National Network for Equitable Library Service

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.