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The Best Laid Plans

Terry Fallis (Goodreads Author)

3.89 · Rating details · 9,494 ratings · 1,000 reviews

A burnt-out political aide quits just before an election — but is forced to run a hopeless campaign on the way out. He makes a deal with a crusty old Scot, Angus McLintock — an engineering professor who will do anything, anything, to avoid teaching English to engineers — to let his name stand in the election. No need to campaign, certain to lose - or is he?

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Paperback, 314 pages

Published September 5th 2008 by McClelland & Stewart (first published August 22nd 2007)

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Dec 08, 2008 Terry rated it it was amazing · (Review from the author)

I'll not ramble on here about my own book beyond saying that I hope those who read it enjoy it.

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Aug 08, 2012 Megan Baxter rated it really liked it

I had a rocky start with this book. The author clearly knows politics, but much less about academia - or at least, current academia. The idea that the protagonist was approached about a tenure track appointment a couple of months before the book began, and that the position was still open, and there weren't a stack of CVs from people applying for that job, that the protagonist could just call his old prof and waltz into a tenure-track job? Well, I don't know what the academic job market used to ...more

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Aug 26, 2008 Mark rated it it was amazing

When I first picked up Terry Fallis' novel which is described on the cover as a "satirical novel of Canadian politics" I wasn't expecting it to be very compelling -- I'm not much into politics, after all.

But this novel was compelling from the first word. I was immediately hooked by narrator Daniel Addison and his departure from the Canadian political scene to teach English to Engineers at Ottawa University.

I particularly enjoyed the hilarious and uniquely creative description of walking in on hi ...more

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Aug 14, 2011 Jonathan rated it did not like it

The Stephen Leacock Awards committee has no credibility. The characters are two-dimensional stereotypes without insight or growth. The metaphors are overwrought, thickly-slathered (usually doubly-slathered), and flat. References to hockey and skating aren't funny just because they're Canadian. The dialogue is similarly dull. The plot is predictable and the romantic side-plot superficial and wholly without dramatic tension. Underdramatized, too, are the characters. They are most often indifferent The Stephen Leacock Awards committee has no credibility. The characters are two-dimensional stereotypes without insight or growth. The metaphors are overwrought, thickly-slathered (usually doubly-slathered), and flat. References to hockey and skating aren't funny just because they're Canadian. The dialogue is similarly dull. The plot is predictable and the romantic side-plot superficial and wholly without dramatic tension. Underdramatized, too, are the characters. They are most often indifferent to their obstacles and overcome them either by some unrelated (and hence, unfunny) deus ex machina or so quickly that none proves significant. Re: deus ex -- is a sex scandal funny after the many we've seen from politicians?

Its political insight is fairly elementary and trends towards the obvious. After the past five years, how many Canadians are surprised to learn that parliamentary procedure is meaningful when the government is a minority, as comes to one of the characters in an "insight"?

Flipping between the present and past in the narrative voice could be an interesting trick. Here it isn't. It reads like an unedited mistake each time. It makes the narrator, in turns, emotionally neurotic, calm and experienced, and conveniently forgetful without ever being witty, interesting, or adding to the story. The narrator shows, for example, no significant signs of lingering pain from the broken relationship at the beginning of the story. Given that, the revenge he later exacts on his former lover (and her lover) comes off as mean and childish rather than triumphant.

The diary entries by one major character sadden me. These codas to each chapter are well-constructed, tie together, offer insight into that character, and achieve some poignancy. Could the rest of the book have had similar quality? What prevented it?

