The Learners

Mar 19, 2008 at 11:17 PM
48 comments

Chip Kidd

As much as it pains me to say it, I was really disappointed in Chip Kidd’s The Learners, a follow-up to his phenomenal book Cheese Monkeys.

The Learners picks up with Happy, the main character from Cheese Monkeys all graduated from State and trying to get a job at Spear, Rakoff & Ware in New Haven, Connecticut the same ad agency where Happy’s professor and idol Winter Sorbeck got his start. However, the Happy in this new novel doesn’t feel like the same character from the earlier novel. In fact, none of the characters feel real. They’re all drawn with broad strokes, known for a few quirks but never given any real depth.

Himillsy Dodd, the star of Cheese Monkeys, makes an all-too brief appearance, and her scenes are probably the best parts of the book.

The problem here, as I see it, is that Kidd set out to write a book about what he thought would happen to one of the people who took part of Stanley Milgrim’s obedience experiment (you know the one where people give the jolts of electricity to the person who answers some questions incorrectly, effectively electrocuting them) and instead of starting fresh he just used an old character and put him in that situation. It feels lazy.

There are a few tragic events that happen to Happy in the course of the novel and it’s hard to discern where all his feelings of guilt and remorse come from. It’s as though he never gets to deal with one tragedy before the next one happens. It’s a confused, mixed-up jumble of depression that’s really hard to care about.

Plus, there’s all these little lessons on form vs. content, graphic design, typography, etc, that while interesting as hell feel plopped in the middle of the book for no reason that I can discern. Are these Happy’s thoughts on design? Are they from some book he’s reading? I have no idea.

It’s a damn shame, really because Cheese Monkeys was a fabulous, vibrant, clever book (which you should read right now if you haven’t). It deserves a sequel that lives up to it, and The Learners doesn’t.

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Comments

The Cheese Monkeys kinda sucked too, so I'm not surprised.

Actually, it didn't suck at all. It was a really good first novel.

No, no, no. I don't think you understand. I just finished it a couple of weeks ago. It sucked.

Dude, you love Chuck Klosterfuck like you have any sort of literary cred. Why do you think it sucked?

The fact that the book wasn't any good led me to the conclusion that it sucked.

Usually when one tries to justify their assinine opinions they give concrete examples o the things they didn't think were good. Care to give examples?

I gave a concrete example of what wasn't good: the book. What part of this don't you understand?

Your grasp of literary criticism is astounding. It sucked because I didn't like it doesn't cut it, Kakutani.

I didn't say it sucked because I didn't like it. I said it sucked because it wasn't good.

Oh yes, of course, thanks for the brilliant insight on what makes a great debut novel. The world of letters is appreciates you.

Don't mention it. I am happy to give what I can.

Sarcasm is lost on you, isn't it?

What sarcasm?

Mine.

When were you sarcastic? And what were you sarcastic about?

Ohhhhhhhhh! I get it now! You were being sarcastic when you implied that "The Cheese Monkeys" wasn't a total piece of shit and was actually worth wasting your time reading. Yeah, I totally didn't pick up on that the first time through.

No, I think the Cheese Monkeys is a great book and you're a shitty book critic. Is that clear enough for you?

Hmmmm. That isn't clear at all, actually. I read the book, you see. It sucked, and I recognized that it sucked. That makes me a fairly astute critic, one would think.

Perhaps, if you were right. However, you're wrong, making you kind of shitty. Get it? Do we need to teach you to read or something?

I KNOW how to read. That's how I figured out "The Cheese Monkeys" sucked. Get it?

But if you had actually read it you would have known that it didn't suck. I am convinced, since you can't provide concrete examples of suckage that you are just saying that it sucked to contrary. Point, Jodi.

That's not the case. I DID read it - all of it. And since you are being persnickety, here is a list of things about the book that were particularly bad: the story, the characters. The rest of it - that stuff that wasn't character or plot development - was okay.

I am not being persnickety. I can't argue literature with people who don't actually read the book.

I read the book. It's not "literature." Its garbage,

You have yet to prove that you've actually read the book.

Whatever you do, don't think of an elephant.

I would just like to go on the record with how much I hate you.

I'm right all the time. I'm used to it by now.

You aren't right. You have only proven that you're a schlub with bad taste in literature. That's okay, we accept you anyway.

You said you hated me. That's all but an admission that I am right. Everyone knows that by now. The only thing you could say that would be more of a concession is to compare me to Hitler.

Nah, I hate you because you did actually read the book and came to such a stunningly wrong conclusion. It's a good book and I'm wondering if you were shaken as a baby or if you fell off your bike and hit your head a lot, because something is wrong with your head.

No. None of that stuff. I just know how to read, And how to process - critically - what I have read, Those are skills you might want to pick up at some point. I, for one, have found them to be useful.

If you could process critically you could make a better argument than "it sucked."

"It sucked" pretty much sums up the book. I like to be succinct. But I did comment on the characters and plot, too.

So your literary criticism is the same for all books. Yeah, you're an idiot.

I'm an idiot? I'm not the one who liked the shitty book.

It wasn't shitty, remember? It was funny and insightful and surprising. I think you must have read Who Moved My Cheese.

I read a book called The Cheese Monkeys. I'm wondering what book you read, because the one I read wasn't funny and wasn't insightful, and the only surprise was how much it sucked.

That book sucked and the ending absolutely pissed me off. The most interesting thing about it was the cover art.

That sounds about right.

Welly well, you and Hotrod should just make your own little bookclub where you can read such gems as The Secret Life of Bees and Tuesdays with Morrie, nice safe books that you both can understand.

We're reading the Ya-Ya Pants book right now, but will get to your recommendations next.

You wouldn't like the books I read. They're good.

You just recommended one. What was it? Morrie's Secret Life? That's next on our list, just for you.

Good you say? That plot meandered almost as aimlessly as Rules of Attraction but at least the Ellis book kept me reading on to find out how gory that train wreck was going to be.

There's your problem, you've rotted your brain reading Ellis. Shit, go read some John Irving pronto. there might still be time to reverse the damage.

You pick the book and I will.

...and please don't say Cider House Rules.