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Loading... King Dorkby Frank Portman
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. http://www.amazon.com/King-Dork-Frank... loved this book. sexual content Thomas Charles Henderson (aka King Dork, Chi Mo, Hender-pig, Sheepie) is just trying to survive Hillmont High School (Hellmont) when he finds his deceased father’s copy of The Catcher in the Rye. So begins a sophomore year filled with secret codes, family meetings, great bands, hippie mysteries, extra-curricular reading, tortuously tedious teachers, and semi- and super-hot girls. This is the funniest book I’ve read in a long time. King Dork doesn’t talk much but he’s a careful observer of life and, like Holden Caulfield in the book he detests, lets the reader into his brainful of frustrated misunderstandings, painful memories, imaginative theories, wry observations, and sarcastic comments. Although he doesn’t save the world, top the music charts, or marry a supermodel, King Dork does finally score a gig with his band; kiss not one but two girls; and gain fame, fortune and a head injury while shaking things up. Rock and roll. Synopsis: After 14 year-old musician and Tom Henderson finds a copy of The Catcher in the Rye which once belonged to his dead father, he finds a secret code among the pages which he tries to decipher in order to discover the truth about his father's death. My Opinion: With a lot of repetition and extreme colloquialism used, this book was sometimes hard to follow. The plot was also very thin, and parts were often dragged out. Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.com Right after I finished KING DORK, the debut novel from author Frank Portman, I sat down to write my review--and stared at my computer for fifteen very long minutes wondering exactly how to explain this book. KING DORK will do that to you--leave you speechless, not quite sure of how to put what you feel into words. I guess if I could only use two words to describe this book, I would choose "wonderfully odd." If Tom Henderson (aka King Dork) had to describe it, it would probably go something like this... "It's actually kind of a complicated story, involving at least half a dozen mysteries, plus dead people, naked people, fake people, teen sex, weird sex, drugs, ESP, Satanism, books, blood, Bubblegum, guitars, monks, faith, love, witchcraft, the Bible, girls, a war, a secret code, a head injury, the Crusades, some crimes, mispronunciation skills, a mystery woman, a devil-head, a blow job, and rock and roll." And that, ladies and gentleman, pretty much sums it up. "And I'm not even exaggerating all that much. I swear to God." If I met Tom Henderson in real life, and had a one-minute conversation with him, I would undoubtedly wonder 1) what the hell this guy was talking about, or 2) what the hell I was talking about when talking to him. Yes, it's that kind of a book. A story that starts with the simple task of Tom trying to find any old copy of THE CATCHER IN THE RYE and instead finding a marked-up, footnoted, annotated, high-lighted version his dead father once owned. It all goes downhill--or over the proverbial edge--from there. I've decided that there's simply no other way to accurately describe this book. I can't give you a plot outline without giving away the entire story, so you'll simply have to pick up a copy of KING DORK for yourself. I guarantee you won't be disappointed, and I can also guarantee that you'll never find better band names than Baby Batter, Ray Bradbury's Love-Camel, The Mordor Apes, or We Have Eaten All the Cake. Just as you'll never find a better one-liner than "Talk Won Ton to Me, You Crazy Asian Superstar." And that's all I've got to say about that. no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com (ISBN 0385732910, Hardcover)In Frank Portman's dazzling debut novel, frustrated song-writer and high school student Tom Henderson finds his dead father's copy of The Catcher in the Rye, and his life changes forever. Part social satire, part mystery, with a healthy dose of rock music (and angst), King Dork is one of our must-read favorites of the year.Bonus Content from Frank Portman Frank Portman (aka Dr. Frank) is not just an author, he's also a musician. We were lucky enough to get a few tracks and a few words from the man behind King Dork, his band The Mr. T. Experience, and the relationship between his book and his music. "King Dork"This is the "title track" for my new book. No matter how many times I say that (and I've now said it at least twice by my count) it still sounds strange...Anyhow, I wrote this song for my band, the Mr. T Experience, back in the mid-nineties (you can hear the electrified rock and roll version on the MTX album The Mr. T Experience... and the Women Who Love Them). While I was gingerly, sheepishly exploring the idea of trying to write a book, and not really knowing where to begin, Krista Marino (who was to become my editor at Delacorte) suggested that I try to turn a song into a novel as a way of getting started. I can't remember why I settled on "King Dork" as the song to "novelize," but I started thinking about the narrator/character of this song and after quite a bit of staring at a blank Word document and banging my head against the bar I eventually started typing. I didn't tell anyone at the time, but for months the file entitled "King Dork_(novel)_ms" had only the words "there's no way I can write a whole book, absolutely no way, who am I kidding?" on it. The fact that this did turn into a sort of novel in the end continues to mystify me. So this is an acoustic recording of the song that started it all, in effect. "I'm King Dork and I want you to be my Queen..." Listen to "King Dork" "Thinking of Suicide" "I Wanna Ramone You"
(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:08 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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