DOCKER

by Gardner Patterson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 15, 1980

Chapters--literally, figuratively--in Docker Coe's ninth-grade year at Burfield Jr. High in ritzy Chesport, Conn. Redundant chapters too, with no plot or character development overall, lots of false leads and dead ends (the Coes moved from St. Louis, but that's just good for a few jokes, not the basis of culture shock or adjustment problems), even a minimum of carryover from one ha-ha episode to the next. In two successive chapters, Docker plays jokes on stereotypically unacceptable new-kids-in-town (a phoney cowboy, a preppie ladykiller); on other occasions the joke is on one or more obtuse, idiot-type teachers. Still other butts of humor are an overeager fat girl (whom Docker is conned by his mother into taking to a dance--which his regular girlfriend misconstrues, approvingly, as an act of charity) and a stuck-up girl actress. A couple of times, too, the joke is on Docker. Inconsistently and to no point, there are also a couple of serious episodes--Docker loses his virginity (discreetly and tepidly) on a vacation trip to Florida and realizes that, during a forest fire, he was in danger of losing his life. Presumably, Docker is meant to be a cutup; but most of this is flat and stale, and some of it is crude enough to be offensive.

Pub Date: Aug. 15, 1980

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Atheneum

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1980

Categories: FICTION