How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
When it comes to girls (and in Colin's case, it so often did), everyone has a type. Colin Singleton's type was not physical but linguistic: he liked Katherines. And not Katies or Kats or Kitties or Cathys or Rynns or Trinas or Kays or Kates or, God forbid, Catherines. 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. When it comes to girls (and in Colin's case, it so often did), everyone has a type. Colin Singleton's type was not physical but linguistic: he liked Katherines. And not Katies or Kats or Kitties or Cathys or Rynns or Trinas or Kays or Kates or, God forbid, Catherines. 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. (3.26)
There you have it—we get a peak into Colin's dating history, and let's just say it ain't pretty. All he's ever dated are Katherines, and they are so mashed up together in his mind that they are no longer individuals. K-1 through 19 are just that: a series of numbers. They aren't even people anymore because they are so mixed up in his mind.
Quote #2
You're a very special person. Colin would hear this a lot, and yet—somehow—he could never hear it enough. (3.35)
When Colin is tested to see if he's a prodigy, he's told this, and tt seems like he's waiting to hear it again pretty much the entire novel. He wants to be somebody that people know is an all-star. That's a lot of pressure… for a toddler or a teen.
Quote #3
But she left anyway, and he was alone in his room, searching out anagrams for mymissingpiece in a vain attempt to fall asleep. (5.102)
This is pretty much the story of Colin's life: he falls in love with Katherine and then she dumps him. What's interesting here is that he tries to anagram mymissingpiece but can't. We don't think for one second that a whiz kid like Colin can't pick out the words in this phrase (um, hello… mince spies gym); instead, we think his inability to solve the anagram represents the fact that he's looking for something from Katherine that she can't give him. He think he needs someone to complete him, to make him original, but he's wrong, so Katherine isn't his missing piece.
Quote #4
"I mean, my boy over here is clearly the Primary Colin. There's no one like him. Colin, say 'unique' in as many languages as you can." Colin brought them forth quickly. This was a word he knew. "Um, único, unico, einzigartig, unique, уникáљнњiй, µoυακός, singularis, farid." Hassan was good at his job, no doubt—Colin felt a rush of affection toward him, and the recitation of the words caused something to wash over the omnipresent hole in his gut. (8.45)
How do we say impressive in all those languages? Colin doesn't just want to be unique, he even knows how to say it a bunch of different ways. This is an important word—and idea—to him; he wants to be a rock star and everybody to know it.
Quote #5
Colin backed away from the door then. It occurred to him that he'd never done anything else in his whole life. Anagramming; spitting back fact she'd learned in books; memorizing ninety-nine digits of an already known number; falling in love with the same nine letters over and over again: retyping and retyping and retyping and retyping. His only hope for originality was the Theorem. (9.93)
Poor Colin—we feel for him when he realizes that he's just a poser. He might know a bunch of languages and be able to pull up random factoids at a moment's notice, but he's not done anything that someone else did before him. That bothers him big time.
Quote #6
That's why people grow weary of listening to Dumpees obsess over their troubles: getting dumped is predictable, repetitive, and boring. They want to stay friends; they feel smothered; it's always them and it's never you; and afterward, you're devastated and they're relieved; it's over for them and just starting for you. And to Colin's mind, at least, there was a deeper repetition: each time, Katherines dumped him because they just didn't like him. They each came to precisely the same conclusion about him. (9.115)
Trust us: it's never fun getting dumped. But Colin takes it to a whole other level. He's not just down because he lost his honey—he's a goner because people don't like him. He's trying so hard to have his eureka moment that he can't do anything else.
Quote #7
"You called him Colin," repeated Colin, his voice catching now.
"Called who Colin?"
"TOC."
"No." Colin nodded. "Did I?" Colin nodded. "You're sure? Right, of course you're sure. Huh. Well, I'm sorry. That was an asshole move on my part." (13.24-27)
Colin flips out when Hassan calls TOC by his name, even though it is the guy's name too. So what's the deal? Colin wants to be one of a kind. The fact is, of course, that he just isn't… but that doesn't stop him from getting upset with Hassan.
Quote #8
"I'm full of s***. I'm never myself. I've got a Southern accent around the oldsters; I'm a nerd for graphs and deep thoughts around you; I'm Miss Bubbly Pretty Princess with Colin. I'm nothing. The thing about chameleoning your way through life is that it gets to where nothing is real. Your problem is—how did you say it—that you're not significant?" (14.55)
Lindsey shares this with Colin when they're in the cave together. It's easy to judge Lindsey for changing her personality on a whim, but at least she's honest about it. She, too, wants to fit in with everyone, so she makes that happen—the only problem is that she's not even sure who she is anymore.
Quote #9
Just as almost no true sentence beginning with I could be spoken by Lindsey, Colin was watching all the things he'd thought were true about himself, all his I sentences, fall away. Suddenly, there was not just one missing piece, but thousands of them. (15.86)
This is a major moment for Colin. He's finally figured out that what he remembers about his relationships isn't real, and it rocks his entire idea of himself. He thought he was the dumpee, but it turns out that he dumped a Katherine. This just shows us how all the characters are searching to define themselves, not just Lindsey.
Quote #10
Colin's skin was alive with the feeling of connection to everyone in that car and everyone not in it. And he was feeling not-unique in the very best possible way. (epil.32)
In the end, Colin discovers that he might not be the most unique child-prodigy-turned-adult who's ever walked the earth… and that's okay. He doesn't have to be defined by just one thing: a dumpee, a Colin, a Katherine-lover. Instead, he can figure out what he wants to be, even if someone else is like that too.