Take a story's temperature by studying its tone. Is it hopeful? Cynical? Snarky? Playful?
Get ready with your best comebacks, because An Abundance of Katherines is told with some major edge. It's not dark or anything—it's just got a know-it-all attitude when it comes down to it. It isn't surprising, either—Colin is a major smarty-pants, so it makes sense that the book about him is too. We're talking footnotes, graphs, and formulas to keep you on top of things in the book.
If all that school stuff has you headed for the hills, don't worry—there's also a touching and endearing side to the novel as well. After all, we all know what it's like to want to fit in, or find the person of our dreams, or even just want to matter. Colin's search for all three of these makes us want to root for him, even if he is a smart-aleck.