King Dork (King Dork Series) Paperback – February 12, 2008

Tom Henderson is the self-described King Dork. He exists near the bottom of the school social totem pole, but has a rich and varied life of the imagination, especially centered around a string of fictitious bands that he and his best friend create. The plot thickens when he discovers several books that his Dad owned and read in the early sixties when he was the age Tom is at the time of the action in the book. He makes one startling discovery about his father, the causes of his death, and how his relationships reach all the way into the present. Along the way the book chronicles his obsessions with books, music, bullies at school, his irritating stepfather, and, of course, girls.What I liked most about the book is how it combined a very funny first person narrative with a surprisingly interesting and compelling plot. The latter sneaks up almost unawares. I thought the novel was going proceed almost exclusively has a coming-of-age narrative, the only story being what Henderson reveals about his own inner transformation. But the overarcing story pulls everything together in ways that I scarcely anticipated at the time. The plot isn't as interesting as Henderson's narrative voice, but it is a nice addition.I got a huge kick out of Tom Henderson's musical judgments. Some of them are great (I completely agree that the Doors are the most overrated band in history -- they weren't bad, but neither were they anywhere near as good or important as contemporary bands like the Who), some iffy (he rates bands like Black Sabbath and the Sweet rather higher than most musically knowledgeable people do).

LOL! Which is about all I did while reading Frank Portman's KING DORK. Besides wanting to initiate Reader's Theatre and read passages aloud to my friends, family, or basically anyone within earshot. This clever parody of J.D. Salinger's CATCHER IN THE RYE is packed with enough sarcastic humor to make Mad Magazine look like Highlights for Children.Holden Caulfield, step aside for the new king in town: Tom Henderson, great American nobody, Chi-mo, Sheepie, and King Dork. His Hillmont High School life is a combination of unsuccesses--from his exploits with girls, to his wannabe band that doesn't even have a drummer and amps...or guitars, to his father killed in a hit and run (or is that just what they told everyone?), to his ground-proximity position on the social totum pole.But when his alphabetical-order friend, Sam Hellerman, drags him to this party where he meets the mysterious fake-mod Fiona (who disappears and leaves him wanting), his life spirals into a humorously-obsessed scavenger hunt for the first girl he's ever made out with. The spiral gets bigger when he finds an old copy of C.I.T.R. in a load of his Dad's old books and discovers a secret code within the pages. The Catcher Code, or something.Tom's desire to know more about his Dad, and making out with Fiona for that matter, leads him into experiences he never thought he'd have. Dead bodies, devil heads, shrinks, bloody noses, monks, a little red book, laundry receipts, the Bible, police investigations, an accidental fight, and tranquilizers. Cause without that kind of stuff, life stays sort of typical, you know?For a book that's as random as it is strategic, fresh as it is a copy, ordinary as it is hilarious, and smallscale as it is worldchanging, it won't be dethroning CATCHER IN THE RYE anytime soon. It's just a half step away from that special something a novel can do to my insides. I don't even know I can put my finger on it, besides to say that I didn't have to think. But I laughed out loud till I started to wonder if people thought I was faking it. And Tom's forever enshrined in my brain right there next to Holden. Maybe therein lies its genius.Reviewed by Jonathan Stephens

King Dork was simply "not my cup of tea." Author Frank Portman's writing is good, his character development is quite inventive, and his book is quirky and to some, it would be very unusually charming. I, on the other hand, found the protagonist totally irritating. I can see teens reading this and absolutely loving it, though. But I guess I'm just too old. In the liner notes, King Dork is called a punk rock novel. I don't know what that is. I do know that I read almost the entire novel before I figured out just when the story takes place. Maybe that's part of the punk rock angle, for the protagonist is fascinated with such an array of retro-rock music that I could not pin down just when he was living his life. His father was in high school in 1963. The protagonist was fourteen or fifteen at the telling of this story. The father had been dead for several years, but when I added the ages up, that put the kid in the 1980s, but then later his father's death was pinned to 1993. Add to my confusion the fact that the major novel being taught in the boy's school was The Catcher in the Rye. As an English teacher myself, I can state that I haven't heard of The Catcher in the Rye being taught in high school in years. So, drowned in confusion and not liking the main character, I admit I sped through the book, often skipping some of it. That being said, I should not even be reviewing it, but perhaps my "take" on this is different enough from others that it will be food for thought.

It is full of humor and mystery. Definitely not for kids under 16.

Loved the book, recommend it!

一応ヤングアダルトということで主人公は高校生で話の内容もそれなりに幼かったりするんですが反面書いた人が書いた人なのでかなり穿ってたり斜に構えてたり擦れっ枯らしてたりしてます。しかも主人公の造形はアンチ・アンチヒーローとも呼べたりアメリカの高校生活のかなり細かい描写（どこまで本当か知りませんが）（誰も言わない醜い部分まで）とそれにまつわるジョークなどそれなりに知識を要求されたり。日本人がすらすら読めるにはちょっと勉強しないと無理かもでその頃には高校あるあるネタについていけなくなってる可能性大（実際俺がそうだった）。しかし彼の音楽的背景を知るには最適！そのためだけに読んでもいい（リストとブログでも知れるけど）。あとアメリカ社会の階層構造についても勉強になるといったら言い過ぎ？映画化もされるようです。向こうではいくつぐらいの人がこういうのを読むんだろう？