Customer Reviews

The Learners: The Book After "The Cheese Monkeys" (P.S.)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you've read The Cheese Monkeys and you liked it, you'll definitely like this, because it just follows on from where that novel left off. Which is, on the whole, a good thing.

It means that for those of us who are graphic designers, we get to read the second novel (okay maybe there are more but I don't know about them) about a graphic designer. That's pretty cool for designers. If you're not a designer then I don't think it matters since designers probably read novels about policemen quite happily.

Having said that, The Learners doesn't just happen to be about a graphic designer. Since it's also written (and designed) by a graphic designer, there's quite a lot of stuff in it about graphic design that borders on the educational. You may learn something about typefaces.

Back to the story: it's about a guy called Happy, who appears to have no romantic or sexual interest in any of the other characters, which is a bit odd. In fact, this book doesn't deal with sex at all except for about three pages when it still doesn't, not really.

It's actually mostly about the main character's reaction to an experiment he takes part in to test how much one human will hurt another if told to by somebody they trust. It's based on an experiment that really did take place in the 1950s.

The setting is the best part of the book though: a small designer's office in New Haven, the sort of place that doesn't exist in today's world of identikit offices. Instead of Project desk systems, there are poky offices with glass doors and polished wood, rolls of paper, the smell of ink, eccentric people and general cosy confusion. That's very well portrayed.

But the story seems a bit thin and kind of there just to hang all the graphic designer stuff on, all the clever stuff the (very clever) author wants to tell us in a that slightly cutesy post Salinger style he adopts that could get annoying but which I happen to like.

I don't know whether everyone would like it, but I loved it.

And the cover artwork is, as you'd expect, superb.

I agree with the other reviewers... if I hadn't loved "The Cheese Monkeys," I never would have read this book, but I'm glad I did, because it was excellent. For those who don't like Kidd's writing style, it could get annoying, but for those who do, it's another gem. Overall a great novel, very fast read, makes you think about psychology a little bit too.

...unless you read The Cheese Monkeys first. I was familiar with Mr. Kidd's graphic design for some time, and saw him speak at the Gravity Free Conference. It was such an enjoyable talk I ordered The Cheese Monkeys online, and it was waiting for me on my arrival home. I was out of town all week and thought I would just read a few chapters before bed. The way I figure it Kidd owes me a good nights sleep. When I finished the book I waited a few hours and went out and bought The Learners, devouring it as well. I'm not sure what makes a book great, but for me, both of these are in that category. The Cheese Monkeys is such a nice nostalgic look back at college and the experiences that make that time so amazing, as well as the time travel back to a time when creating art didn't involve a mouse and a delete key. It also has a girl, the type that I would have either married or taken out a restraining order against, I'm not sure in what order.

And The Learners picks up where The Cheese Monkeys left off, with the college student getting his first job, part of his quest born of his college experience, that once again pays homage to the day when things were thought out before they were created, because creating took cumulative effort.

I'll say no more, to avoid spoiling the story. But I think these books need to both be read, in the proper order. They paint the same kind of historic picture in my head that Mad Men does, where you can smell the stale cigarette smoke and picture the Boomerang Formica. Enjoy. I certainly did.

"The Learners," a sequel to Kidd's "The Cheese Monkeys," is a fascinating read, multilayered and extraordinarily original in its execution.

Our hero, Happy, has graduated from university and has head to New Haven, not for graduate studies at Yale, but to seek a job with the advertising firm that gave his favorite professor his start. Once ensconced at the agency the author introduces a motley assortment of characters and types he draws with lacerating wit and skill. Presented in sections labeled "Before," "During" and "After," the story takes Happy to the Yale lab of real-life Professor Stanley Milgram, and follows him as he participates in the famous "Obedience to Authority" experiments.

For a lesser talent this premise would provide the requisite amount of material for a standard situation comedy. Kidd is NOT a lesser talent. he is an original thinker and extravegantly gifted writer. One doesn't guess where this story is going with any degree of accuracy; indeed the end "The Learners" is quite unexpected and shocking, and yet appropriate and genuine.

With "The Cheese Monkeys," and now "The Learners," Chip Kidd is a writer I've placed on my "must read" list.

