Frank PortmanReseñas

The title of the book gives nothing about the plot away, nor does the book jacket. In fact, nothing in the book indicates what the book is about until about midway through and that is a long time to wait for young adult readers. On page 2 this paragraph can be found: “One dream, one card, an otherworldly instant message, and dozens of synchs involving swords, boxes, and the vexing case of Twice Holy Soror Daisy Wasserstrom: it had been an unusually weedgie week.” Huh? The reader does not figure out what these words mean until later in the book and by that time most readers would have given up on the tarot and occult arcana and lack of a discernible plot. Even someone with slight knowledge of tarot cards and the occult is confused. If a teen can get through the first hundred pages or so, he or she might be mildly amused by how hard-of-hearing Andromeda mishears things her parents and friends say, her bully of a friend Rosalie van Genuchten’s catchphrase “I’m just kidding,” and her Holy Guardian Angel, Huggie.

Like a poorer version of The Perks Of Being a Wallflower. I couldn't like any of the characters in the first 50 pages, and the first 100 didn't change my mind. Too bad, since I was looking forward to reading this!

Not a realistic book by any means, and I have to agree with many of the other reviewers that it has its flaws. But I died of laughter every few minutes while I read it. Literally one of the most hilarious pieces of text I've ever read, at least in terms of my sense of humor. And despite how ridiculous and impossible most of the story would be in real life, I actually found the main character more relatable than most male characters in teen fiction.

King Dork tells from the POV of Chi Mo founding his dad's copy of Cather in the Rye fill with notes. Along with a mystery Chi Mo also has to deal with being the low of the low in high school.
The story is interesting and the narrator is one of the best narrative I have heard. The high school is exactly like any high school with a little more violence then what I had experience. This book does take place in the 90s?

The story does move away from the main plot from time to time. Everything does get solve in the end. Over all it a good story that pokes fun of Cather in the Rye. The characters are fun and are likeable. I'm sure Frank Portman does improve in his other books.

King Dork was written 8 years prior to this one, so the audience is definitely different. If you are going to read this book, I recommend that you read King Dork first. It is marketed as a YA book, but I think it might be enjoyed more by 13 year old boys.

The book follows shortly after the events of King Dork, picking up with Tom Henderson after he's recovered from his near-fatal tuba injury, and trying to cope with returning to highschool. Unfortunately, the school is being shut down and he is being moved to Clearview High, away from his best friend Sam Hellerman. He also has to relearn how to navigate the cliques and other normals in a new school where friendships and bonds are already formed.

I found that nothing much happens in the books, but I kept reading because I assumed something would. It seems to follow the same general plot of King Dork. Tom deals with high school, navigating girls and parents and teachers and all the rest, which culminates in a fight and a concert that goes poorly. Tom's story isn't really a story. I probably would not recommend this one. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book via Netgalley.

Portman does a nice job of putting us in the shoes of the narrator, which doesn't really soften how immature he is. Portman does an even better job of capturing what it's like for a young person obsessed with music, romance, and nerdy things (I was the same way, so I feel like I can comment). But the book as a whole just doesn't jive. I kind of hated Dr. Frank's writing, and everything bumbles along to the end. (This was probably intentional, but it didn't make it enjoyable reading.)

King Dork is the story of a boy, Thomas Henderson, who discovers his father's old copy of Catcher in the Rye. The book itself contains a cipher, clues that he becomes convinced will help him make sense of not only everything going on in his life now, but also his father's death.

The book is humorous, and full of both good-natured humor and enough allusions to classic rock to make any fan happy. The narration is particularly good, the self-conscious pretension of it lends the book an entirely charming tone.

All in all, I enjoyed this book and found it a pleasure to read. While I will say that I think that Tales of the Madman Underground was a better book overall, this one comes up as a close second in the list of Catcher in the Rye type YA books.

This book was ok...reminded me to much of Catcher in the Rye, which I couldn’t stand when reading that book. I also thought it was a bit hard to follow.

Narrated by Lincoln Hoppe.

