The Best Laid Plans: A Novel

I simply loved this book. It won the Stephen Leacock Award for humor and that worried me - for some reason I often don't find "funny" books very funny. I can't recommend this one highly enough. Daniel works as a speechwriter for the Leader of the Opposition on Parliament Hill. He is slowly changing from an idealist to a cynic. Then he finds his girlfriend in a compromising position with a certain politiican. That is enough for him to pack up and head to the University of Ottawa to teach. But they have one last request - find someone to run for the Liberals in the strongest Tory riding in the country. He says yes. And then every single person in the riding says no to him. Until he meets his landlord - Angus McLintock an engineering professor with a love of hovercrafts and a hatred of teaching English to first year engineers. Daniel offers a switch - he'll teach the class if Angus agrees to run. Angus agrees as long as Daniel promises he'll lose. They have a deal. No budget, no headquarters and only 2 volunteers - Pete1 and Pete2 (heavily pierced, mohawked and tattooed engineering students). A loss seems guaranteed. Or does it? If you ever watched the West Wing you'll love seeing the behind the scenes political maneouvering on the Canadian side of the border. It was totally laugh out loud for me.

I chose Best Laid Plans wishing to learn more about Canadian politics and its government; I am glad to have made this decision, as this book turns out to be a gem of fun and inspiration. Fallis has a way with his ironic voice, putting a sarcastic tone on the most common observations making you laugh at the humour of human ridicule. I am inspired by the vision of an honest, honourable, thoughtful and humble politician (hopefully, one day in plural); an image that could be a beacon in clearing the bad names of national politics.

It is thought-provoking to see the brutal portrayal of politicians doing what is popular in public opinion rather than what is of benefit to the country or the world, in parallel to regular folks doing what they don't believe in simply for the sake of keeping their jobs and the good name among their peers. I believe, when anyone of us set out to achieve our aspirations, we had our dreams of mission and professionalism. It is true that compromises are unavoidable along the way; but if we have to sacrifice our core values and integrity just to keep the job and the monetary benefits, it's about time to see the reality - what we're doing is not the exact same thing that we started out doing anyway. Then what are we doing?

I truly enjoyed this novel by Terry Fallis. To be honest, I was somewhat deterred by the long winded narratives in the beginning chapters. But if you hold out until chapter three or so, Fallis all of a sudden found his element and there begins a totally different book that tells an amazing story. (Maybe the author and the editor should ponder on this?)

Overall, this is a book that makes you laugh, makes you cry, makes you think, and through all of this learn a thing or two about Canadian politics. Not bad at all. I am satisfied.

This is a book about hovercrafts. You'll also find an entertaining story about Daniel Addison, a cynic/idealist who quit his job on Parliament Hill after a harrowing encounter with a rubber plant and an unexpected debriefing. As a means of breaking with his past, Addison finds a job with the University of Ottawa's English Department and in the process of moving into a rental boathouse meets Angus McLintock, an engineering professor whose wife recently died. Angus is building the hovercraft in his workroom.

Details about the author can be found at www.terryfallis.com so I won't go into them here.

The novel is written in readable and generous style. For example, p. 17

"Well, I don't think you're here to ask me on a date." I paused, unsure of how to play it out. Concern clouded her face. "Oh, please, tell me you're not here to ask me out," she blurted, mortified. "I'm not here to ask you on a date," I conceded.

However, my predilection for minimalist writing often caused me to rail against the wordiness of the text in many places. The above, for example, could have been written like this, preserving all the dialogue but letting the reader imagine the mortification:

"Well, I don't think you're here to ask me on a date."
I said nothing.
"Oh, please, tell me you're not here to ask me out."

"I'm not here to ask you on a date."

At times I wish Fallis had left more to the imagination rather than guiding the reader through the narrative. This is probably more of a personal preference than a critique though.

The politics are a bit blunt. Angus McLintock is a kind of mythological character - gruff, honest, witty, and smart . . . almost like Rousseau's noble savage with a doctorate in engineering. His perspective on the relation between civic life and politics is true to a certain idealism within liberal political philosophy. For example, whereas the social conservative demands repentance and forgiveness, the liberal looks for reciprocity and understanding. McLintock also makes a passionate case for national interest before personal interest - since the national interest is, after all, our collective interest (ideally, without subordinating one to the other).

Where the politics are a bit less obvious but effective is in his very deliberate move to incorporate gender and gender issues. Several of the characters in the novel are feminists, including Addison and McLintock's sympathies. The novel contains a realistic balance between male and female characters and if it doesn't completely avoid stereotypes at least uses more than half a dozen rather than one or two (the vixen, the intelligent and beautiful graduate student, the warhorse, the gifted inventor, the wise elder, etc.). A pro-feminist sympathy is simply rendered as part of the texture of the novel and, in contrast to the misogyny of so many classical texts or the hollowness of "chic lit," is a welcome change of scenery.

The Canadian "left" doesn't really make an appearance, which is too bad . . . the introduction of a discussion of "class" with regard to personal and national interest might have been interesting.

As the novel unfolds we find that McLintock is the reluctant servant, the brilliant everyman, the benevolent yet mildly naïve do-gooder. Addison is the disenchanted flak catcher who must be brought back into the fullness of civic political life. I found the rustic image of McLintock a cliché but this is complicated by some rather revealing and personal journal entries written to his recently deceased wife. The majesty of McLintock is certainly undeniable.

In many respects this is a coming-of-age story, a novel about rejuvination and inspiration. All in all this is a very nicely crafted feel-good story about provincial politics and the Ottawa River.

As someone who has worked in the wierd world of politics I loved this book - its real, real funny and closer to the "way things work" than even some non-fiction Ottawa books can take you. All with outstanding humour and a pace that makes me only hope there is a sequel in the offing. Move over Ian Rankin. There is a Canadian political series equivalent in the making - I hope. A great read, funny and certainly could not put this one down. Who is this Terry Fallis? I think we'll be hearing a lot more of him.