Temp: Life in the Stagnant Lane

by Scott Nagele

"Local Boy Makes Good, Dies of Trying Soon After." Fearful of this epitaph, Gary Gray seeks to avoid career pressures by working as a temp. Unfortunately, Gary repeatedly gets into trouble by being too conscientious and outperforming the permanent employees. No matter how hard Gary tries to be a meek office worker, he can't seem to stop himself from becoming a competitive threat to his co-workers and superiors. Meanwhile, Gary's girlfriend is smart and beautiful, and he just might be able to hold onto her if he can stay employed and quit accidentally mooning her mom. Gary runs afoul of a host of difficult characters in the workplace. Marge Meko is thoroughly incompetent, but she has "the goods" on the boss, so she easily gets away with blaming her errors on Gary. Marge's boss, Steve, wants all problems swept under the rug before they become an inconvenience to his cushy position. Rae is a secretary with an overblown ego, intent on consolidating power by crushing all her perceived competitors. Gary is convinced that College President Burton is a mere figurehead, pulled from the ranks of the indigent and propped up by Rae, the power behind the throne. Through his trials Gary comes to the amazing revelation that it may actually be less painful to die trying than to live the "easy" life of the temp.

216 pages, Paperback

First published November 17, 2010

About the author

Scott Nagele grew up in the Mohawk Valley of New York State. He now lives in Michigan with his wife and three sons. Scott’s writing has been published in Berkeley Fiction Review and other literary journals. His novels are: The Other Place, Temp: Life in the Stagnant Lane, A Housefly in Autumn, and Wasted Moons. He is also author of the short story collection, A Smile Through a Tear. Scott also blogs about his experiences as a writer and a father.

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gary works as a temp to avoid the pressures of ambition and career growth - things he had experienced as the manager of a bookshop. The problem is that now he experiences even more stress; from having to ignore incompetence, to having to fake incompetence of his own, Gary finds that being a temp is largely about sinking to the level of his co-workers.

Nagele has a wonderful turn of phrase and a genuine eye for the absurd, which combined to create hilarious reading. While it took some time for me to "get into" the book, I became more and more absorbed with the story, until I found myself reading late into last night as I HAD to know what was going to happen next.

*GR requires me to state that I won this book in a GR Giveaway.

[Sandy Wolters · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm still basking in the afterglow of the best laugh I've had in years.

I'm just going to say it. Temp: Life In The Stagnant Lane by Scott Nagele was the funniest thing I've ever read. I started laughing on the first page and didn't stop until I finished the book. No, wait, that's wrong because I'm still laughing about it. Several times I had to put my Kindle down and reach for a tissue because I was laughing so hard, tears were rolling down my face and I couldn't see to read. If you are looking for laugh out loud, bust your gut funny, this is the book for you.

Another thing I really loved about this book was the way it was written. I felt as though I was sitting in my living room with a good friend and he was telling me funny things that had happened to him. I encourage everyone to download a sample of this book. I promise you that you will not be disappointed. Once you've started reading it, you won't be able to hit that "Buy now with 1-Click" button fast enough.

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book so funny, I highly recommend this book.

[Wendy Lowdermilk Larvick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book captures the personality of its main character in a way that nearly everyone could find laugh-out-loud funny. I know I LOL’ed many, many times. A quick, fun read!

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Annoying.
Rambling essays.
Sophymoric. Tries too hard to be funny and succeeds.