The only truly interesting question raised in the book is the one at the end: will the new member seize the moment now that he sees the possibility of worthwhile achievement ahead of him? What a pity the story following that question wasn't the one Mr. Fallis chose to tell. ...more

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Jan 20, 2012 Sue rated it it was amazing

Shelves: book-club-books, 2010, funny-books

OK, so you know that feeling when you've found the perfect book/song/band/child's name/whatever, and then shortly after it becomes popular? You know..."GAH! Why can't I just have this one thing to myself? Why do I always have to share? Now everybody's going to be talking about it/using it/slobbering all over it, and it's going to get overdone/overused/overanalyzed - this SUCKS!" Yeah...I totally didn't feel that when this book became the Canada Reads book. I was in a rut, not really enjoying the OK, so you know that feeling when you've found the perfect book/song/band/child's name/whatever, and then shortly after it becomes popular? You know..."GAH! Why can't I just have this one thing to myself? Why do I always have to share? Now everybody's going to be talking about it/using it/slobbering all over it, and it's going to get overdone/overused/overanalyzed - this SUCKS!" Yeah...I totally didn't feel that when this book became the Canada Reads book. I was in a rut, not really enjoying the books that I was reading, and about to take a trip that would have me in a car for extended periods, so I needed a good book, but it had to be one that I could put down if I had to. I started looking at Top Ten books of lists, and was looking specifically for funny books. I came across a book that had won the Stephen Leacock award for humour, and googled it, thinking that award winners had to have something going for them right? So I found this book, and the premise sounded OK, but the author's story just blew me away. So I bought the book, devoured it (too fast), and started recommending it to everyone I met. It was my book club choice when I hosted our book club. When my husband was in the hospital to get his gall bladder out, I left all of the magazines at home, and told him that he had to give this book a try (he loved it, of course). It became our city's One Book, One Community choice in 2010, and Terry Fallis came to speak to the masses about the book, and I went to hear him talk, and I loved him even more (not like a stalker, but definitely like a real fan). I bought a copy of his second book at the event, and have been saving it for the perfect moment (savouring the idea that I have it - I visit it now and again, and say "not this time") In fact, the book had only been released a couple of days prior to the event, and a lady in the audience put up her hand and asked him when he was writing the next one, because she couldn't put this one down! He was genuinely surprised (and humbled) that there were people there who had not only bought the book already, but had loved it that much - I think he felt like a rock star that day. So he told the lady that he might give the characters a rest and write a different story, and she said "Hurry up - I don't have that much time!" (she was elderly). It got a great laugh from the crowd, and it moved all of us to think that this woman who is facing her mortality and has to be picking her books with extreme care (no time for crap), is desperate for his book!

Anyhoo, all that to say - I loved the characters; I loved the story; I loved the humour (I laughed out loud several times). I have been recommending it for almost 2 years, and will continue to do so. In fact...you...you who's reading this...buy this book, you won't be sorry. In fact, buy 2 copies and give one to your best friend. Let's keep this guy writing! ...more

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Sep 16, 2011 Jennifer rated it liked it

Shelves: owned, canadian, 2013-books

hmm...i really wanted to love this book but i only just liked it. which is a shame. fallis is an awesome man but i struggled with a few things in this novel:

* it felt inconsistently edited - some places time jumped...two weeks would pass and the action carried through like nothing had happened during the ensuing/missing time. in other places, the plot felt padded and plodding, as though it could have been tightened up for flow. so this was a bummer.

* our hero, angus, is proudly scottish (YAY!) b ...more

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Mar 21, 2009 Lorina Stephens rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: anyone

The Best Laid Plans, by Terry Fallis, is, in my opinion, a perfect novel, deserving of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, and of every accolade it receives. If you haven't yet read it you must, right now, rush out and purchase your very own copy; no, don't borrow one, buy your own because it will be a mainstay on your bookshelf for years to come.

