Rating: 
Summary: We all eventually need a Cheese Monkey
Review: "God is great, God is good - Americas great because America is good - Good is Dead". To unravel this quote and gain some graphic insight, please read this excellent and innovative book. The design of this book is alone worth the price of admission. Chip Kidd takes you on an artistic journey during the 1950's, only the topics encountered are very much today's if not tomorrow's! The characters become real enough to care for very quickly while the reading is fun and adventurous. If you have ever taken an art class or make a living as a graphic designer, then you must read this primer on what is good design and more importantly, what is good friendship. More than the font changes on page 98, for this visual cue sets up the reader for something akin to a real education, for as the design teacher Mr. Sorbeck states, "Before we go on, I should state, it's a fact: nothing worth knowing can ever be taught in a classroom." We should all have at least one teacher in our life as challenging as Mr. Sorbeck, a teacher who lets you know the truth can hurt, but in the end, it is transformative. What is learned here is beyond knowledge and comes closer to a philosophical truth, a truth stated in high style and with great wit, something that stays with you long after you put this book down.
Rating:
Summary: Wheres the cheeze?
Review: The Cheese Monkeys (by Chip Kidd) Reader Review March 9, 2004
Reviewer: Ricky Noel from Berwick, Maine: The Cheese Monkeys is a book with a somewhat unclear title. The phrase "cheese monkeys" is never really explained so readers may interpret it as whatever they like. This story is actually about college and discovering what you want for yourself. Basically about growing up. This novel is about college life, adapting to your environment and discovering for yourself what you want out of life. However whether or not it is an accurate representation as college is hard to fully believe, some of the situations are quite bizarre and extreme. The characters are well developed and seem a lot like many people I know today, so it was easy to relate to them.
The story line follows the main character (his name is never revealed) as he goes through his freshmen year at state college. The focus of the story is on his interests in art rather than his full curriculum. So most of the important characters are involved with these classes. The main character talks about his college decisions at the beginning of the novel, things like his choice of major and college. He put little value into furthering his education and looked at it as just something he had to do. His major, "art" he described as the easiest choice and the least amount of work.
The main character learns how to handle him-self in difficult situations, he takes some major risks and finds interests he never knew he had. Those around him also show growth as individuals so it's interesting to see how a character might react to something at the beginning of the novel and at the end by comparison.
The characters interact with one another very specifically to the character; none of the people you meet are very much alike. They all have their own ways of speaking, acting and thinking. They have a range of stereotypical college people to very strange out of the ordinary people.
Constantly the main character is being thrust into different kinds of situations, some more pleasant than others, and it is clearly visible his growth as a person as he deals with each situation. Like any normal person he makes mistakes, some...worse than others. The worst mistake he made was when he was drunk and got in a fight with Himillsy, during which he ripped the head of Himillsys doll (which had sentimental value to her)
Generally the flow of the plot was understandable and made sense, however at times an event would just take you by surprise which in a way is good to keep you guessing, but was certainly confusing because it didn't exactly fit in with the rest of the story, almost seeming unnecessary. Mostly however the novel worked together nicely and felt as though I could picture myself in his situation. The parts of the story I thought worked very well were, the relationship between the main character and Himillsy (a girl he meets from the class "introduction to drawing" as they were the most similar in the novel yet still so different that their personalities at times created a bit of rivalry between the two.
I felt a part of the novel that did not work quite so well was one event in particular where the main character played a joke on his teacher while he was drunk, the idea for the whole thing was somewhat justified, however the main character took some actions that did not seem to fit his character or the novel at all. Aside from this the only problem I had was the phrase "cheese monkeys" which only slightly applied to anything and was as I said never explained
Overall I thought this was a great novel it had ups and downs, problems and solutions, many levels of character development and the settings were vividly produced. A reader could feel as if he were watching the movie rather than reading the book.
Rating:
Summary: Hope for Graphic Design
Review: A must read for formally trained graphic design burnouts and ignorant newbies alike. Graphic design is not just about the technology, it's about ideas, remember? It's about seeing. It's about sneaking thought into commerce. So the last pages get self indulgent. So what. It reminded me of the roots of this business, and that maybe there's still hope. Oh yeah, and it's pretty funny too.
