History Books Forgot About Us

Truths And Lies

Colin and Hassan discover Lindsey´s boyfriend, Colin, cheating on Lindsey with Katrina, and they tell Lindsey, which causes her to break up with The Other Colin and for him to start a fight with everyone that was present. Hassan, Colin, and Lindsey find out that Hollis sold some property because people are no longer buying the tampon strings made in the factory, but Hollis doesn't want to fire people so she throws the tampon strings away (she is selling some land to make money). Colin discovers that the person who is resting in the famous Archduke tomb is not actually the Archduke, but Lindsey´s grandfather, and she explains to Colin that her grandfather just wanted to be remembered, and they both kiss. Colin tells her the stories of the 19 Katherines and Hassan enrolls into college, much to Colin's happiness. Afterwards, Colin (with the help of his theorem), predicts that his and Lindsey´s relationship will end in four days, when this is proven to be false, Colin understands that his theorem only works for past relationships and not for future ones, love is just too unpredictable.

 My Thoughts On...

“ ‘I had a, um, blinding light spiritual awakening.’ (...) ‘I mean, she's giving up all her time and her money so people can keep jobs. She´s doing something.’ ” (Green, 193)

This quote is said by Colin while he is talking with Hassan about the things that Hollis does in order to keep her employees with a job. I think that this shows Colin´s positive character development throughout the book. Reading this quote made me realize that Colin no longer thinks that, in order to matter, he needs to impact the whole world. I guess that I consider this his “blinding light spiritual awakening” since he now has a different perspective of changing people's lives. I guess that, all it takes for us to want to cause a change, is to see someone else make a change.

“Nothing was happening, really, but the moment was thick with mattering.” (Green, 212)

I think that these moments that Green refers to in the book are the ones that we don't consider important until we later remember them. When I read this, I remembered an specific car ride home that I didn't realized held so much meaning until it became a memory. After I graduated from 6th grade, the whole grade attended a final party after the ceremony at school was held. The so called party was fun and all, but it was also the last time time that I saw a few of my friends that wouldn't attend secondary with me. When my dad picked me up from said party, I immediately fell asleep on the backseat of the car. It wasn't until later that I realized that this car ride signified the ultimate end to my primary education, it ended a stage in my life that I will never get back, it was the last time I saw some people, and it was the first time I saw others.

The Future Is Forever

I finished the book! I am honestly very pleased with the way it ended, I would not change anything about the story. I guess that what I am most happy about is that Colin finally learned and understood that not being famous or not becoming a genius is just as good as becoming one. I enjoyed the ending of the book because it doesn't give a single clue to what will happen to the characters once the summer ends. I guess that it gives the readers the opportunity to imagine their own scenarios and to draw their own conclusions. The book has honestly taught a few things. First, that I shouldn't live to please others (like Colin does in order to please his parents at the beginning of the story), but that I should live in order to please myself and live up to my expectations. Second, I learned that being popular in school (like Lindsey) is not the most important thing there is to life. And, finally, that not knowing what we are doing or will do, is just part of being alive.

Kind Of, But Not Really: A Memoir

How To Shoot A Gun

Later after visiting the nursing home, Hassan tells Colin that he went out with Lindsey´s friend, Katrina, and kissed her. Sadly, Colin does not react very nicely about this news and the two friends get in a fight about it. Then, Hassan and Colin get invited to go hunting with Lindsey and her friends, which results in Lindsey teaching Colin how to shoot a gun (and ends up showing him a secret cave that she discovered on accident when she was younger). The three of them join Lindsey´s friends for the hunt but, after being left alone, Hassan and Colin accidentally shoot a hornet nest instead of a pig. They are later chased and stung by the hornets, until they run up to a graveyard, where they find Katrina with a guy.

Thinking About...

