The Cheese Monkeys

I love the expressive writing in this book. Chip Kidd's vivacious and witty form of speech helps to describe characters, place the plot line into the correct time period, and adds to the overall themes of the story. When describing Himillsy, the author is always sure to include her unique clothing style because it is a part of her personality. Kidd always conveys a kind of urgency and hurriedness when talking about Hims, as if she may be whisked right of the page. When Happy and Himillsy had their first confrontation, "She stopped, turned, and lowered her sunglasses. Then she let my desperate stare ricochet off her face, and released this from her jelly mouth: "We're all sorry." And what does one say to that?" (Kidd 38). Other hints such as the cars, clothing, and intellectual conversations that take place in this book all hint that it is set in the 1950's. The overall tone of the book evokes a new age of thinking and enlightenment. For example, in one of Winter's last lessons he talks about the book Flatland. He says that, "We sit here in the third dimension-Spaceland-and scoff at Flatland, pitying its immeasurably think folk because we can see in a way they never can. But-and this is a big BUT-doesn't that mean that someone sits in Timeland (AKA the fourth dimension) and feels the same about us? And someone sits in the fifth watching them, and so on, as they say, into infinity? There. Wrap your mind around that" (Kidd 212). The book evokes strong emotion and contemplation and leaves the reader looking at their world in a slightly different way.