Canada Reads 2

I'm in a bit of a panic because Canada Reads starts next week, and I've only read two books! I have one more at home to read (The Birth House) and two more on hold at the library. I just checked and I'm second in line on both those holds. There's still time for me to read all of the books before Canada Reads starts!

This Canada Reads selection was a welcome change from the last selection. It's not that I didn't like Unless by Carol Shields; I just found it rather dark. The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis was the opposite of dark! Before I start my discussion of The Best Laid Plans, I just want to point out that so many times books that are seen as important and award-winning are often books that deal with more serious issues. Like many Oscar-winning movies, fiction that deals with dark and tragic themes is sometimes seen as more worthy than that dealing with lighter fare. I, for one, enjoy reading books about the lighter side of life.

On to the book. The Best Laid Plans is about a young man, Daniel, who has been working as a speech writer for the Liberals. One day, fed up with politics and the actions of his girlfriend, he gives up his political career and moves outside Ottawa to take a teaching job. However, he agrees to do one last favour for the Libs - find a candidate to run in the riding of Cumberland-Prescott. Sounds simple, right? Wrong. The usual Liberal candidate is retiring at the age of 81. She has run in the last five elections and never won as the the seat is held tightly by one Eric Cameron, finance minister to the Conservatives. (Think Peter McKay - sort of.) (And as for the seat - think of any almost any seat in Alberta - provincially or federally usually Tory blue.)

Daniel is at a loss. Who will he find to run? The Liberals just need a candidate to put on the ballot - there's no hope of the candidate actually winning. (Again, think of any Tory seat in Alberta!) So Daniel browbeats his new landlord, Angus McLintock, into running. Angus is an eccentric Scottish engineer with a passion for chess, a partly-built hovercraft in the boathouse, an excellent grasp of English grammar, and an innate sense of honour and duty. Angus will do no campaigning and have no signs or interviews. In return, Daniel will teach his English for Engineers university class. It's a done deal.

What is not a done deal, however, is the surprise from Eric Cameron's house early one morning a few days before the election. (This is where I am sure that the character of Eric Cameron deviates from Peter McKay.) Not to be trite, but as to avoid giving away the ending, Daniel and Angus end up with a lot more than either of them bargained for.

For a political junkie like myself, this was a great book. Other than Eric Cameron, the other major political figures are not named, but given titles like the Leader (Liberal) and the Prime Minister. It is fun to read the descriptions and imagine whom Fallis is placing in these roles. (Leader - Stephane Dion?) (Prime Minister - Stephen Harper?) The character of Angus is noble, forthright, and honest. His simple approach to solving political problems gives my cynical side pause. No, that's not the way it's done in politics my cynical self cries. But why not?

I didn't find the book quite as funny as I thought I might. I usually like political humour, and while some parts of the book were quite entertaining, I'm not sure that any of it was actually laugh-out-loud humorous. (For a quite funny bit using House of Commons debate terms as sexual euphemisms see page xiv of the Prologue. You'll never watch CPAC the same way again!) I wonder if part of the problem was that some of the humour was lost on the page - either the jokes were too visual to work as written, or the joke falls flat without hearing read out loud. (See below - book first came out as a podcast.) Plus, I dislike bathroom humour and there was enough of it in this book.

That said, the characters are warm and funny and it is an interesting and in-depth look into political culture, University teaching, campaigning, and the life of an MP. Political junkies should read it, as they will enjoy it. Non-political junkies should read it, as they will enjoy it and learn something about the political process along the way. Perhaps this book should be read in Social Studies when students are being taught about the political system? It's nice to be entertained by learning.

The story behind the book is just as good. Fallis wrote the book himself and then tried to get it published. No one would bite, so he released each chapter as a podcast. Finding he had followers, he self-published the book. More people liked it and the book won the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour. A heart-warming David over Goliath story.

Where does this stack up compared to the one other Canada Reads book I've read: Unless by Carol Shields? I enjoyed this one more than Unless, and, surprisingly, it did sort of touch on some issues of feminism, given that Angus' wife was a great feminist author. Right now, I will have to give my vote to The Best Laid Plans over Unless for both entertainment and interest. Next read is The Birth House and maybe the other two books if I get them in time. At any rate, tune in to CBC Radio One on Monday at 11 a.m. for the first debates and check with the blog that evening for my feedback.