Goodreads Teaser:

Tom Henderson (a.k.a. King Dork, Chi-mo, Hender-fag, and Sheepie) is a typical American high school loser until he discovers the book, The Catcher in the Rye, that will change the world as he knows it. When Tom discovers his deceased father's copy of the Salinger classic, he finds himself in the middle of several interlocking conspiracies and at least half a dozen mysteries involving dead people, naked people, fake people, ESP, blood, a secret code, guitars, monks, witchcraft, the Bible, girls, the Crusades, a devil head, and rock and roll. And it all looks like it's just the tip of a very odd iceberg of clues that may very well unravel the puzzle of his father's death and oddly reveal the secret to attracting semihot girls.
Being in a band could possibly be the secret to the girl thing but good luck finding a drummer who can count to four.

A beautifully written tale, full of teenage angst and confusion as portrayed by the main character, Tom/Chi-Mo. Chi-Mo is way cooler than he thinks he is, at least from an outside, adult perspective. Full of interesting insights, great at expressing the perpetual confusion that is being a teenager - particularly an unpopular one.

Sam Hellerman - Tom's best, and only, friend. Tom attributes far more deviousness to Sam than actually exists - or at least that is shown to the reader. However Sam does seem to have a certain ability to slide out of situations, leaving Tom in awe of his friend. But then Tom seems to assume that everyone else is able to read expressions, even those shown only in the eyes, to the same extent that he believes he is able to.

Fiona is Tom's mysterious make-out girl. Their make-out session may have been orchestrated by Sam, or Sam himself got played when he was contracted to help the girls with a project of theirs. At least this is what Sam tells atom, knowing atom would never actually confirm this with the popular girls. But what Sam didn't count on was Tom developing an obsession around the mysterious Fiona, an obsession he can't, and won't, let go of.

In the course of Tom's attempt to reconnect with his dead father he stumbles upon a mysterious note written to his Dad when he was roughly the same age that Tom is now. Once again Tom goes into full fledged obsession mode. His obsessions are something of a theme throughout the book, if not a vehicle to move the story forward. But they are brilliantly crafted, completely engaging the reader thanks to Tom's reactions to the world around him.

This is one of the more enjoyable books I read in 2014, and has left me eager to read the sequel as soon as possible. Mr. Portman really nailed the development of his characters, making them absolutely enchanting, not too mention riveting. The way he matched the progression of the story to the characters' development was brilliantly done and speaks volumes about his writing ability.

I would like to thank Delacorte Press & NetGalley for granting me a copy of this e-book to read in exchange for an honest review. Though I received this e-book for free that in no way impacts my review.

Goodreads Teaser: "From Frank Portman comes the long-awaited sequel to the beloved cult classic King Dork, of which John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars, said, “Basically, if you are a human being with even a vague grasp of the English language, King Dork will rock your world.”
Aside from the stitches and the head wound, Tom Henderson is the same old King Dork. He's still trying to work out who to blame for the new scar on his forehead, the memory loss, and his father's mysterious death. But illicit female hospital visitations, The Catcher in the Rye, and the Hillmont High sex-pocalypse have made him a new man.
What doesn't make you stronger can kill you, though, and tenth grade, act two, promises to be a killer. Tom's down one bloodstained army coat, one Little Big Tom, and two secret semi-imaginary girlfriends. Now his most deeply held beliefs about alphabetical-order friendship, recycling, school spirit, girls, rock and roll, the stitching on jeans, the Catcher Code, and the structure of the universe are about to explode in his face. If only a female robot's notes could solve the world's problems, he'd have a chance. But how likely is that?
King Dork Approximately--it feels like the first time. Like the very first time."

Having read King Dork I must admit I was eagerly anticipating more of the same with this sequel. But sadly, for me, this book came off feeling forced. What made the original story charming and quirky felt contrived and overdone in the sequel. That's not to say that there weren't some entertaining parts in the story, just that overall I found this one to lack the magic of the original.

While there were parts that rang true to the characters we'd come to know and love in the first book, they were simply to few and far between. Even the writing felt stilted, which was supremely disappointing. The whole book was a letdown for me.

KING DORK APPROXIMATELY by Frank Portman is the long anticipated sequel to the 2006 young adult cult-classic KING DORK.

