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Tfte learners
By Chip Kidd
Scribner, $26More mad men in
Chip Kidd's new novel
BY MICHAEL GILTZ
hip Kidd's breezy second novel continues
the adventures of Happy, a bright-eyed
child of the '50s plunged into the world of
advertising. We first met Happy in 2001's
"The Cheese Monkeys," the story of his
"...: college career marked by a deltghtfully unsta-
ble friend named Himitlsy and a dominating, I
inspiring graphic-design teacher named Winter Sorbeik.
You don't need to read "The.Cheese
Monkeys" to enjoy "The Learners," but
why wouldn't you? Now it's the ear-
ly '60s, and Happy has finagled his way
into the run-down New Haven, Conn., ad
agency where Sorbeck began.
Happy is thrilled about his first real
job, of course. You might not be able to
recognize the difference between Hel-
vetica and Bodoni Bold, but you'll still
enjoy his obsessive references to fonts,
as well as the thrill of coming up with a
slogan for a footwear company ("When
It Comes to Buckle Shoes ... It's a Shame
You OnlyHave Tlvo Feet!").
And the firm he works at provides
more mentors for ourpliable hero.
The characters' outlandish names -
which even Dickens would have blushed
to use - set the right, whimsical tone.Mindyou, there are some dark shadows,
including suicide, the closeted world
for gays and especially the famous yale
.experiment h which volunteers proved all
too eager to follow orders and give violent,
painful shocks to fellow test subjects,
Happy is sucked up in that experiment
and deeply disturbed by how he behaves
during it. Franlly, Kidd is muchmore
convincing with the screwball aho-
sphere than the brief moments of soul-
searching. But that's probably not a sur-
prise. The darkness is reallyjustthere for
contrast, and some fi ely vomiting
ensures a slapstick finale.
Kidd is, of course, a famous design-
er of book covers'for other authors, and
the design of "The Learners" is especial-
ly inventive and clever. Why didn't he tell
this tale in a graphic novel? Perhaps that
would have seemed too close to his dayjob? Or perhaps he just wanted to prove
he could do just as much with words as
he canwith images?
Mission accomplished though, happily,
we haven't heard the last from Happy.
F{
{'1
=3:1oz
ctz
Do
Tfte learners
By Chip Kidd
Scribner, $26More mad men in
Chip Kidd's new novel
BY MICHAEL GILTZ
hip Kidd's breezy second novel continues
the adventures of Happy, a bright-eyed
child of the '50s plunged into the world of
advertising. We first met Happy in 2001's
"The Cheese Monkeys," the story of his
"...: college career marked by a deltghtfully unsta-
ble friend named Himitlsy and a dominating, I
inspiring graphic-design teacher named Winter Sorbeik.
You don't need to read "The.Cheese
Monkeys" to enjoy "The Learners," but
why wouldn't you? Now it's the ear-
ly '60s, and Happy has finagled his way
into the run-down New Haven, Conn., ad
agency where Sorbeck began.
Happy is thrilled about his first real
job, of course. You might not be able to
recognize the difference between Hel-
vetica and Bodoni Bold, but you'll still
enjoy his obsessive references to fonts,
as well as the thrill of coming up with a
slogan for a footwear company ("When
It Comes to Buckle Shoes ... It's a Shame
You OnlyHave Tlvo Feet!").
And the firm he works at provides
more mentors for ourpliable hero.
The characters' outlandish names -
which even Dickens would have blushed
to use - set the right, whimsical tone.Mindyou, there are some dark shadows,
including suicide, the closeted world
for gays and especially the famous yale
.experiment h which volunteers proved all
too eager to follow orders and give violent,
painful shocks to fellow test subjects,
Happy is sucked up in that experiment
and deeply disturbed by how he behaves
during it. Franlly, Kidd is muchmore
convincing with the screwball aho-
sphere than the brief moments of soul-
searching. But that's probably not a sur-
prise. The darkness is reallyjustthere for
contrast, and some fi ely vomiting
ensures a slapstick finale.
Kidd is, of course, a famous design-
er of book covers'for other authors, and
the design of "The Learners" is especial-
ly inventive and clever. Why didn't he tell
this tale in a graphic novel? Perhaps that
would have seemed too close to his dayjob? Or perhaps he just wanted to prove
he could do just as much with words as
he canwith images?
Mission accomplished though, happily,
we haven't heard the last from Happy.