avoid the topic when someone had just been murdered, so it shows some irony.

 

 

 

 

2.  What purposeful diction AND syntax choices did you make to enhance your writer’s voice? You must choose to discuss at least one diction AND one syntax technique from the list below. Make sure to include textual evidence from your post where you included the diction and syntax choices you discuss.

My diction is low/informal mostly. “Hannah, Aria, Spencer, and Emily are just getting over the fact that their best friend had been slaughtered,” I wrote. Instead of killed, I used slaughtered so enhance the gruesome death Alison had.

The syntax is use is mostly medium length sentences because I am usually informing the reader of what is happening in the story. I usually just use periods, but I would like to work on asking more questions to make the reader think a bit.   

 

 

Pretty LIttle Secrets

Describe how the different characters deal with the main conflict in the novel.
a. what do their words and action regarding the conflict say about them as a person?



Hannah, Aria, Spencer, and Emily are just getting over the fact that their best friend had been slaughtered. They try to ignore it and avoid the topic, but somehow it always comes up. They usually don't get irritated, they just give a quick answer or change the topic. They are also recovering from being blackmailed and stalked by A. No one knows who A is, but he/she was harassing all four of them. They don't usually do well when it comes to the topic of A, but it is just the begginning of the story, and at the moment A is gone.
They all have other things going on in their lives and don't need A to come again and mess it up. Hannah expecially, with her father getting married to a family that hates her. Not to mention, her old best friend, Mona, turned out to be A. Hannah now has trouble trusting people, but she seems to be doing alright since she has her REAL friends looking out for her.

Pretty Little Secret

What does the work tell us about the relationship of people to nature?


Hannah has been having trouble getting along with her new family that her dad married into. People react differently to change and sometimes it isn't a good reation. It is natural to not like new people at first that get thrown into your life.