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Mar 08, 2008

Paul rated it:

Awful.

The Learners features the same eternally naive, lovable (?), ball-less and ostensible like thirteen-year-old protagonist as The Cheese Monkeys (it's even subtitled "The Book After The Cheese Monkeys"), Happy (read: Hapless), now out of art school and working for an ad agency. Only this time, not content with simply focusing on something he's familiar with (graphic design), Kidd throws in a second storyline, that of real-life psychologist Stanley Milgram and his More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Nov 22, 2008

RandomAnthony rated it:

Apparently this Chip Kidd guy is some famous graphic artist/book jacket designer. I picked up the book from the library's "new" shelf initially because of the cool jacket, then checked it out because Augusten Burroughs about pees himself giving a back cover blurb.

The Learners focuses on identity, self-knowledge, graphic design/advertising, and Milligram's (sp?) Yale experiments. Mr. Kidd's sharp, fluid writing carries like interesting bar conversation put to paper. I m More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 17, 2008

oriana rated it:

Sigh. I've been thinking for the last few days about what I should say in this review. I love Chip Kidd's voice, you see, his snappy dialogue and his witty little characters and his charming descriptions. There's a lot of clever stuff in this book, too, including smart digressions on form vs. content, design in general, psychology, and clothing from the fifties. But the story... well it didn't really go anywhere. Or, rather, the places that it managed to go were not at all satisfying. To me. In More...

5 comments like (4 people liked it)

Mar 01, 2008

Susan rated it:

The first half of the book is somewhat slow at times (though the typography digressions are awesome!), but it really starts to pick up the pace right before the Milgram experiment.

The last third that follows is so brilliant I completely forgot any problems I had with the beginning. It reminded me a little of The Pillowman and also The Prestige (movie version). It has that absurd but very fragile quality to it that makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time, not sure when to do More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 02, 2008

Jason rated it:

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)

Any graphic designer worth their salt will already know who Chip Kidd is; he's the one who single-handedly transformed the subject of book design as we know it, the very first designer to regularly demand that his name appear on a book's dust jacket or copyright page. And in fact, back in More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 28, 2008

Shannon rated it:

I really wanted to like this, since I adored The Cheese Monkeys. But.. I'm not really sure how to feel about this. In some ways I think this sequel ruined Cheese Monkeys. The way Cheese Monkeys ended was a bit vague and mysterious an, I liked that. This takes all that away and continues.. and literally destroys some of the characters. I'm conflicted about how to rate this, though, because there were probably about 30 pages that I thought were brilliant... but most of it, the whole "plot" More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

May 09, 2008

Trish rated it:

I liked Kidd's "The Cheese Monkeys," the story of Happy's freshman year as an art major at an undistinguished state college, where he is buffeted by the harsh tutelage of Winter Sorbeck and by friendship with the bizarrely original Himillsly.

But I was disappointed by this sequel, which catches up with Happy after graduation, as he starts his advertising at the very firm where Sorbeck designed the Double Mint gum wrapper. Monkeys felt much more complete; this seems half-bake More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 25, 2008

Woodge rated it:

This is a sequel to the author's first novel, The Cheese Monkeys, where graphic designer Happy (a nickname), finds a job and then gets involved in Stanley Milgrim's notorious Obedience to Authority experiment. The story is set in 1961 and is mostly about Happy's reaction to participating in the expirement and about graphic design. The author is a well-known graphic designer himself, especially of books. It's a thin story though and I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as The Cheese Monkeys. It h More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 12, 2010

Roy rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Mar 23, 2009

Caroline rated it:

Book designer Chip Kidd's follow–up novel to "The Cheese Monkeys" is equally as witty and saturated with Graphic Design tid bits. I especially like the mention of the Millgram's Experiment that were actual experiments conducted in the 1960s that tested how humans can be pushed to commit terrible atrocities when influenced by a higher authority. Kidd gives respectful nods to typography, layout design, advertising, and other tools of design. He also remains incredibly historically accura More...

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Feb 03, 2011

Joseph rated it:

I listened to this on audiobook (unabridged, so I feel I can legitimately review it here) and found it to be exceptional in all respects. (Indeed, the superb job Bronson Pinchot did reading the book is, on its own, probably worth an extra star.) I don't want to give away the "core" subject matter, just in case anyone reading the book doesn't know what it is (as, in fact, I did not), but it's something I've always been fascinated by, and this book's treatment/exploration of it was truly More...

