The Cheese Monkeys, Chip Kidd
The Cheese Monkeys, Chip Kidd
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The Cheese Monkeys
A Novel in Two Semesters

Author: Chip Kidd

Narrator: Bronson Pinchot

Unabridged: 4 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download (DRM Protected)

Published: 10/29/2009

Synopsis

Chip Kidd’s witty and effervescent coming-of-age novel can only be described as a portrait of the designer as a young man. It’s 1957, long before computers have replaced the skillful eye and hand, and our narrator at State U is determined to major in Art. After several risible false starts, he ends up by accident in a new class called “Introduction to Graphic Design,” taught by the enigmatic professor/guru Winter Sorbeck—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. By the end of The Cheese Monkeys, the members of Art 127 will never see the world the same way again. And, thanks to Chip Kidd’s insights into the secrets of graphic design, neither will you.

About Chip Kidd

Chip Kidd is a writer and graphic designer in New York City whose book-jacket designs have helped spawn a revolution in the art of American book packaging. He has written about popular culture for McSweeney’s, Vogue, New York Times, New York Observer, Entertainment Weekly, Details, 2WICE, and others.

About Bronson Pinchot

Bronson Pinchot, Audible’s Narrator of the Year for 2010, has won Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Awards, AudioFile Earphones Awards, Audible’s Book of the Year Award, and Audie Awards for several audiobooks, including Matterhorn, Wise Blood, Occupied City, and The Learners. A magna cum laude graduate of Yale, he is an Emmy- and People’s Choice-nominated veteran of movies, television, and Broadway and West End shows. His performance of Malvolio in Twelfth Night was named the highlight of the entire two-year Kennedy Center Shakespeare Festival by the Washington Post. He attended the acting programs at Shakespeare & Company and Circle-in-the-Square, logged in well over 200 episodes of television, starred or costarred in a bouquet of films, plays, musicals, and Shakespeare on Broadway and in London, and developed a passion for Greek revival architecture.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Michael

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 en......more

Goodreads review by Grace

infuriating. hated every single page of it. way too pretentious for its own good, and not nearly as clever as it thinks it is. with every pop-referencing metaphor, heavy handed with over-the-top "get it? get it?" irony, you get the feeling that it would go so far as to wink at you if it weren't so b......more

Goodreads review by christa

"The Cheese Monkeys" is, for more than 250 pages, one of the most enjoyable books I've read in a long time. Our hero is a freshman at State, enrolled in art classes. He meets an older sassy wild card named Himillsy Dodd who is full of fun and big ideas. They spend time drinking, eating ice cream, dr......more

Goodreads review by George

The writing was brilliant; the over-designed gimmicky layout less so. Fortunately the gimmicks were limited to the beginning pages, before the actual text. This book is described as a novel but reads like a memoir. It is an autobiographical novel—whatever that is. To me reading this was literally a L......more

Quotes

“This story about growing up and finding your calling is funny and, almost despite itself, moving.” New York Times Book Review

“The Cheese Monkeys is a wonderfully witty book that trafficks in both well-observed commentary and outrageous shenanigans and antics.” Newsday

“Kidd has succeeded in crafting an affecting and entertaining work both slap-happily funny and heartbreakingly sad. A stellar debut.” Publishers Weekly

“Narrator Bronson Pinchot delivers a relentless performance as Professor Sorbeck, the enigmatic genius responsible for teaching the future to a group of uninspired and often-hilarious students at State University. Pinchot’s delivery is fast and furious yet always fully understandable and, perhaps, all the more realistic. Nothing is watered down in this story, including Pinchot’s take on the colorful cast of characters that populate the university grounds.” AudioFile

“A sharp, fast-paced, and well-packaged academic satire, along the lines of James Hyne’s The Lecturer’s Tale.” Library Journal

“Sorbeck shines in three dimensions on the page, a living representation of the larger-than-life professor that luckier college students have a chance to know. This is a fascinating, funny, and wonderfully written novel of graphic design that manages to deepen the reader’s appreciation for the artistry and wonder of design without a single drawing.” Booklist

“Suck brains with a genius who really is a genius: that is, when you read this book.” Kirkus Reviews

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