New York : Delacorte Press, c2006.
344 p. ; 22 cm.
Some books work for me and some don't. This one just didn't, which surprised me since it received a lot of very positive reviews.
As someone who has been working in public schools for over a decade, I found what Booklist calls "a humorous, scathing indictment of the current public education system" to be instead a cynical, crass and deeply dishonest portrayal of public school life. The high school of Dorkworld is a vicious place where faculty gladly and frequently bully students, where bullying by students is completely accepted and condoned, and where the academics are non-existent. That would all be ok, if the intention of hte book was to create a exaggerated parody of public high schools. Additionally, the teachers in Dorkworld are a bunch of imbeciles, bullies, fools, and/or pornographic criminals - and the academic world they preside over is one where even the AP classes offer little more than inane fluff.
Finally, the main "hero" of Dorkworld is supposedly an unappealing outsider subject to bullying, ridicule and insults - but as the novel ends it becomes apparent that he's really as crass as any of the pathological normals that he hates, considers himself better than everyone else, and somehow ends up as the sensual boy-toy of two rather attractive girls.
The writing is pretty good. Dialogue is well done. But for me this book just lacks heart.
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