'King Dork' Audiobook Review

Audiobook: King Dork by Frank Portman
Ready by: Lincoln Hoppe
Genre: YA Lit

A few years ago I read Andromeda Klein, and while I ended up skimming much of the first half of the book, looney Andromeda stuck with me. She was this great mix of brash punk and sweet innocence. King Dork came before, so I was always curious about it. When I found it on the shelf, I hoped I'd find another Andromeda.

I found Tom, a dork with dreams of being in a rock band and a rampant imagination with a very exciting sophomore year to tell me about. And a pretty good story to boot.

The book description talks a lot about finding Catcher in the Rye among his dead dad's things as a major plot point. I didn't think so. It was the whole library that changed everything. And I loved all the band names Tom and his one friend would come up with. Names that included first album titles, credits and song. Also, Tom hates The Doors, which I quite agree with.

The one problem with this audiobook is Tom would trail off into wild, imaginative tangents -- so if I got distracted by merging traffic or what I was making for dinner, I'd be confused as to why Tom can suddenly fly or was being chased by KGB spies. An editor could have been a little more diligent with the red pen.

The narrator, Lincoln Hoppe, had a great voice that captured Tom's wryness and sarcasm. And it was a male voice which, up until now, I thought I had problems listening to. Must have been just some male voices that bug me. 

Grade: Green Light

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