Another young adult novel, Jodi recommended King Dork to me about six times, so I finally went out and bought it. I finished it tonight, and I'm going to miss this narrator.
It's the story of a misunderstood and unpopular (though that's the understatement of the span of humanity) teenage boy who finds his deceased father's copy of Catcher in the Rye and uses it to find out who his dad was, since his alcoholic, tranquilized, depressed mom doesn't talk about him.
Trouble is, I see this kid every day...or I will starting September 6th. It always saddens me in a way when I read y.a. novels where I know the kids, because it reminds me of how huge the gap is between "Us" and "them," and how detrimental teachers can be to students, even unintentionally.
Read this book. I thought the first 110 pages could have been shortened to about fifty (I think I said that in a different post) but starting on page 111 I couldn't put the book down. Literally. Walked around the house reading it.
It's also cool if you like music, because Chi-Mo (not the narrator's real name, again, read the book) is in a band and is almost as music savvy as our girl Jodi.
I'm reading two books now: Middlesex and Oryx and Crake. More updates to come!
1 comment:
I am so glad you loved the book! I am gonna send you two MP3s by Frank Portman, well one is by his band Mr. T Experience. One's "I Wanna Ramone You" and the other is "King Dork."
And, if it makes you feel any better, I have bullied just about everyone I know into reading this book.
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