The Cheese Monkeys: A Novel in Two Semesters
by Chip Kiddpublished
2002
(first published 2001)
by Harper Perennial
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binding
Paperback, 288 pages
setting
United States
isbn
0060507403
(isbn13: 9780060507404)
description
From People Who Liked It
"It is rare for a book to produce uncontrollable laughter as loud as this one did. The narrator is at a...more
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Next on my list out of the four books I spontaneously bought was Chip Kidd’s ‘The Cheese Monkeys’, subtitled ‘A Novel in Two Semesters’. For those not familiar with the author’s name, you’d probably be familiar with at least a few pieces of his work, given he’s basically designed every worthwhile book cover on the planet (or at least that’s the impression his wiki gives). It’s kind of obvious that this is a book telling of design, as the book itself has a few quirky features,...more
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Read in March, 2007
I'm a little rattled at the moment. I just finished reading this not more than 5 minutes ago and the shift in mood that takes place near the end of the book took me by such horrified surprise that I still haven't completely recovered. The last forty pages belong to a much darker novel.
Previous to those gloomy pages I'd been enjoying myself considerably. As an art student myself, it was very easy to relate. Some of the most enjoyable moments are the various critiques, where the students pres...more
Previous to those gloomy pages I'd been enjoying myself considerably. As an art student myself, it was very easy to relate. Some of the most enjoyable moments are the various critiques, where the students pres...more
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Read in July, 2008
recommended to Katie by:
the library's "surprise!" shelfrecommends it for: Hannah
WHAT the?... I just finished this, and as soon as I finish reviewing it, I'm going to go search out all the reviews with SPOILERS so I can hear someone talk about the ending.
This book is kind of like if you took Donna Tartt, Thomas Pynchon, David Sedaris, J.D. Salinger, and all those episodes of Six Feet Under where Claire goes to art school and whirred them up in a blender... Not a bad concoction in the end. And I don't mean to suggest Kidd is derivative. He actually has a pretty fearles...more
This book is kind of like if you took Donna Tartt, Thomas Pynchon, David Sedaris, J.D. Salinger, and all those episodes of Six Feet Under where Claire goes to art school and whirred them up in a blender... Not a bad concoction in the end. And I don't mean to suggest Kidd is derivative. He actually has a pretty fearles...more
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Read in June, 2008
I just glanced at some earlier reviews from readers to make sure I didn't miss something on this one, and the second review I saw (from Billy) perfectly described my reaction to this novel. It's about 270 pages, the first 220 or so of which are incredibly entertaining and among the few times I've enjoyed an author's attempt at rendering life in the college scene.
Then, as things are rolling beautifully along, the bottom falls out of this book, and the whole plot spirals out of control. Inde...more
Then, as things are rolling beautifully along, the bottom falls out of this book, and the whole plot spirals out of control. Inde...more
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recommends it for:
whoever enjoys Salinger or Egger books
At first, based off the first twenty pages or so, I really thought I wouldn't like this book at all. It just couldn't grab my attention. I also believed that there was a threat of the novel being too precious and pretentious for it's own good. And, a las, it is both of those things at the same time, but not too a sickening level. There are defenitley moments in this novel where the dialogue and chracter's behaviors are completey contrived, most of which--surprise! surprise!--occur with Hi...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommended to Ulf by:
Blairrichardsonrecommends it for: drama queens, prima donnas and those who enjoy their company
Quickness: Three weeks ago I watched and listened to the author field questions from one jovial local designer friend of his who'd joined forces with a local chapter of a graphic designers union for the purpose of said Q&A. Kidd was suitably entertaining without catering too much to the assembled five dozen, mostly adoring fans. A week thereafter a dear designer friend of mine gifts me Kidd's two published novels for my birthday. The next week and a half go to reading-waste as a result o...more
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Read in October, 2002
recommends it for:
art school kids, lovers of graphic design, david sedaris fans
I read this years ago but I've still got my copy sitting proudly on my bookshelf as it is signed by Chip Kidd himself, whom I met at a reading he did in Dallas shortly after the book hit the shelves. Kidd is best known for his work as a graphic artist, specifically book cover art. His biggest client is John Updike, even though I'm pretty sure Updike says he hates Kidd's writing. Chip Kidd's best-known cover is probably for Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park, the logo of which ended up on the mo...more
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Read in May, 2007
recommends it for:
Graphic Designers, Art Students
This is a quick read and mostly enjoyable. The cover and title pages have really great design work, as Kidd is known for, and the book is worth picking up for that reason alone.
I've heard a lot of critics say that it's extremely predictable and it sort of is in that "crazy teacher that students hate and then bond with" kind of way. What it has that movies and books of this tired genre lack are a few good twists, a lot of good dark humor and a teacher whose inspirational speeches ha...more
I've heard a lot of critics say that it's extremely predictable and it sort of is in that "crazy teacher that students hate and then bond with" kind of way. What it has that movies and books of this tired genre lack are a few good twists, a lot of good dark humor and a teacher whose inspirational speeches ha...more
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Read in May, 2008
Um, so I was at Vromans in Pasadena, pacing up and down the fiction aisle with no particular book in mind, when I spotted The Cheese Monkeys. The design of the book was intriguing and the author notes mentioned his upbringing in Reading, Pennsylvania - an old industrial city now famous for its outlet shopping, to which a yearly pilgrimage was made with my mother and grandmother for my back-to-school purchases, and which holds many fond memories involving deals on irregular panties and bad food-...more
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Now I remember why I loved this book. I don't know why it took me years to re-read it.
Although the ending felt moderately abrupt and overdramatic, I guess one could say it ties in with the desperation the students felt after a semester with Sorbeck--he unleashed emotions they weren't prepared to deal with because, essentially, they were kids and he was the closest concept to a mentor they had.
