The Learners by Chip Kidd

If you’ve heard the name Chip Kidd before, it’s probably because you’ve read a book he’s worked on.  Not that he’s written many books; he’s only added the profession of author to his resume in the last couple years.  But he has gained notoriety by designing book jackets for everyone from Michael Crichton to David Sedaris, and some authors have him exclusively under contract to design their book covers.  He’s been called the closest thing to a rock star in graphic design.  This guy is good at what he does.  The Learners is his second novel, and though he displays a skill with words as adept as that with which he wields a drawing pencil, The Learners leaves readers feeling somehow unfulfilled.

The Learners is set in New Haven, Connecticut in the early 1960’s.  If you’re a psychology student, you might remember that this was the same time and place in which Stanley Milgram did his obedience experiments at Yale (you know, the ones where a person would have to ask questions and administer shocks of increasing voltage for each wrong answer, unaware that the person screaming in pain in the next room was really an actor).  Anywho, the story deals with Happy, a graphic design major who finds himself a job at an advertising agency in the Yale town.  After designing Milgram’s ad, Happy becomes intrigued with the experiment when he learns of its connection to a deceased college sweetheart.  He becomes a participant, and then deals with the horrible realization that he may be capable of murder.

This book had a lot of potential, but it never really paid off.  The characters were great (Sketch, the artistic genius who never really went anywhere, and Tip, the inquisitive, sexually ambiguous writer).  Kidd offers a lot of insight to the human psyche, and its response to content and appearance.  The scenes were beautifully described, with the right twists of humor and ambiance.  I even enjoyed the dialogue, which was sprinkled with natural nuances that most authors ignore.  However, it just never goes anywhere.  Just as the plot begins to pick up, the novel ends, and you’re left with a feeling of, “Now what?”

I would really like to see Kidd attempt a more involved storyline, and I’m still interested to read The Cheese Monkeys, his prequel to The Learners (they don’t have to be read together; I didn’t feel at any point during the story that I was missing any vital information by not reading the first novel).  This is certainly an author that I want to keep an eye on.  I really think that if he puts more into a plot, he could be as famous in the world of literature as he is in the world of graphic design.