1 comment like

Sep 07, 2010

Paul rated it:

Chip Kidd is not a bad writer. The Learners is not a bad story. But somehow, neither Kidd nor his novel The Learners never really come full circle.

I never read The Cheese Monkeys, of which The Learners is supposed to be a stand-alone sequel. And it’s true, I didn’t feel like I was left out from not having read The Cheese Monkeys.

The premise of The Learners involves a young artist fresh out of college named Happy. He wants to get a job at an ad agency in New Haven becaus More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 27, 2009

Sean rated it:

I found this book on the remainder table at Urban Outfitters for $5. I knew Chip Kidd by virtue of his ginormous body of work doing book covers, and was intrigued by his efforts as a writer. It makes sense that he would be interested in trying his hand, as it were, and I found this second novel to be quite good. It's setting is the same mileau as my favorite tv show, "Mad Men", and therefore a must read for me, especially at $5.

Kidd utilises many different techniques of More...

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Apr 21, 2009

Mallory rated it:

If you’ve heard the name Chip Kidd before, it’s probably because you’ve read a book he’s worked on. Not that he’s written many books; he only added the profession of author to his resume in the last couple years. But he has gained notoriety by designing book jackets for everyone from Michael Crichton to David Sedaris, and some authors have him exclusively under contract to design their book covers. He’s been called the closest thing to a rock star in graphic design. This guy is good at what More...

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Jul 15, 2010

chee rated it:

"Fun" or "light" aren't the right words at all, but I felt like both this and "The Cheese Monkeys" kind of fell into a sort of weird dark fluff category for me. They were both more or less engaging while I was reading them, although I sometimes maybe felt like they were a bit too kitschy or gimmicky (not that I'm generally above a good gimmick, just saying). But I suppose once I was done with them, that was that.

Neither would be a necessarily bad option More...

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Jan 06, 2010

Danielle rated it:

I can't even begin to explain why this book fascinated me so. I haven't read the precursor to this (yet) and basically picked it off my boyfriends hands when he was finished with it.

The seamless way Kidd breezes through New Haven, making it feel as real in 2008 as it did in the 60's was a really important part of making me comfortable with the novel. I was truly sucked in, he is a master of setting the scene (graphic design does that I hear)

Also, the laugh out loud moment More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 23, 2009

Natalie rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Jun 01, 2011

lisa rated it:

nhnfcs MOAR CHIP KIDD PLS! i am really happy (hah) with how he dealt with the narrator's name, which is something i was kind of concerned about. (his narrator has no name, which is how it should be. but he goes by "happy" cos that's what winter called him <3) i am also really happy that about two years before i start thinking i might want to do something, chip kidd writes a book about it that makes me realize i am insane. and i am happy that i can realistically pretend that the narr More...

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Feb 05, 2009

Bookmarks Magazine added it

Graphic designer and novelist Chip Kidd is best known for his smart book-jacket designs for Donna Tartt, David Sedaris, and Michael Crichton, among others. He used his innovative design elements to explore the relationship between form and content in The Cheese Monkeys, and he employs the same design virtuosity here, though critics diverged in opinion about how much virtuosity, exactly, was enough. While most reviewers praised Kidd's design talent, a few thought he courted gimmickry with his pag

More...

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Mar 17, 2011

Geoffrey rated it:

Kidd is definitely a graphic designer first and a writer second...but he does have some talent as a writer. His dialogue is funny and snappy and he's really good at integrating design ideas into his stories (I'd be thrilled if he wrote an entire book on design methodology). The Learners takes some unexpected dark turns and Happy (the protagonist) makes some odd choices that I'm not sure Kidd "earned."

This is probably a 3 star book if you're only examining the story, but the More...

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Mar 11, 2009

Purlewe rated it:

the new Chip Kidd book is out and well.. I just read a magnificent paragraph.

She was typing again. Now, obviously she was a stranger to me, but I already suspected that even if I were to lie on the floor in front of her with a meat axe growing out of my head, in a pool of my own hot hemoglobin, the probability of Miss Preech calling an ambulance would be remote in the extreme- much less a cab, right now... I rang one for myself from the corner payphone.

This is as good as More...