Now, it's best to understand it's not easy to make me laugh, and I'm also a very critical reader; despite that Terry had me laughing myself silly wi ...more

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Apr 09, 2012 (Peter) rated it did not like it

Forced, predictable humour, like a script read on CBC radio on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Ontario-centric and small-minded. The author assumes we are as engrossed with the petty twisted intrigue of our political circus as he is. He's wrong. Could not care less that Mackenzie King sat here - or there. And the characters - pure cartoon fabrication for the purposes of squeezing a cheap laugh from the uncritical reader. A hoary Scotsman, two PUNKY Petes, one grand Dame, a beauty, some slimey party hac ...more

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Nov 09, 2012 Karen rated it did not like it

This book was painful to get through. Its mediocre writing, childish jokes and predictable story line left me questioning how this book could possibly win the Stephen Leacock Award for humour. Don't waste your time on this one.

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Apr 18, 2009 Shane rated it liked it

It's tough to give a Stephen Leacock Award winner just three stars without justifying it.

On the surface - it's a funny novel, with a well crafted plot that ends with the good guys winning the day and the bad guys being voted out of power.

The writing is intelligent and funny and lines such as "Ottawa is a great meat grinder that takes in idealism at one end and spits out cynical sausage at the other" are delightful. So is the description of the sex-act between the Opposition House Leader and our It's tough to give a Stephen Leacock Award winner just three stars without justifying it.

On the surface - it's a funny novel, with a well crafted plot that ends with the good guys winning the day and the bad guys being voted out of power.

The writing is intelligent and funny and lines such as "Ottawa is a great meat grinder that takes in idealism at one end and spits out cynical sausage at the other" are delightful. So is the description of the sex-act between the Opposition House Leader and our hapless narrator's self-serving first girlfriend, likened to the passing of a private member's bill in parliament - I was holding my sides laughing.

Angus McLintock is an unforgetable and formidable folk hero, resembling Don Quixote, with narrator Daniel Addison as his long suffering sidekick, Sancho Panza.

However, a few things stuck in my craw. Ottawa and Canadian politics are difficult animals to describe and the author was stuck in a lot of narrative, i.e. telling. The pacing was thus affected and only redeemed when Angus delivered one of his unpredictable but memorable performances. Perhaps a lot of this background information could have come out in the dialogue and action. The romance between Daniel and Lindsay was portrayed like a high school affair: they were pecking each other on the cheek at one point and then sharing a hotel room together at the end but I am not sure what developed in between. Shoe factories converted to hi-tech manufacturering plants with orders oversubscribed before opening day and the old shoemaking staff were transformed into hi-tech workers overnight - I wish the real world was that easy. But I guess this book is a comedy, so these transgressions are permitted.

Angus' summing up of every chapter with a diary entry to his dead wife, though poignant and a gateway into his character, became repetitious, and I skipped a few of them towards the end of the book and did not miss much.

And I was waiting for the predictable ending - after all Baddeck 1 had to make its dramatic appearance. All the preparations we had been exposed to throughout the book had to make it part of the grand finale -and Mr. Fallis delivered as expected! ...more

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Jan 15, 2015 RRJ rated it did not like it

As I am a big fan of Stephen Leacock, I found this book very painful to read. I could only make it half way through and having read so many positive reviews, I was pushing hard to find something good here. While Leacock and others like Will Ferguson show wit and style in their stories, I found the humor in this book quite juvenile and ham-fisted. Maybe the author has a thing for potty humour but really, Cataclysmic farts? Maybe once, it's funny.
The characters were two dimensional, did not have ...more

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Jan 03, 2012 Matt rated it it was ok

Although a relatively enjoyable story, Terry Fallis just seems like he's trying too hard. For example, when the protagonist goes out for coffee with his love interest, we are given their entire order. Perhaps it's just ultra-realistic, descriptive writing, but it comes across as Fallis saying, "Oooh. Look at me; I can name-drop items from the Starbucks menu." This was consistent throughout the story and, rather than adding to the narrative, it just rubbed me the wrong way. Additionally, for a na ...more

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Oct 19, 2009 Scotchneat rated it really liked it

Shelves: humour

Ah, I loves me some Canadian political satire. Don't think I've had this much fun since King John of Canada (Scott Gardiner - go read it).