“ ‘We're invisible. I've never been here with someone else. It's different being invisible with someone.’ ” (Green, 144)

This is something that Lindsey said to Colin when they were alone in her cave. While I read and tried to understand this quote, I realized that Lindsey should be actually be pretty lonely in order to feel (or be) invisible. I guess this surprised me because in the majority of the book, she is surrounded by both her friends and her boyfriend, so, I guess I expected her to feel accompanied by them. On the other side, the book also explains that Lindsey does not spend that much time with her mom as she would like (Lindsey even calls her by her name and not as “mom”). So, I guess she feels a bit lonely because she doesn't spend that much time with her mom, or because she doesn't really care for her friends. But, in all honesty, I guess we all get a little bit lonely sometimes.

“ ‘The thing about chameleoning your way through life is that it gets to where nothing is real.’ ” (Green, 147)

Lindsey says this to Colin when they are sitting together in her secret cave and she is trying to explain about her more than ordinary life to him. This quote is kind of a conclusion to Lindsey, a type of lesson she has been taught. She acts in different ways around different people she knows and people she meets, but the problem is that she doesn't know who she really is any more. This quote made me feel strangely upset because it got me thinking of what really is real and what is not, but it also made me think about the reason behind acting different around different people. I came to the conclusion that, like all of us, Lindsey is scared of being judged for who she is, therefore changing to be accepted. I have definitely felt this way and I think that so has everybody else. Overcoming this is not easy, but I just hope that Lindsey can be able to discover herself, and will be able to stay true to this self.

Almost Done

There has been a lot more happening in the last few chapters that I read than I expected to. I mean, in the last chapters or so, Colin and Hassan came out of their comfort zone and went hunting with some other people, that surprised me a bit. But either way, Lindsey has yet to find out the reason behind her mother's want (or need) to sell part of their property to a guy that no one had ever heard of before. I am also curious about knowing who is the guy that Colin and Hassan saw Katrina with at the end of chapter 15. Anyway, I am really looking forward to continue reading what is left of the book. I honestly have no idea how it's gonna end since I think there are still a lot of things that have to be cleared up before the book ends.

Defining "Success"

Eureka?

Colin, Lindsey, and Hassan start interviewing residents at Gutshot in order to put the history of the town together, and, Colin and Hassan agree to stay at Hollis`s house in order to complete the job. While working for Hollis, Colin realizes that his theorem doesn`t work but, with the help of Lindsey, he changes the theorem in order for it to work with all of his relationships with the Katherines. Later on, Lindsey, Colin, and Hassan interview people at a nursing home, and are surprised to find out that Hollis (Linsey`s mom) is selling two hundred acres of her property to a guy named Marcus. This shocks Lindsey because she doesn't know any reasons that could justify her mom's need to sell some property. Colin suggests that she might need the money but Lindsey says that they don't need more money since her great-grandpa was the one who funded Gutshot`s biggest factory.

My Thoughts On...

“`She died in 1997. Heart attack. She was nothing but good and I was nothing but bad, but then she died, and I didn`t.` ” (Green, 81)

This quote is said by Starnes, who is the first person that Hassan, Colin, and Lindsey interview to complete with the job that Hollis gave them. While I reread this quote, I kept thinking about the 2011 movie, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which is based in the 2005 novel of the same name by  Jonathan Safran Foer. The movie is about Oskar Schell, a boy whose father dies in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Oskar was very close with his dad, closest than he was with his mom. You could argue that Oskar considered his dad to be good and his mom to be bad (or not as good), but then his dad died and his mom didn`t. Now, back to the book, I think that Starnes feels guilty of being the “bad” one in his relationship with his wife. I think that he wishes that he could've lived a little bit better, for her. The same happens in the movie (kind of), Oskar's mom understands that Oskar had a closer relationship with his dad, and that she is not as close to him as she would like. But, the difference with Starnes, is that, Oskar's mom actually tries to fix this in order to build a better relationship with her son.  

