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Man, Underground Paperback – October 17, 2023

by Mark Hummel (Author)

4.7 13 ratings

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As neighborhoods have grown up around the subterranean home of the narrator of Man, Underground, the city has initiated a review of his dwelling. Intent on ignoring the review process, his life is interrupted by a seventeen-year-old punk-inspired, Honor’s student. Every bit as eccentric as the narrator, Monika declares that she will be his accomplice in a battle against the city, fighting the righteous fight against “the Man” and the ostracization commonly weaponized against those seen as “the other.” As Monika creates “diversionary tactics” to focus the neighbors on other community concerns, the man she once only knew as “Mr. Underground Man” reluctantly begins to join in her idyllic and irrational protest movement that ultimately settles on a “yard art relocation” project. As an unlikely friendship begins to form, the two must come to face their tragic pasts and determine if they are capable of learning to trust others again. A fast-paced dark comedy, Man, Underground will leave readers contemplating both the disruptions and the potential transformative power found in random acts of kindness.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I like my fiction inspiring, passionate, big-hearted, and laugh-out-loud funny – and if you get me there through tragedy, then my hat stays off for you. Mark Hummel achieves all of this in his subtly elegant, gently intellectual, moving story of the friendship between a man with a broken spirit and a teenager with a soaring one. Read it. You’ll be glad you did." —Laura McBride, We Are Called to Rise

"A dark, comedic parable of resilience and camaraderie between a reclusive man who finds solace in an unconventional home and an audacious teenager who inserts herself into his hidden world. An unlikely bond forms, unearthing laughter, comfort, and a captivating journey that defies societal norms. I was hooked from the first page."—Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of The Many Daughters of Afong Moy

About the Author

Mark Hummel is a novelist, editor, and teacher. He is the author of the novel In the Chameleon’s Shadow, the story collection Lost and Found, and, writing as Mark Leichliter, the crime novel The Other Side. His work regularly appears in literary journals including The Bloomsbury Review, Dogwood, Fugue, Talking River Review, Weber: The Contemporary West, and Zone 3. He is the editor of the nonfiction magazine bioStories. Mark lives in Bigfork, Montana.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Regal House Publishing (October 17, 2023)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 260 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1646033884
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1646033881
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.5 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.7 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #583,834 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,634 in Friendship Fiction (Books)
- #4,914 in Fiction Satire
- #28,887 in Literary Fiction (Books)

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4.7 13 ratings

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Mark Hummel

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Mark Hummel's latest novel, MAN, UNDERGROUND, debuts in October 2023; it is available now for pre-order. Mark has been regularly publishing short stories, essays, and poetry in literary magazines for over twenty years and is the author of the novel IN THE CHAMELEON'S SHADOW and the story collection LOST & FOUND. He taught fiction and creative nonfiction writing at the college level for two decades, and has directed a writers' conference, taught in a small, independent high school, worked as a librarian, and has done his share of working construction and landscaping jobs. He is the editor of bioStories, a nonfiction magazine dedicated to "celebrating the extraordinary lives of ordinary people" and continues to work as a freelance editor and writing coach. A native of Wyoming, he now lives in Montana's Flathead Valley. To learn more about him and read more of his work, visit his author website at www.markhummelwriter.com.

"Man, Underground is witty, endearing, and full of surprises. I loved watching the transformation of our "underground man" into something resembling a blossoming flower." — David Abrams, author of Brave Deeds and Fobbit

"With Man, Underground, Mark Hummel has crafted a novel of rare insight. It is sincere but never sentimental, life-affirming yet clear-eyed, and timely while possessing a timeless wisdom. Oh, and it tells a great story, too, equal parts rollicking caper and dark night of the soul. A worthy addition to the canon of misfit lit!" — Luke Geddes, author of Heart of Junk

"Mark Hummel has certainly written a novel for our time. From the very first pages, I was drawn into the story through its sparkling, muscular dialogue, and then lured on by a series of plot moves both arresting and entirely plausible. This truly wonderful novel reminded me that grief met with patience and the willingness to listen can be grief gently and incrementally eased." — Liza Wieland, author of Paris, 7 A.M. and Land of Enchantment

"Mark Hummel’s animated descriptions, knockout dialogue, laugh-out-loud wit, and narrative momentum create a story relevant to everyone. In his canny and compassionate prose, Mr. Hummel lets us know that we are all bewildered and vulnerable, that fate comes for every one of us, and it is only by relating to each another that we can heal our communities and maybe the world. Delicious wit and tender observations combine to tell the story of a lonely man and his quest for reason. This is Mark Hummel at the top of his game." — Jean Ryan, author of Survival Skills and Lost Sister

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C. Morris

A good, well-paced read.

Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2024

Man, Underground offers a first-person narrator you trust from the get-go, in spite of his odd choice of residence: beneath the soil. What I really admired in this novel were two choices author Mark Hummel made that are super hard to achieve: The way he handles the “big reveal”—why the narrator’s chosen an underground home (really masterful)--and the thoroughly believable friendship between a quirky teenage girl and our middle-aged narrator--two people struggling with forces/officials trying to make them conform. But out of this friendship, these two well-drawn characters, each with a traumatic past, develop the ability to confront those pasts. A good, well-paced read.