Rating: 
Summary: Good is Dead, and this book should be.
Review: I am embarrassed to say that I couldn't put this book down. This book was pretty well written, but the design principles it is built upon are dangerous. Let me take a little time to reveal the assumptions that this book makes in an attempt to prove why this book doesn't deserve the acclaim that some graphic designers have given it. The story is told from the point of view of a kid who has no ambition, so he goes to State University and stumbles upon a graphic design class because all the other classes are taken. He takes the class with his friend Himillsy Dodd, a charismatic and tragic beauty. He falls in love with her but she never returns his love. The antitheses of Himillsy is the graphic design professor, Winter Sorbeck. Happy also falls in love with Winter and eventually photographs himself kissing him in a disgusting scene where Happy has taken the pants off of the passed out Winter. Winter who calls our narrator, "Happy," opens his students eyes to the world of graphic design by ruthlessly destroying their projects and giving assignments that although vague, will supposedly teach them the secrets of graphic design if completed successfully. It is through Winter's character that we hear the only voice on graphic design in this book. It is only fair to assume that his voice gives us Chip Kidd's philosophy on graphic design. So what does he say? The first thing that jumps out at me is the sentence, "Good is dead." This phrase is printed on the binding as well as hidden on the edge of the pages if you hold the pages at an angle. After his anti-American fit, Winter makes a student repeat this sentence in a scene where he verbally beats her into tears. I would like to think that this phrase simply means that graphic designers need to be more than good to be successful. However, based on the context of the rest of the book, I conclude that Kidd has a more disturbing meaning to this phrase. Here is what I mean: I am a graphic designer because I believe I can make the world better by producing quality design. The power of graphic design is the power to improve life. Life can be good because of graphic design. Good is not dead. Good should be the ultimate result of graphic design. Saying that "good is dead" is a suggestion that there should be another goal for design. We learn what that goal is when we see the graphic design that Winter Sorbeck produces for the faculty art show. Here are the four pieces that Winter produces that Kidd apparently holds as the pinnacle of graphic design: 1. A book cover for "Hitler's Switzerland: The Illusion of Neutrality During the Third Reich."
2. An anti-war poster with a tag line that he stole from one of his students.
3. An anti-industry, pro-environmental awareness poster (also a theme stolen from a student).
4. A box of feces on which is printed the words "Whatever you do, don't open." The inside of the box lists things at the school that Winter disapproves of. That should make it pretty clear what Kidd thinks are important to design: work that promotes political ideas, work that contributes to socially causes, or work that gives a shocking commentary on something you believe in. I don't know about you, but I have never been paid to design any of those things. These idealistic values have absolutely nothing to do with what graphic designers do. What is worse, are the concepts that Winter uses to execute his work. They would sound like this: "It doesn't matter what something looks like as long as it gets the job done."
"Shock value is more important than substance."
"Graphic Designers are better than their audience. Since we are so much better, it is appropriate to use and manipulate our audience to attain our goal." This way of thinking is offensive to me, and are dangerous ideas for any designer to entertain. They aren't clearly visible on the surface of Cheese Monkeys. If someone sees something that I am missing, I would love to hear it. I was hoping that in the end the narrator would expose the stupidity and defeat Winter Sorbeck. Unfortunately, the story ends like this. Winter gets kicked out of the school, Himillsy dies, and Happy is left alone to grade his final exam by himself. We are left to fill in the blanks that our weak hero, who has demonstrated very few strong character traits, apparently goes on to be the great book designer, Chip Kidd. Maybe he should stick to designing the books, and let someone else write them.
