To be honest the main character Colin is kind of annoying. Yes he did go through a break up and he's supposed to be an outsider because of how smart he is and so on, but he really just whines about everything. He whines about how no Katherine will ever stay with him, he whines about how he's a prodigy, he just whines so much when he has so many opportunities with this gift he has.
Colin thinks his future involves, "sitting in a fugging cubicle crunching numbers and memorizing baseball statistics so I can kick ass in my fantasy league" (9). It's almost like he's intelligent and stupid at the same time. With this gift of learning and memorizing things very easily he has plenty more job offers like a doctor, translator, or teacher. All of these jobs are very important in that they help and inspire people and Colin could probably do all of them.
Colin does want to matter to the world and be remembered forever because he's special and wants to be famous for his intelligence like the scientists he read about, but what Colin doesn't realize is that he matters to the people around him. Even his best friend Hassan knows, "the genius thing is nothing, that's just wanting to be famous"(10). Hassan is acknowledging that he matters to him and that he shouldn't worry about being famous because being famous is just being popular which is not what Colin is. Colin is an outsider,and there's nothing wrong with this, its actually a good thing because it defines his character.
Colin thinks his future involves, "sitting in a fugging cubicle crunching numbers and memorizing baseball statistics so I can kick ass in my fantasy league" (9). It's almost like he's intelligent and stupid at the same time. With this gift of learning and memorizing things very easily he has plenty more job offers like a doctor, translator, or teacher. All of these jobs are very important in that they help and inspire people and Colin could probably do all of them.
Colin does want to matter to the world and be remembered forever because he's special and wants to be famous for his intelligence like the scientists he read about, but what Colin doesn't realize is that he matters to the people around him. Even his best friend Hassan knows, "the genius thing is nothing, that's just wanting to be famous"(10). Hassan is acknowledging that he matters to him and that he shouldn't worry about being famous because being famous is just being popular which is not what Colin is. Colin is an outsider,and there's nothing wrong with this, its actually a good thing because it defines his character.
Creep by Radiohead is a really deep song that I think relates to Colin. Especially the lines "I wish that I was special" because that's all that Colin wants, is to be special. Colin knows that he's different from everyone else and this song is acknowledging that they know they are an outsider.
The overall theme of the book is figuring out what your purpose in life is and just wanting to know and control your future. This is what kids in high school really start to think about once graduation gets near because that's the decision they're going to have to make once they get out of high school, and it's quite terrifying.
It's terrifying because the worry of making the wrong decision is a heavy pressure to bear, so most teens tend to not want to think about it.
It's easy to relate to this book because of how it portrays this stress of the future. An example would be how Hassan puts of going to college, "[he] had 'taken a year off' even though he'd been admitted to Loyola University in Chicago" (9). Hassan is putting it off because he really does not know what to do with his life and that makes him not want to make any move that might mess up his future.
It's terrifying because the worry of making the wrong decision is a heavy pressure to bear, so most teens tend to not want to think about it.
It's easy to relate to this book because of how it portrays this stress of the future. An example would be how Hassan puts of going to college, "[he] had 'taken a year off' even though he'd been admitted to Loyola University in Chicago" (9). Hassan is putting it off because he really does not know what to do with his life and that makes him not want to make any move that might mess up his future.
So if you are a teen having an early midlife crisis or somehow like listening to you narrator complain, then knock yourself out with An Abundance of Katherines.