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Just Some Rando

An Emotional Story That Respects Its Characters, Flaws And All

Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2023

Man, Underground is the story of a nameless man who literally lives underground. He’s built an architecturally sound and frankly appealing (to me anyway) subterranean apartment where he can sit around listening to old records, remembering when he used to be a music journalist, and trying not to let the tragedies in his past overpower him. One day, a young woman knocks on his door to let him know that the city has begun to look askance at his unorthodox home…and she’s here to help, whether he likes it or not.

Their friendship deepens, and we learn that she too has a lot of pain to run from. The parameters of the relationship shift, each one offering the other some portion of what they need, and gradually coming out of their respective shells. I don’t want to say much about the plot, but I will say that they don’t sleep together. This isn’t that kind of book.

Hummel’s dialogue is sharp and witty, his plotting feels natural and never tips over into melodrama, and his ability to convey the mental contortions and deep inward focus of one who has spent too long away from society is very impressive. He strikes a delicate balance: his protagonist is a jerk, and he never allows you to think for a moment that the guy is in any way cool or someone to be emulated, but he doesn’t make him pitiable, either. He’s multifaceted, often unpleasant but capable of redemption and kindness. You know, like a person. And the same goes for the teenage co-protagonist, Monika. She’s rude and snappish at times, and Hummel never goes the self-flattering route of allowing her to seem like she looks up to the protagonist; their relationship is remarkably balanced.

The book drops in allusions to Faulkner, Dostoevsky, Ellison, and Melville, among others, but what it reminded me of most was a little-known novel from about 30 years ago: Slam, by Lewis Shiner. That book was about a 39-year-old guy who gets out of prison and takes a job as caretaker of a rich dead woman’s house and its 23 cats, soon forming a relationship with a 19-year-old girl (yes, they do sleep together), which in turn brings him into contact with the local youth subculture of skateboarders and early adoptees of online bulletin boards, the ancestors of today’s internet. Like Man, Underground, it’s about people who aren’t really suited to the regular world, but are able to adapt and connect with others who share their values, creating a community just about out of sight of everyone else that works a little better for them.

It’s hard to write books about people on the fringes of society without making too much of a case for them. I mean, mainstream society works for the overwhelming majority of people, you know? Most folks like comfort, they like security, and they shouldn’t be condemned for that. Sneering at “plastic suburbanites” or whatever is lazy. People we pass on the street or in the supermarket aisle have problems we can’t possibly know about, and sooner or later the quotidian realities of existence pull us all in, to one degree or another. So a book like Man, Underground, which doesn’t paint any of its characters with a broad brush, is worth reading and good to have around.

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DASB

Delightful, satirical tale of isolation and friendship

Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2024

Neither the "underground man" nor a free-spirited honor student fit into the neat boxes society would like to impose on them. Their unlikely relationship starts with sarcasm, moves to uneasy respect for each other, and blossoms into a funny conspiracy against those who condemn them w/o knowing them. Part rumination, part rant, witty at times, heartbreaking at other times.

Beautifully written and thought provoking.

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Nancy B.

literary & quirky--w/ wit

Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2024

If you've grown up admiring literary fiction but lately have had enough in which lyrical prose and expected dialogue of little consequence bogs down your desire to turn pages, this novel by Mark Hummel is for you. Its narrative voice is thoughtful yet snappy; its dialogue dramatizes interplay among characters who are guarded yet willing to risk; best of all, at least for me, its premise and plot offers a quirkiness that soon assures you you're enjoying a wellspring of wit unlike any you've ever read.

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Erin M. Pollard

Darkly funny, uniquely life-affirming story of healing (and misplaced gnomes)

Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2023

What a unique, funny, unexpectedly life-affirming book. How a story with such strong undercurrents of loneliness, cynicism and grief could end up packing such a hopeful and heartening punch owes everything to Hummel’s two main characters and their expertly rendered friendship. Their banter is razor sharp and ultimately revealing, serving as it does to (as Monika puts it) “avoid the difficult stuff” they both conceal with various degrees of success. It’s that difficult stuff that slowly brings them together and, along with the rippling effects of kindness, finally allows for transcendence as they each find their way to a new and better place. As someone who generally tends toward the somber and tragic in literature, what a breath of fresh air it was to read a story of such rare tenderness and, dare I say, optimism.

Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2023

The storyline is unique and filled with quick banter between the main characters. The main character, an unnamed man, shares his thoughts with the reader while he strikes up an unlikely friendship with a neighbor. While this book isn’t bad, I don’t think I was the target audience.

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Mary Ann S.

A heartbreak of a novel that reminds us to hope

Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2024

Mark Hummel's beautiful story steeped in grief, in our humanness and all the ways we try to avoid suffering, is also an affirmation of our resilience. Even in the trenches of untenable pain, we sometimes stumble upon another who can coax us from our hiding places. Hummel's two main characters, both masterful at rejecting and spewing bullshit, feel full and true. The complicated, conspiratorial nature of their odd alliance injects this heartbreak of a novel with a joy that reminds the reader to hope.

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BigSky

A Smorgasbord of Emotions

Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2023

This is, without question, the BEST book I have ever read. One page, you are laughing, the next, you are perplexed,saddened, delighted, and a plethora of emotions. This book confirms a cornucopia of personal beliefs I have and challenges others. Man Underground is a book that is thought provoking, not just for a moment, but for days after reading. If you like metacognition, this book will challenge and/or reinforce your thoughts. I wish I could buy this book for everybody, everywhere. Man Underground is magnificent.

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