Diverting from the tragedies of The Fault in our Stars and Looking
for Alaska, John Green takes his readers on a logic-based, mathematical
ride into the relationships of the main character Colin Singleton and the
nineteen Katherines with whom he has managed to date and be dumped by.
Colin has just graduated from high school and has
also been dumped by Katherine XIX. Not quite ready to head off to college and
seriously pining for Katherine XIX, he listens to his best friend Hassan and
leaves home for a road trip. Driving from Chicago, they make a stop in
Tennessee, and here is where the majority of the novel occurs.
Gunshot, Tennessee proclaims to have the grave of
famous Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Colin, who was once identified as a prodigy,
cannot let this opportunity pass, so he and Hassan buy tickets to see the final
resting place of the Archduke. Here they
are led on tour by Lindsey Lee Wells, a pretty girl with a fiery personality.
But she’s not a Katherine.
Eventually, Colin and Hassan meet Lindsey’s small-town
boyfriend, another Colin, and Lindsey’s mother Hollis, who employs the boys and
gives them a reason to stay in Gunshot for a while. She sends them out to
interview the townsfolk, especially the “oldsters,” to find out information
regarding how people came to live in Gunshot, why they’ve stayed, and where
they would live if they could leave. While the information is interesting, and
is the only reason for Colin and Hassan to stay in Gunshot instead of moving on,
the interviews don’t seem to propel the plot in any particular direction.
In between interviews and hanging out with Hassan
and Lindsey at “Taco Hell”, Colin begins working on a Theorem to figure out (1)
why he keeps getting dumped by Katherines and (2) if he can predict future
relationships. There is an “abundance” of math in these sections, and Green
himself graciously gives the reader permission to skip the mathematical
explanations. I have to be honest, I tried to read the footnotes here, but I
ended up skipping them. I got the point nevertheless.
The book essentially explores the relationships
between friends, the journey to mend a broken heart, and the realization that
logic doesn’t always need to be the answer. Any intuitive reader will be able
to figure out the ending one quarter of the way through, but even guessing what
will happen doesn’t detract from the humorous antics of Colin and Hassan’s friendship
and the need to step outside one’s comfort zone (in this case, Colin’s
obsession with Katherines) to see what else the world has to offer, or in this
case, an unknown town called Gunshot and a girl who changes everything.