After reading cheese monkeys I was eagerly looking forward to Kidd's next book. This book was disappointing. The writing seemed awkward, where's in cheese monkeys it was natural, funny, witty; Learners was missing all of it. If I read the Learners first, I wouldn't have been interested in Kidd's next book.

Chip Kidd's sophomore novel The Learners in some ways surpasses his first jump into writing because of the darker edgier tones. I first read Cheese Monkey's as a senior in high school, and since then have been hooked. I read and reread the Learners preview on USATODAY.COM, and was eagerly awaiting the publication. This book will not let you down, there are twists and turns, and more importantly characters from the first book. To classify this as a sequel would be unjust, this is a continuation of Cheese Monkey's giving just enough to be wanting more. I started this book and could not put it down, I had to know what was going to happen next. It is a fantastic work of art and can not be described in all its glory with just words.

I wasn't sure what to expect walking into the Learners, having read the USA Today preview some time ago. The Cheese Monkeys was something like the Bible for my undergrad experience, and here I am faced with a book about Happy's first adventures into the "real" design world, at about the same time that I am taking the same first baby steps in my career. I wasn't disappointed.

First of all, if you are expecting the Cheese Monkeys all over again, you can get that notion out of your head right away. Not to say the Learners isn't as good, but it's overall a smarter, darker, and more rewarding experience. It was easy to recommend the Cheese Monkeys to people who weren't designers, as a glimpse into what I was going to school for. However, I'd have a hard time doing the same here, as it gets pretty technical. But, looking at it as a book written by such a revered contemporary designer, the Learners is just that -- designed. Giving you what you want and taking it away at will, Chip pulls your emotions around with an iron grip on your balls, getting you to think and feel exactly the way he wants you to, and of course, you never know it until the end. The form completely masks the content :)

All in all, while the story isn't as fast paced and eventful as his first book, the Learners is a well thought-out glimpse into the human psyche, as well as a designer's first years. The fun, lighthearted humor is there, you just have to look harder for it. Thanks Chip for showing me that it's perfectly natural for a designer to lose their mind :)

Now where's my cookies?

One of the most simultaneously giddying and terrifying experiences is reading the sequel to a book that you love. Even hearing that Chip Kidd had come out with a new book---after all his years of naysaying!---was enough excitement and apprehension to make me sick, but to hear that it was a sequel to The Cheese Monkeys, a book that holds unparalleled stature on my bookshelf---I could have fainted.

So it was with eagerness and not a little trepidation that I opened The Learners, Chip Kidd's second novel. And it was with speechless admiration and tenderness that I closed the book just a few moments ago, delighted, satisfied, *proud*, like a beaming mother watching her child graduate and embark into the Real World, all grown up.

That's what the book's main character, Happy, and Chip Kidd have done---grown up before our eyes. Everything that made The Cheese Monkeys what it was has been refined, honed and taken further than ever in The Learners, from the story, to the form, to the shape of the book itself. It is unmistakeably Kidd, but a darker, more reflective version, a finely crafted narrative that has matured without sacrificing any of its wit or sincerity. Chip Kidd may still have his own qualms about calling himself an artist, but he is undoubtedly a writer.

I must admit the interesting cover attracted my attention on my library's new release shelf, not having read the previous book The Cheese Monkeys. Another reviewer said this wasn't a true sequel, and I certainly did not feel like I was reading a sequel - all necessary information to enjoy the novel was presented within these pages.

This is an interesting approach - the author clearly loves graphic design, and uses the structure to share that with the reader. The brief assides on form/content etc are short enough to not bog down the story, yet still provide a unique peek into how the author is utilizing those in the story.

The shock plot is a tad predictable, but that didn't lessen my enjoyment of the story. The characters and their interactions, coupled with the setting, are what drives this fairly quick read.

Think Adventures of Cavalier & Clay in the ad world, or even a dash of Mad Men in the slums rather than the elite NY ad houses. Recommended.

Only knowing that Chip was a awesome designer I was intriqued that he also wrote. I started reading the Learners and could not put it down. As a designer myself I enjoyed the references of the creative process mirrored in real life. The book starts off sweet and turns very dark. I'm looking forward to his first book.