It wouldn't be coming-of-age lit if it didn't have at least some stuff about, well, coming of age, right (check out the "Genre" section for more on this)? Most of An Abundance of Katherines charts Colin's journey from child prodigy to awkward adolescent, and into adulthood. He's just graduated high school and has to figure out what he's going to do with his life. Here's the thing, though—Colin hasn't had your run-of-the-mill childhood, and in many ways he was practically an adult when he was a child. All that studying and reading meant that he never really had time to just be a kid, so he's not even sure how to act as an adult.
Questions About Coming of Age
- Is Colin's development stunted by the fact that he didn't have a normal childhood?
- How do Hassan and Lindsey help teach Colin about growing up? How do they make him act more like a teen?
- By the end of the book, is Colin an adult? Why or why not?
Chew on This
Even though Colin has missed out on some developmental landmarks while growing up, he has still been able to grow by thinking through very adult intellectual problems.
Colin's whiz kid status stunted him from ever maturing into a well-adjusted adult.