Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1216583 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Review
David Rakoff

author of "Fraud"

Chip Kidd has created in Winter Sorbeck and his vaunted course, Art 127, one of the most vivid, expert, hilarious, and strangely gripping accounts of what it means to learn how to see. If "The Cheese Monkeys" weren't so intelligent, rollicking, and downright entertaining, it would be chastening indeed to find that someone as visually gifted as Mr. Kidd also turned out to have considerable verbal plumage as well.

Bret Easton Ellis
'The Cheese Monkeys has suspense, vivid characters, a pitch-perfect recreation of late 50s behaviour and an effortlessly sustained comic charm throughout'

The Times
'This is a brilliantly entertaining debut - intelligent, pitch-perfect and enlightening'

Customer Reviews

The cheese monkeys will get you if you don't watch out.
Though Chip Kidd is best known as a "graphic designer" for book covers (as opposed to "commercial artist," a distinction he makes in the book), his talent as a writer could propel him into a whole new field--and this book into cult icon status. With a clarity of vision perhaps brought on by hindsight, he lays bare the emotional and intellectual confusion of a naïve, first year art student at a state university, a character who must find himself in an atmosphere which requires him to evaluate all the ideas and values he's uncritically absorbed to date. The character, who feels autobiographical, is lively, funny, and, I thought, totally believable, and I suspect that any reader who has ever taken an art course will empathize, if not identify, with him in some way.

As the speaker lives through this "novel in two semesters," he is profoundly affected by an off-the-wall female upperclassman, Himillsy Dodd, a free-spirited, hard-drinking woman of strong opinions, willing to challenge everyone and everything. Opposing hypocrisy wherever she finds it (virtually everywhere), Himillsy serves as a quirky mentor during the speaker's first two art classes, the second of which is with Winter Sorbeck, a never-to-be-forgotten instructor who turns his students' thinking inside-out, viciously critiquing not only of their work but also their personalities. As "Happy" deals with Sorbeck, Himillsy, the usual freshman tensions, fraternity parties, exams, critiques, and all-nighters, the reader shares his anxieties and feels his growth.

The amusing cover of the book resembles a doodled-on freshman text, with a magic marker message written on the binding and side of the closed book, bleeding into the pages themselves. The title, taken from one of Himillsy's sculptures, is as goofy as she is, though its meaning becomes clearer as the book progresses. The ending is a letdown, however, and it feels as if the book got away from the author, who then had to take extreme action to resolve his subplots and themes. Still, it is an auspicious debut, special fun for anyone interested in art. Mary Whipple

The cheese monkeys will get you if you don't watch out.
Though Chip Kidd is best known as a "graphic designer" for book covers (as opposed to "commercial artist," a distinction he makes in the book), his talent as a writer could propel him into a whole new field--and this book into cult icon status. With a clarity of vision perhaps brought on by hindsight, he lays bare the emotional and intellectual confusion of a naïve, first year art student at a state university, a character who must find himself in an atmosphere which requires him to evaluate all the ideas and values he's uncritically absorbed to date. The character, who feels autobiographical, is lively, funny, and, I thought, totally believable, and I suspect that any reader who has ever taken an art course will empathize, if not identify, with him in some way.

As the speaker lives through this "novel in two semesters," he is profoundly affected by an off-the-wall female upperclassman, Himillsy Dodd, a free-spirited, hard-drinking woman of strong opinions, willing to challenge everyone and everything. Opposing hypocrisy wherever she finds it (virtually everywhere), Himillsy serves as a quirky mentor during the speaker's first two art classes, the second of which is with Winter Sorbeck, a never-to-be-forgotten instructor who turns his students' thinking inside-out, viciously critiquing not only of their work but also their personalities. As "Happy" deals with Sorbeck, Himillsy, the usual freshman tensions, fraternity parties, exams, critiques, and all-nighters, the reader shares his anxieties and feels his growth.

The amusing cover of the book resembles a doodled-on freshman text, with a magic marker message written on the binding and side of the closed book, bleeding into the pages themselves. The title, taken from one of Himillsy's sculptures, is as goofy as she is, though its meaning becomes clearer as the book progresses. The ending is a letdown, however, and it feels as if the book got away from the author, who then had to take extreme action to resolve his subplots and themes. Still, it is an auspicious debut, special fun for anyone interested in art. Mary Whipple

you wont be able not to laugh
this is the best book ive ever read.it is also the only book i couldnt stop myself grinning widely while reading it in public. it is hilarious. the kind of humour you get by exaggerating scary or embarrassing experiences with a completely serious face. in fact the whole story pushes reality just a little bit. i dont think that you will ever find such extraordinary people like winter sorbeck, dottie (the life drawing teacher, who pours a pitcher of water on her cat, which runs completely wild, so that her students can practise gesture drawings) and himillsy (who is fascinated by this) in one single place.... and yet it is so believable. the not-knowing what you want from life, not having a dream, desperately wanting to find yourself...
this book is so rich in colours, expressions, thoughts and ideas that when i finished reading it, my own life seemed so boring and dull. i can only agree with himillsy: "why cant life be interesting?"
this is not only an inspiring book for art and design students. i am recommending it to everyone who crosses my way.