Andromeda Klein

By Frank Portman
Delacorte Press, $17.99, 424 pages

Fans of Frank Portman’s successful first novel King Dork may be a little weirded out at the enigma of the title-character Andromeda Klein.  No surprise here; tormented Andromeda deals with the bad hair, boyfriend and body issues like any other teen girl. But her other problems are far from the ordinary. In fact, they are far from anything in this physical realm. Among the many puzzles she has to solve, occult-obsessed Andromeda has to figure out these abstruse messages she believes are coming from her dead friend Daisy. Who is the King of Sacramento and why is he invading her dreams? Oh, and what does this text message mean? It comes from her on-again-off-again boyfriend Saint Steve, a.k.a. UNAVAILABLE.  The first chapters of the book start off very much like the lead character – obsessive, hard-to-read and slightly overwhelming. Readers should take heart, stick with it and read on to reveal its part Nancy Drew, part The Craft storyline, droll wordplay and an Occult 101 crash course. When stripped of its mystic shroud, Portman’s second novel reveals a highly digestible tale of a teenage girl who has communication problems on all levels (text messaging, the metaphysical and mishearing) and how she just tries to figure it all out. By the end of the book, Andromeda could possibly the best girlfriend you’ll never have.

Reviewed by Auey Santos