Once again, the author is able to successfully channel the sarcastic male adolescent. This coming-of-age story pokes fun at everything from public education to teen love. Teen readers who enjoyed the music and cultural references in the first book will be happy to see these elements in the sequel. However since it’s been a decade since the first book was published, so it’s difficult to predict what today’s youth will think of the vinyl vs CD debates and clunky cellphones.

Picking up where the first book leaves off in 1999, the story meanders through a series of subplots including a first girlfriend and band show, but lacks the engaging plot of the first book. However the “slice-of-life” approach is likely to appeal to it’s anti-establishment audience.½

This book was not a quick read, and I often found myself putting it down and walking away. Perhaps it is because I am not a fifteen year old boy, but as a teacher of fifteen year old boys, I don’t see any of my students picking up this one and loving it. As a self-aware unreliable narrator (“put your trust in my gentle care”), Tom’s attempt at witticism often falls flat, and he is not believable as a self-proclaimed dork. Too often, he uses a word in a sentence and immediately questions if the word is correct. The constant repetition of “if…means what I think it does” is irritating, and the stereotypical nerd would be more confident in his vocabulary...see my full review on reviewscomingatya.blogspot.com.

Being of the nerd persuasion, I wanted to like this a lot more than I did. Tom is an angsty teen, yes, a dork, but he does have a close pal Sam and they're constantly starting bands with ever-changing names. They even actually play in public sometimes. Being an angsty teen, Tom also has girl problems. Mainly, who is the mysterious Fiona he met and made out with at a party? Is that even her real name? Trying to find Fiona, he encounters another strangely willing girl who hooks up with him when her other boyfriend isn't around. And there's his deceased father - did he kill himself, what do the mysterious jottings in his old books mean, and can the evil assistant principal shed any light? There is a sequel forthcoming, and I guess I'd read it if it fell into my lap (or appeared on the Times book giveaway table), but I won't go out of my way.

This book was long, tedious, and boring. By the time we got to any sort of real plot development or advancement (approximately 250 pages into a 340 page book), I had completely stopped caring, even though there is a constant barrage of information and epiphanies for the last 100 pages or so. Maybe I just don't care about the inner ramblings of teenage boys, or I'm too jaded and far-removed from my high school days to appreciate what this book is trying to do, but I would not recommend it to anyone.

Loved King Dork, just couldn't embrace this one as much. Took me awhile to finish this one. I'll be eagerly waiting for his next book still.

Loved King Dork, just couldn't embrace this one as much. Took me awhile to finish this one. I'll be eagerly waiting for his next book still.

I liked this book a lot at first. The story is, in many ways, charming. But by the end, i concluded that the frequent amount of blow jobs and other sexual activities portrayed as happening among high school kids was entirely unrealistic. At least among the high school kids I knew.
It's a damn shame, too, because this book was very funny and I started out really liking it. But every girl he encounters can't wait to give him a blow job, and I dont know, wishful thinking on the part of the author perhaps?
Still, there are good things about this book.

Best part besides being brutally funny is the band names the characters come up with.

Don't like the way the girls in this book are portrayed (I definitely got the feeling that the book was written with the fantasies of teenaged boys in mind and without thinking too hard about the reactions of a female audience). On the other hand, I really liked the way the awkwardness of the relationship between Tom and his mom and stepfather was described: that was genuinely funny and kept me hooked.

I heard the audio version of the book, which (although perfectly well-performed) perhaps doesn't work as well as the text would in print (the reading out of the code letters, the 'devilhead' repetition).

