Man Out of Time [Paperback]

Michael Hogan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 30, 2003

For the nameless hero of Michael Hogan’s riveting, savagely comical novel, everything feels a little off-kilter. On his first day of work at a prestigious Manhattan firm, the bright, young would-be lawyer can’t help feeling that he’s living in the wrong time, at the wrong speed, in the wrong place. With the best of intentions, he’s put on his finest clothes, fought his way through a hangover, and entered a bewildering world of billable hours, office flirtations, and pedigreed posturing.

Even on day one he can’t quite show up on time. And the woman who catches his eye couldn’t be more inappropriate. Now for the wide-eyed young lawyer matched with a button-down firm a contest has begun. Because in one horrible moment, for all the right reasons, our hero makes a wrong move—an ill-timed chuckle that makes a fast enemy of one powerful partner-in-training. And the retribution that follows is quite possibly the most devastating, darkly comic portrayal of the punishment exceeding the crime in modern fiction...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A young lawyer is brought down by bad luck and general malaise in this relentless first novel, a tale of wayward youth in the vein of Bright Lights, Big City. The unnamed narrator, part of a foursome of friends from various backgrounds who have just graduated from the same law school, steps grudgingly from the ivory tower into the real world and plunges. It doesn't help that he is ambivalent about the profession he's worked so hard to join, or that he has no grasp of office politics, or that his only recreational activity is getting drunk, "real drunk, the kind of drunk where I don't give a fuck about anything, that kind of drunk where I feel like I'm continually entering new rooms and closing doors behind me, doors that lock as soon as they close so there's no going back no matter what." His chosen profession affords him the money to indulge this habit, which in turn feeds his growing negativity about the profession as well as his growing sense of isolation from his friends. His confused apathy costs him hugely when he seems to ridicule a clumsy pass made at a female co-worker by one of the rising stars at the firm, who then exacts a bitter, bureaucratic and utterly effective vengeance. Readers will guess at the course of events before the end of the first chapter, but Hogan has a gift for capturing the vulnerability of youth ("we're just kids, and they can pretty much do what they want with us") and the terrifying swiftness with which things can go utterly wrong.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Fresh out of law school and beginning work with a big Manhattan firm, our unnamed hero in this impressive debut novel isn't your typical fast-track type. Sure, he has the smarts, but he lacks the ambition, the succeed-at-all-costs attitude. His friend, Mary, born to money, has that; he's just a working-class Irish Catholic boy who likes his Scotch, the source of more than a few tough mornings at the firm. The success he has mustered stems from his wit and charm, of which he has plenty. But such traits can work against you, as he discovers when an innocuous witty remark (which we never hear) is blown out of proportion by an insecure, vengeful associate, whose mission it becomes to make our young lawyer's life hell. At times witty and irreverent, and at times darkly comedic and sad, Hogan's first offering makes you hope he has more stories to tell. Mary Frances Wilkens
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Delta (September 30, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385336934
• ISBN-13: 978-0385336932
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,758,342 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Send lawyers, guns, and money!, October 7, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Man Out of Time (Paperback)

Great book! If you were ever young, successful, and completely out of control, you will relate to this book. It was extremely entertaining to experience first hand someone else's trials, tribulations and downward spiral while within the confines of my own home and sober head. I am hoping that this novel lives on. Now on to the process of dealing with that head. Cheers

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FIVE STARS - Best of Fall 2003, September 30, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Man Out of Time (Paperback)

This book will make you double over with laugh-out-loud laughter - just before it rips your heart out.

Whoever thought an expose of intelligence and education out stripping maturity could ring so true to 20-somethings, 30-somethings and beyond.

IF you love lawyers, hate lawyers, know a lawyer, don't want to know a lawyer, are thinking about becoming a lawyer - IF YOU'RE BREATHING - read this book!

It makes me think of Bright Lights Big City with a bigger bite, a sharper edge, and the generous (sometimes savage) humor of the innocent.

Anyway - If Dustin Hoffman's GRADUATE and Holden Caufield had gotten together in a New York after hours joint to compare notes and Marcel Proust had happened to be in the same room on assignment for PUNCH and wrote down what he overheard --- maybe that's something of what I just experienced reading this novel.

Read it, enjoy it and tell your friends, if (unlike the main character in MAN OUT) you have any.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Bad For a First Attempt, August 16, 2004

By 

Dash Manchette - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Man Out of Time (Paperback)

This book is the first by the author and it is pretty good. The fate which befalls the main character is painful to read for anyone who has ever encountered a vindictive jerk at work. Most people will be able to relate to the plot on that basis and therefore will be able to enjoy the book. However, the characters are not as solidly portrayed as I would have liked and the subplots are stretched a bit thin here and there. Nonetheless, if you are looking for a quick read that is a bit more than light entertainment but not too heavy either, then you could do worse than this.