Tolog Review: King Dork

King Dork
by Frank Portman
reviewed by Catherine Bauer

King Dork, by Frank Portman, is an offensive portrayal of high school youth. Not only does the book employ offensive and derogatory language toward women, it stereotypes high school youth, portraying teenage girls as sexually loose and boys as ill mannered and focused only on sex and beating up the weak. None of the characters think of anything of consequence. Instead, they focus on sex, drugs and rock n' roll “Everything else is trivia.” as they simultaneously cling to youth and struggle for identity and adulthood.

Ironically, despite all of the offense and shallow conversation, the book is interesting. We find the main character, Tom, funny and sarcastic in his pursuit of knowledge about his father's death. It takes the reader on the journey of a lifetime, a young boy's quest to discover the truth behind his father's death. After discovering a copy of The Catcher in the Rye with coded language written between the pages, we soon learn that the purported cause of his father's death was not what it seemed. And, in the midst of all this, Tom still has to make his way through high school being one of the only remotely intelligent kids there. He is an outsider by all means, but he realizes that “One day they'll [the “normals”]wake up and realize that we were right about everything all along.”

Next to Tom's side waivers young Sam Hellerman, a lost soul in the mass of 'normals' usually high on Tom's mother's pills providing insights and information that only the most insightful characters can understand. He “...is a criminal genius.” and helps in all of Tom’s excursions and crazy journeys in seeking the truth. Surprisingly, Sam seems to be the voice of reason throughout the book, despite his almost constant drug induced state.

Adults too are portrayed as sad, morally corrupt, purposeless people. The adults charged with the care and protection of the youth instead exploit and abuse them. The reader learns throughout the book that the journey from youth to adulthood can be long and hard and has its ups and downs.