"It’s the fall of 1957, long
before computers have replaced the trained eye and skillful hand. Our narrator is
at State U is determined to major in Art, and after several risible false
starts, he ends up by accident in a new class called 'Introduction to
Graphic Design.' Art 127 is taught by the enigmatic Winter Sorbeck,
professor and guru (think Gary Cooper crossed with Darth Vader) -- equal parts
genius, seducer, and sadist. Sorbeck is a bitter yet fascinating man whose
assignments hurl his charges through a gauntlet of humiliation and heartache,
shame and triumph, ego-bashing and enlightenment. Along the way, friendships
are made and undone, jealousies simmer, the sexual tango weaves and dips."
Chip Kidd has spent his career designing
covers for books at Knolf and in 2001 he released his debut novel that is sometimes laugh out loud funny but very obviously a semi-autobiographical portrait of a brilliant designer as a
young man. There is wit galore, often reminding me of the screwball comedies
made by director Howard Hawks and stars Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant. It’s
off-beat, sometimes animated, but also gives us an awkward look into the tenets
of graphic design, an often overlooked art course.
The book often reminded me of
David Sedaris, with his dry and absurdist humor, Christopher Moore for the
silliness, Richard Russo’s own college bound satire Straight Man, and Joe
Keenan, who’s written three novels that would fit very well into the 1940s and
50s movie comedies this book emulates. It does not have the social commentary of
Michael Chabon’s Wonder Boys, but The Cheese Monkeys clearly a cousin to that tome.
The only issue I have with the
book is that everything falls apart at the end. The book takes an odd left turn
and never recovers. It ends somewhat abruptly and nothing is really resolved.
Kidd released a sequel in 2008, so I’ll see how this tale is continued.
But for a good portion of the
book, The Cheese Monkeys is a hilarious.
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