Arianna Pogact
Mrs.Waldman
English10A
12 January 2012
DHS15P1

What do Tom Henderson and The Catcher in the Rye have in common? An old copy can help him solve some mysteries about his dad. King Dork by Frank Portman is a fiction novel with some mystery and sarcastic comedy mixed in. This story follows a typical high school loser for 4 months as you discover things about his school, his friend, his family, the band he’s trying to start, a drummer who can’t count to four, and how The Catcher in the Rye has to do with any of this.
Tom Henderson refers to himself as King Dork because, as he puts it: “I’m small for my age, young for my grade, uncomfortable in most situations, nearsighted, skinny, awkward, and nervous. And no good at sports.” Tom’s dad died when he was eight in what the newspaper’s vague details call a car accident, but to Tom it always seemed like there was more to it. He keeps trying to connect the dots with the time of the accident, who else might have been there, why was he there, and the way the crash was set up (as if it was planned). Since his mom isn’t the best person to talk to about his dad, his step- dad is just awkward, and the rest of Hillmont High School is filled with people who make fun of him, the only person he has to talk to about all of this is his only friend Sam Hellerman. Sam’s the bassist in their band.
Sam and Tom actually don’t talk about his dad at all. Instead they talk more about what their band is going to be called and what part they will play in it. That is, until their school makes them read The Catcher in the Rye and Tom goes into the attic to find an old copy of his dad’s. In the old copy there are weird codes and underlinings that Tom feels may all be connected somehow. Now, I can’t go too much more into the story without giving it all away, so you should read the book if you want to find out what happens.
I felt that this book was a good and I don’t regret reading it. The little sarcastic remarks throughout the story provided a comic relief that made me laugh through the whole story no matter what was happening. If you’re into music, mystery, comedy, or just easy leisure reading, then I think you will love this book.½

I wanted to love this book. I found the narration absolutely friggin hilarious, and the voice was just great. I really didn't love the ending though. It was a bit of a let down, really. I'm not as upset about the portrayal of women as some - I mean this story is written from the eyes of a young highschool boy. I just liked the main character a lot more in the first 3/4 of the book than I did in the final chapters.

Andromeda Klein is a witch, er, occultist, with a hearing problem, quarreling parents, a long-gone boyfriend and a dead best friend. She seeks guidance/solace in her Tarot cards but begins to get messages from her friend Daisy and "synchs" (sychronizations) begin to occur with increasing frequency. Like King Dork, where the author's asides and digressions are as interesting as the story, this novel takes its time getting where it's going. The occult references are numbing and without any grounding. The book succeeds most when it focuses on Andromeda and her struggles as an outsider trying to find a place in high school society. The book has a surprisingly happy, satisfying ending. The reader who perseveres will find a real treat.

King Dork tells the tale of ninth-grader Tom Henderson and his geeky pal Sam Hellerman, both lovers of early British Invasion rock-n-roll and haters of Salinger's Catcher in the Rye. Tom can't stand how every teacher at Hillmont (Hellmont) High School reveres this work, angrily insisting that any student caught in the halls without their own personal copy of the book would most certainly be suspended indefinitely. According to Tom:

They [teachers] live for making you read it. When you do read it you can feel them
all standing behind you in a semicircle wearing black robes with hoods, holding candles.
They're chanting "Holden, Holden, Holden..." Too late, man. I mean, I've been around the
Catcher in the Rye block. I've been forced to read it like three hundred times, and don't tell
anyone but I think it sucks (p.12).

When Tom uncovers a box of old books that belonged to his father, who died somewhat mysteriously years ago, he finds a tattered and heavily marked up copy of Catcher. The scribblings are cryptic, but Tom is determined to decode them in order to get to know the father he lost so early just a little bit better, and, it turns out, to possibly unravel the mystery surrounding his death. Filled with great humor, real insight, and a genuine sense of what it's really like to be a middle school outcast, King Dork is one of the most purely pleasurable books I've read in ages.

Teenage angst, first sex, social satire and of course, rock and roll. When a kid pegged by a gradeschool vocation test for a career in the priesthood is branded with the nickname “Chi(ld) Mo(lester)”, you know high school will be not be easy. He and his best friend, another a social cast who plays the clarinet, dream up band after band, designing album covers and and song titles, long before they even acquire an electric instrument.

The school is staffed by time-serving incompetents, like the English teacher who shows students how to mispronounce big words, and the sadistic principal who actually turns out to be a real criminal. And yet the kid is in love with words, though he doesn’t trust them yet. Even if he sees how adults have built a ridiculous cult around counter-cultural novels like “Catcher in the Rye”, he is still moved by it and drawn into the world of hidden meanings.

Some of the best passages deconstruct the culture of the sixties. The image of older Jimmy Buffet fans setting out drinks with little umbrellas, donning straw hats, biting their lower lip and doing a kind of dance-walk is a great argument for punk. All the adults look ridiculous, and of course, they are.

This is a fun read and will tempt you to share many passages aloud. Restrain yourself, if you can.