by Chip Kidd
ISBN: 9780061673245
This is the second novel from graphic designer Chip Kidd, who is better known for his work on book covers than his writing.
If you read The Cheese Monkeys, you’ll recognize Happy, no longer an art student but a young man who lands his first job at the firm of his favorite yet feared professor. (No, reading the first book is not necessary to understanding or enjoying the second.) The book is, yes, a primer on graphic design and typography, but really it is a disturbing story about how we can or cannot live with ourselves.
Happy winds up participating in the infamous Milgram obedience experiment. He is appalled yet fascinated by the design of the experiment, and seeks to understand how it works in hopes of coming to understand his own participation. Despite his effort, it isn’t as easily understandable as the choices he made laying out the newspaper ad calling for volunteers.
Kidd’s story is about change, uncertainty, and wanting to do great things but not knowing what that means. I wonder if Kidd will write a third novel, and if he does, if it will be about Happy figuring out how to live with himself. I sort of want Kidd to write that book, but I’m also leery of that kind of effort — this piece is so well done, it might just be done.
I hope he’s not done writing novels, though, as I’ll be looking for the next one.