Rating:
Summary: A tempered response
Review: It's something of a shame that the word "monkey" has become so painfully overused. Where people who think they're being 'surreal' say "fish", people who think they're being 'wacky' say "monkey". Perhaps Chip Kidd gets a small part around this by eschewing words for pictures on the front cover of his novel. The Cheese Monkeys is part autobiography, part post-teen fantasy, part intense lecture on the importance of good graphic design. Kidd made his name (and makes his living) designing book jackets for Alfred A. Knopf (the company, rather than the man), and is oft credited with causing some sort of revolution in American book covers. Although probably not on the scale of the French or Industrial revolution, his work has meant that the US is climbing out of its horrible hole of poor book design. When turning to writing, he wasn't going to avoid the subject, or indeed avoid implementing it. Not only does the cover not support the title, but writing appears on the edge opposite the spine. The openy-page-turny side. A feat I've not seen since I drew zig-zaggy patterns with a red pen across my mum's childhood copy of The Treasure Hunters. Spread the pages in one direction and you see one phrase, bend the book the other way to see a second. It's a gimmick, but dammit, it's a cool one. Layout inside is thoughtful and interesting. The traditional form of the copyright and publication bumph is played with, dragged over pages, printed backwards, etc. Thankfully the main text of the book itself is left well alone, although printed with an inch margin on all for sides. But of course this is just pretties. It also has a fine story. The autobiographical tone of a young man studying art at State University is confused by its being set in 1958, eight years before Kidd was born. Why this is doesn't appear appreciable at first, until you meet the first potentially unlikely event, and he begins to play with a reader's assumed trust of the biographical tone. The central protagonist meets the most perfectly captured literary form of that type of girl everyone has met at one point - and been bewildered by, male or female. She's dangerous, inspired and far too clever for the world she's trapped in, creating a disciple of the narrator, while of course having an inevitable, unreachable boyfriend. But more of the story is devoted to one particular lecturer, Winter Sorbeck, a hideous and brilliant man, spiteful and passionate, cruel and inspiring. He teaches "Introduction to Graphic Design", and as such the book forms its own circle, utterly vicious. A positive quote printed in the book (it carries negative reviews as well) says "cliche free". This is both completely true, and entirely wrong. Kidd never uses a single cliche, be they descriptive or narrative. But he invents about three hundred phrases that damn well should be. The ceaselessly inventive prose is never obvious, and really does become complete apparent until you read anything else at all, at which point you'll begin to spot the hackneyed phrases that infest all our language.
Rating:
Summary: Wheres the cheeze?
Review: The Cheese Monkeys (by Chip Kidd) Reader Review March 9, 2004
Reviewer: Ricky Noel from Berwick, Maine: The Cheese Monkeys is a book with a somewhat unclear title. The phrase "cheese monkeys" is never really explained so readers may interpret it as whatever they like. This story is actually about college and discovering what you want for yourself. Basically about growing up. This novel is about college life, adapting to your environment and discovering for yourself what you want out of life. However whether or not it is an accurate representation as college is hard to fully believe, some of the situations are quite bizarre and extreme. The characters are well developed and seem a lot like many people I know today, so it was easy to relate to them.
The story line follows the main character (his name is never revealed) as he goes through his freshmen year at state college. The focus of the story is on his interests in art rather than his full curriculum. So most of the important characters are involved with these classes. The main character talks about his college decisions at the beginning of the novel, things like his choice of major and college. He put little value into furthering his education and looked at it as just something he had to do. His major, "art" he described as the easiest choice and the least amount of work.
The main character learns how to handle him-self in difficult situations, he takes some major risks and finds interests he never knew he had. Those around him also show growth as individuals so it's interesting to see how a character might react to something at the beginning of the novel and at the end by comparison.
The characters interact with one another very specifically to the character; none of the people you meet are very much alike. They all have their own ways of speaking, acting and thinking. They have a range of stereotypical college people to very strange out of the ordinary people.
Constantly the main character is being thrust into different kinds of situations, some more pleasant than others, and it is clearly visible his growth as a person as he deals with each situation. Like any normal person he makes mistakes, some...worse than others. The worst mistake he made was when he was drunk and got in a fight with Himillsy, during which he ripped the head of Himillsys doll (which had sentimental value to her)
Generally the flow of the plot was understandable and made sense, however at times an event would just take you by surprise which in a way is good to keep you guessing, but was certainly confusing because it didn't exactly fit in with the rest of the story, almost seeming unnecessary. Mostly however the novel worked together nicely and felt as though I could picture myself in his situation. The parts of the story I thought worked very well were, the relationship between the main character and Himillsy (a girl he meets from the class "introduction to drawing" as they were the most similar in the novel yet still so different that their personalities at times created a bit of rivalry between the two.