I often despised Hims/Mils and couldn't get why the narrator doted so much on her. A big plus f...more
Although the ending felt moderately abrupt and overdramatic, I guess one could say it ties in with the desperation the students felt after a semester with Sorbeck--he unleashed emotions they weren't prepared to deal with because, essentially, they were kids and he was the closest concept to a mentor they had.
I often despised Hims/Mils and couldn't get why the narrator doted so much on her. A big plus f...more
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Read in March, 2008
I could not put this novel down. At first it was that I was having so much fun reading it; then it was that I wanted to see just how far Winter Sorbeck would go with his awful insults and crazy assignments; finally it was that I was so emotionally entangled in the insanity that I just had to see how it was going to end. I was up until 2 AM to finish The Cheese Monkeys, which is extremely rare for me. It's hard to put into words just how I feel about this book. I wasn't an art major, but I was an...more
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Read in April, 2003
page 2: "So, what are you taking?"
At that point I could have said a lot of things - I could have said, "If I don't get the classes I need after waiting five hours in this line, I am taking that clipboard out of your sausage fingered hands, breaking it into ten thick splinters, and slowly introducing each one of them beneath your cuticles as a way of saying Thanks for herding us like a flock of three thousand Guatemalan dirt pigs into a ventilation-free hall built for three hundr...more
At that point I could have said a lot of things - I could have said, "If I don't get the classes I need after waiting five hours in this line, I am taking that clipboard out of your sausage fingered hands, breaking it into ten thick splinters, and slowly introducing each one of them beneath your cuticles as a way of saying Thanks for herding us like a flock of three thousand Guatemalan dirt pigs into a ventilation-free hall built for three hundr...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
graphic design/art students and teachers, graphic designers, artists, artsy people, type nerds
If you are a graphic design (or art) student, or you were one in the past, you should definitely read this! This guy knows how to write and he has a wonderful sense of humor! The irony in this story cracks me up and I also happen to like the "interludes" on graphic design. Thank you Chip Kidd: you showed me that being a graphic designer *and* a writer isn't just a crazy idea conceived by my utopic mind. It's possible! (I mean, if he does it, why can't I?) Maybe one day you'll read abou...more
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it was kind of funny. the story is about a freshman in college who wants to be an art major and the ridiculous things his professors tell him to do. in one section in particular his class is required to design a sign that grabs and holds a passer-by's attention. once they've made their signs the prof drives them out to the middle of nowhere and leaves them by the side of the road. who ever has the more clever/attention getting sign got a ride back to campus more quickly. the heirarchy follo...more
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Read in June, 2008
A brief interlude between longer, more involved selections. Has the distinction of the widest margins-to-page-size of anything I have ever read. Maybe a jokey reference to college students trying to make their term papers look longer? It would hardly be outside of the book's scope or tone to do so.
***
Well, I like to be entertained, and I was entertained. So no complaints there. It was a strange novel, though. Briskly frivolous, then oddly didactic, then positively Dantean. I'm not...more
***
Well, I like to be entertained, and I was entertained. So no complaints there. It was a strange novel, though. Briskly frivolous, then oddly didactic, then positively Dantean. I'm not...more
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Read in September, 2008
recommends it for:
Illiterate people
Something on the book "jacket" mentioned that the author is actually a graphic designer and that this is his first attempt at actually writing. That fact is painfully apparent.
Every paragraph feels like a high school descriptive writing assignment. Kidd's overuse of metaphors, in particular, is so distracting that I frequently lose track of the novel's action (if you can even call it that).
The jacket design is engaging and unique, but the same cannot be said of the story itse
Every paragraph feels like a high school descriptive writing assignment. Kidd's overuse of metaphors, in particular, is so distracting that I frequently lose track of the novel's action (if you can even call it that).
The jacket design is engaging and unique, but the same cannot be said of the story itse
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Read in April, 2008
Until the end, "Monkeys" has a much lighter touch than its sequel, "The Learners". If you've ever been a student in an art or design class you will laugh out loud in recognition. All the characters are great, and you can even learn a lot about the process of design, or just looking at the world around you, from the running commentary that parallels the story. Having read the second book first and knowing where Happy and Hims end up, it was hard not to find the ending extra...more
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Read in April, 2008
One that I've been putting off reading for quite some time. I picked it up on a whim -- attracted by the cover, graphic design, format, etc. But whenever I'd head to my bookshelves to grab a new book to read, I always passed it over...just wasn't feeling it, I guess. However, needed to read it to finish a challenge and I'm definitely glad I picked it up. Laugh out loud funny in places, and honestly, just the right amount of sarcasm that doubles as an eye-opener, especially when it comes to the p...more
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Read in March, 2008
enjoyable. a story about a guy in 1957-1958 who is attending a college for art and the people he meets. sometimes funny, the first 3/4 of the book were really enjoyable. around page 210 something happens that i thought was coming but didn't think necessary, and then the end came and went with little more than a whimper.
the books ends on the note that it is more than just a book, which makes the whole hing a little more enjoyable.
i just wish the end had the same steam as the rest of the...more
the books ends on the note that it is more than just a book, which makes the whole hing a little more enjoyable.
i just wish the end had the same steam as the rest of the...more
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honestly, i loved this book - up until the end and then it just seemed to cop out. the focus and love it has for graphic design was admirable. the scenarios sometimes a bit contrived, but still amusing. overall, a good book - although probably one i should have just borrowed at the library IF i wasn't so enamored by the book itself.
the design and layout of this book is awesome. the opening pages split in unonventional ways, the little sidenotes in the beginning, the imprint along the edge of t...more
the design and layout of this book is awesome. the opening pages split in unonventional ways, the little sidenotes in the beginning, the imprint along the edge of t...more
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