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Mar 31, 2009

Randle rated it:

This was a fun book. Chip Kidd is a funny, funny guy. The narrative got a little loose here and there, but seems to have been done with intent as certain passages become abundantly clear in context past a certain point in the reading. The things I liked best about this book was the humor, the main story (the Milgram experiments of the early '60s - look it up. Fascinating stuff) and the packaging, frankly. Chip Kidd is a celebrated graphic designer for books and novels and he uses his talent More...

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Mar 27, 2009

matt rated it:

Having read a feature of his in the NYT magazine and a few suggestions to read unfortunately titled The Cheesy Monkeys, I had relatively high expectations. While Kidd is largely credited for his reinvention of book illustration, his literary skills do not yet match his keen sense of aesthetics. Historical fiction centered on the Milgram experiments might sound good on paper (does it?) but it never quite materializes to anything beyond the ethical dilemmas found in an intro to psychology text. Th More...

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Jan 23, 2009

Sarah rated it:

It gets 4 stars because I like Chip Kidd so much, and because I liked The Cheese Monkeys so much. But if someone else wrote this, I'd probably give it 2. I'm lame.
Anyways, it's funny, as funny as TCM in parts -- I sat in bed and laughed anyways -- just not as consistently funny, and just not as consistently clever. Now that I technically work in a marketing-type role (although, the UC is about as un-marketing-ish as you can get) I have to admit I probably have more interest in the book tha More...

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Sep 20, 2011

Julie rated it:

Another brilliant book. I immensely enjoyed the one previous to this, which follows Happy's journey through college and is again a tragedy-comedy. Now he is out in the 'real world', the big bad world of advertising, a sensitive soul a bit ahead of his time. Again, edgy, hilarious (there is one line that had me chuckling all night long), moving, poignant. One of those great books you want to buy all your friends.

Utterly fantastic! Highly recommend.

The end is brilliant, by th More...

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Oct 29, 2008

Kate rated it:

Chip Kidd revolutionized the ways books are packaged. He’s a genius of typesetting and design. His first novel, the Cheese Monkeys, is about art students who are trying to get through a grueling term in 2D design, and the book itself is an ingenious design. The outside edge, for example, reveals a message when manipulated a certain way. It is a book that would loose a great deal if read on a Kindle.

In his sequel to The Cheese Monkeys, the date is now 1961, and the same characters rea More...

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Nov 01, 2008

ambimb rated it:

I finished this book a few days ago and have really enjoyed it. But one way I know it was a really good book is that I continue to think about it. It's deceptively simple, almost gimmicky at first read, but it has surprising depth and multiple layers. It's pop-cult timely because it's about a 1961 ad agency. Hello "Madmen." So that's fun. But it's also about language, about the inadequacy of the many modes of expression available to us as humans, and as I noted upon finishing it, it en More...

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Jul 17, 2008

Megan rated it:

Synopsis
A sequel to book designer Kidd's first novel, The Cheese Monkeys, this beautifully composed paean to pre-computer graphic design pitches recent graduate Happy (his nickname), now 21, into the mercantile halls of down-at-the-heels New Haven ad agency Spears, Rakoff and Ware. Kidd paints the agency with all the customary conventions of a mid-century office culture farce: lacquered secretaries, lunchtime scotches and broken-down businessmen. Happy wiles away his time in blissful drudg More...

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Jul 14, 2008

Elise rated it:

Very quick read. Chip Kidd is an amazing graphic designer that has made me judge a book by its cover (in a good way) on many an occasion (Donna Tartt's The Secret History, Augusten Burroughs' A Wolf at the Table"). The Learners is a sequel to his 1st novel, The Cheese Monkeys, and I definitely recommend reading that first.

It's his witty one-liners that make up for any plot flaws along the way. Some of my favorites were:
"She doesn't go to extremes; she lives there More...

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May 19, 2008

Mikhail rated it:

I found this sequel to The Cheese Monkeys better than its predecessor, mostly because it's a more consistant book than Chip Kidd's first effort. The thing that bothered me the most about the Cheese Monkeys, but wasn't much of a problem in The Learners, was how drastic the tone had changed in the last forty pages of The Cheese Monkeys. The tone changes here as well from beginning to end, but it's a more controlled, gradual change that occurs through out the course of the entire novel, rather th More...

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