The Cheese Monkeys: A Novel in Two Semesters
A sharp, fast-paced, and well-packaged academic satire, along  the lines of James Hyne's The Lecturer's Tale (LJ 12/00), this  is a coming-of-age story from the point of view of the paying  victim (a.k.a. the student). A na?ve fellow finds himself in the  hallowed, cinderblock halls of his state art school in the 1950s  where, try as he might, he can't quite capture in pencil the  essence of a decapitated waterfowl, an old shoe, and a  detumescent pomegranate. No wonder he becomes enthralled by the  charms of one Himillsy Dodd, a free spirit and the only other  enrollee in the still-life course who seems to know the meaning  of "detumescent." The following semester, the duo find  themselves in Art 127: Introduction to Commercial Art, and the  novel shifts typeface and turns into a syllabus for what might  be the ultimate graphic design class. Winter Sorbeck challenges  his students and himself perhaps beyond what today's law allows,  but the results are all recorded in indelible ink on their  Permanent Academic Records, though the novel's painful  conclusion does find Sorbeck out job hunting. Kidd is an  award-winning graphic artist responsible for the memorable book  jackets for such titles as Jurassic Park and Love in the Time of  Cholera. That should assure his first novel a healthy amount of  publicity with attendant demand. For all larger public libraries  and for art schools everywhere. Bob Lunn, Kansas City P.L., MOCopyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.