Cheese Monkeys: A Novel in Two Semesters Book

I just glanced at some earlier reviews from readers to make sure I didn't miss something on this one, and the second review I saw (from Billy) perfectly described my reaction to this novel. It's about 270 pages, the first 220 or so of which are incredibly entertaining and among the few times I've enjoyed an author's attempt at rendering life in the college scene.

Then, as things are rolling beautifully along, the bottom falls out of this book, and the whole plot spirals out of control. Indeed, beyond the dark events themselves that begin to transpire, the reader is thrown into a rambling narrative told by the now exceedingly sleep-deprived main character. When I finished, I just felt lost, like I had been bicycling along a lovely road and enjoying the scenery and stopped to look up only to find that I was actually in a foreign industrial shipping yard and my back wheel had just broken in half.

One unrelated point that I struggled with: the action in this book takes place in 1957-58. You only know this, though, because it says so in the table of contents. Nothing in the story (besides maybe references to the price of ice cream or phone calls) evidences the states time frame. Indeed, I often had to stop myself from thinking of State U. with an image of modern-day college life (a la my own, more recent college experience) and try to picture it in front of late-50's scenery. For no particular reason, this dumb issue echoed in the back of my head as I read the book, which took away from my overall experience. I wish Kidd had just left the date unidentified and let the reader enjoy a fuller experience of the scenes.

There you have it. A bit over 200 pages of entertaining, laugh-out-loud, well-written novel; one stupid issue nagging at the reader; and an ending that will leave you dumbfounded and (if you're like me) disappointed at the failed promise of this book.