I felt a part of the novel that did not work quite so well was one event in particular where the main character played a joke on his teacher while he was drunk, the idea for the whole thing was somewhat justified, however the main character took some actions that did not seem to fit his character or the novel at all. Aside from this the only problem I had was the phrase "cheese monkeys" which only slightly applied to anything and was as I said never explained
Overall I thought this was a great novel it had ups and downs, problems and solutions, many levels of character development and the settings were vividly produced. A reader could feel as if he were watching the movie rather than reading the book.
Rating: 
Summary: I wanted to like this book, but...
Review: The first page or so was brilliant. Funny funny stuff. However the other two-hundred odd pages were lacking the wit and story I expected. I felt like I'd heard every story in this book before. It got old fast, and the characters were all grating cliches. I had to stop reading before I got to the end, and I never do that. Look at the cover in the store, flip it from side to side and say "ooh" and "ah" and put it back down, because that's as good as it gets.
Rating:
Summary: Inventive, yet Weak
Review: This debut novel is rather striking. The book jacket is the most readily noticeable feature, with the acknowledgements wrapped around the book's edges; the text is full of direct language, thoughtful allusions, and creative organization, along with all kinds of humor. So far, so good.
Unfortunately, it doesn't get any better. The book's content is a mess. The plot, which involves the protagonist's attendance of a graphic design course, serves as an outlet for college-age vulgarities of many sorts and builds to a resolution which is ultimately unfulfilling. The thematic material consists basically of a) art must rebel against the authorities, b) principles of design, and c) life's lack of meaning, of which only the middle one is explored to any satisfaction. Finally, the story, which takes place in '58 and '59, cleverly touches on race at one point, which could have been a chance to probe the main characters for prejudice or background (i.e., meaningful content), but is instead just a spot to throw in a joke that 'proves' these characters are tolerant. Aside from this, much of the slang and some of the technology sounds dated, but the attitudes and actions are pure '90s material. Very subtle.
Here's to invention used properly...not squandered for effect or popularity, as in this not-so-worthwhile book.
Rating:
Summary: Bogus. Don't bother.
Review: I have never written a response for Amazon.com, but a bad review for this book seems desperately in order.
Cheese Monkeys: Granted, the cover design is awesome. And when you bend the book, it can read different slogans. However--read closely--the quality of this novel is purely an optical illusion. Kidd's writing verges embarrasing. The story? Flat. Obvious. Goes NOWHERE. Avoid this book. Despite it's flashy cover design--you'll embarass yourself riding around with this text.
Rating:
Summary: After page 200, author decides he's Kafka
Review: The Cheese Monkeys begins on a very bright note. After reading the first hundred pages I was convinced that the book would rank among my favorites. The characters were engaging, the story humorously written, and the situations familiar to anyone who survived college, especially Art school. There were brief, interesting forays into the philosophy of Art which could have been developed, but they are unfortunately never pursued. The problem is not that the author failed to bring his thoughts to conclusion, it's that he simply dropped the thread cold. In fact, everything about the story, other than the names of the characters, is dropped cold after the first 200 or so pages. It is as though, unable to figure out how to take the storyline anywhere, the author simply switches gears and enters a new Kafka-esque phase. From that point on, the story takes bizarre, surreal, pointless twists, and the actions of the characters become completely out of character. Nothing that happened in the first two-thirds of the book is resolved, and the last third comes off as a disjointed hallucination rather than a dénouement. Sad. What began as a fun, humorous look at college life devolves into a meaningless postmodern mélange, Abstract Expressionism in prose. The second edition of this book needs to run 400 pages, the first 200 from this edition, and the next 200 extending and resolving the original issues. I await it's release.
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