“And yes, again, that was it exactly. A retyper and not a writer. A prodigy and not a genius.” (Green, 91)

This quote is one of the many that explain Colin`s want to become some type of genius and matter to the rest of the world. But this single desire of Colin`s is very different from Lindsey`s. This is later part of a conversation between the two of them, but basically they discuss their opposite perspectives in becoming successful and mattering to the world. I learned from this conversation that Lindsey considers the idea of mattering to the world very absurd, and would much rather have an ordinary life in an ordinary town. This surprised me a lot, I guess I expected Lindsey to be Colin`s other half, which includes agreeing on their perspective of things. So, I guess, Lindsey and Colin would have very different definitions of the word “meaning”. But, this is what makes ultimately different and unique. While Lindsey is outside hanging out with people that she has known all her life in a town that she will probably live in all her life, Colin is inside working in a theorem that he hopes will change the lives of people he has never and will never meet.

"Because we are a cultural species. That

drive is what has made humanity so

powerful."

So, Then What?

The thing about books, is that they start to get really interesting around the middle. Like, just after the characters have been introduced but before they learn something valuable from their experiences. So, I'm currently in that part of the book. I guess that I was kind of waiting for it to happen but it still took me by surprise when it did. In the last few chapters, Colin finally had his “Eureka” moment, but later decided that it was absolute garbage and actually burnt down all of his formulas for his theorem. So, there's that. Also, Hollis is selling a part of her land to some dude no one's ever heard of and, although it shouldn't be that big of a deal, it kind of is (I just haven't figured out why exactly). I just hope that in the next few chapters Colin proves his intelligence to the rest of the world and Hollis stops being so mysterious (but I honestly doubt that will happen).

And Maybe When The Time`s Right

Eureka

John Green's 2006 young adult novel, “An Abundance of Katherines”, tells the story of Colin Singleton, who has just been dumped by his 19th girlfriend named Katherine and is trying to find a way to become a famous genius. Colin and his friend Hassan drive from Chicago to Gutshot, Tennessee, where they stop to visit the Archduke Franz Ferdinand`s (whose death started World War I) resting place. They befriend their tour guide, Lindsey Lee Wells, and meet her boyfriend, Colin, and her mom, Hollis. Colin seems to have his “Eureka” moment when he comes up with a theorem that explains the curve of any relationship based on several personality factors of each person. Later on, Hassan and Colin get hired by Hollis to interview residents of Gutshot in order to assemble an oral history of the town.

Figure It Out 

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. What a dirty lie.” (Green, 37)

I think that this quote is able to show Colin`s feelings regarding his breakup with Katherine XIX. Once she breaks up with Colin, he shows that he is genuinely heartbroken about Katherine. I guess that I expected Colin to be extremely antisocial and to be someone who wasn't able to show his deepest emotions to other people. Honestly, that is the way that most prodigies are portrayed in movies and TV shows (Sheldon Cooper), so this gave a different perspective of Colin even before I read the book. Additionally, I totally agree with Colin`s statement about the pain that words can cause, but his thoughts have also taught me that, even those who are considered to be different, can get just as hurt or feel just as much as everyone else.

“And that one tripped him up. Why did Ovid live in Ancient Rome in 20 BCE and not Chicago in 2006 CE? Would Ovid still have been Ovid if he had lived in America? (...) So did Ovid matter because he was Ovid or because he lived in Ancient Rome?” (Green, 44)

Just like Colin wonders about time and space, I have also wondered about the reasons for history. Not only mine or from people I know, but also from people that are famous, and specially people who have made history and that I've learned about in school. Colin made me wonder about all of the situations and events that happen or that need to happen in order to make a person famous or successful. Colin`s thoughts about Ovid living in America in 2006 also made me wonder if whether or not people are recognized for making a big discoverment or leaving an important legacy because of who they truly are or because of when they were alive or where they lived during that time. Finally, if Colin becomes a genius, will he be remembered by who he IS, or because he lived in America in 2006?

This movie shows how small changes
can completely change people`s futures.

What`s Next?

So far, the book has been great. It is, surprisingly, very funny and relatable. I cannot begin to express how surprised I was when Colin had his supposed “Eureka” moment in the story, but I was also very excited about it. However, I do hope that the book shows more about Lindsey Lee Wells since I have honestly no idea of what type of person she is or what her role in the story will be. I also wonder about the purpose of the oral history Colin and Hassan have to assemble for Hollis. I don't know how could Hollis use this in her job or even in her life.T