A young politico quits Ottawa when the blech factor gets to be too much, but he's "persuaded" to run one final campaign in a riding where the party has no hope in hell of winning a seat.

The last guy he bugs to stand up is a an Engineering Prof who desperately wants to get out of teaching English 101, and so a deal is struck. Then he finds a firecracker former ...more

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Jul 24, 2011 Ann Douglas rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, read-in-2011, novel, canadian-fiction, canadian-politics, favorites

This is one of the funniest novels I have read in a long time (and I'm talking laugh-out-loud funny, not just smile-to-yourself funny).

If you pay far more attention to Canadian politics than any sane person should, this book is definitely for you.

The novel's premise is fabulous and the characters (particularly the self-deprecating narrator) are truly inspired.

At last! A beach book for political geeks.

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Aug 29, 2018 Amanda McGill rated it it was ok

Shelves: book-club, 2018

I enjoyed the characters, the humour and that the novel was set in Canada, but I'm not a fan of politics, so reading about politics wasn't too enjoyable.

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Dec 23, 2010 Sarah (Workaday Reads) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-in-2010, canadian, 5-stars-in-2010

I recently finished reading The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis. It is definitely not my usual type of book, but I did thoroughly enjoy, much to my surprise. It is the One Book, One Community selection for 2010 for the Waterloo region, so I thought I would give it a try.

The book is about Canadian politics, and centres around an ex-speechwriter who is trying to leave politics and a university professor who agrees to be the Liberal candidate in a no-hope-to-win riding. It is very funny to read; I ...more

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Jan 14, 2016 Bandit rated it really liked it · review of another edition

For some reason decent genuinely humorous fiction is really tough to find. On that note most of what's being advertised in movie trailers as comedies don't really live up to the promise either. Why not try up north? This was funny (award winning so) in Canada and it actually works. A political satire about a highly unlikely (wild haired outspoken gruff flatulent hovercraft building Scot)Liberal candidate doing his best to subvert and revolutionize Canadian Parliament using such controversial and ...more

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Mar 20, 2016 Dubi Kanengisser rated it did not like it

Shelves: fiction, humour, unfinished, canadian

The blurb on the back on the book described how no literary agent wanted to publish this book, but the author managed to secure the adoration of the public nonetheless. Well, count me on the side of the literary agents for this one.
Of course, the back of the book also insisted this book was humourous, and 50 pages into the book I have still not seen any evidence of that. I did see ample evidence that the author (or at least the narrator) is full of himself, is unbearably verbose, and couldn't te ...more

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Jan 18, 2013 Nicole Yovanoff rated it did not like it

It was a gift, so I read it and regretted it ever since. Now if you like books that have politics in it, DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. It is awful.

The worst political jokes ever make up are found in this book. It made me cringe at every turn.

The main character is in his mid-twenties, but its written as though the man was in his forties or fifties. Not to mention that the storyline was lame and predictable.

This book is so bad that I thought the publishing company must of lost a bet and was forced to pub ...more

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Jun 13, 2017 Allison rated it liked it

Shelves: 2017-bingo, audio

Extremely silly on so, so many levels.

But entertaining.

I enjoyed all the Ottawa/Canada references that I know well. If you simply need a mental vacation, this could be it.

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Mar 07, 2020 Stacie Dore rated it liked it

3.5 ... I have to admit that I have avoided Terry Fallis for years as I was under the impression that his books were silly. ... this book was not silly. It was actually very funny at times, even smart funny. There were some paragraphs that were amazing. I even found myself stopping and reflecting on how impressed I was... Having said that, I lost interest in the overall plot line, specifically in the second half. I feel that I would have been more interested if this was read as a series of short ...more

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Jun 21, 2013 1.1 rated it liked it

This book was recommended to me with some praise, but when I saw the premise and source my enthusiasm shrank a bit. Political satire about Canadian politics? Yeah... Winner of the 'Stephen Leacock Award for Humour'? I'll give it a shot, but I think Leacock's 100+ year old books are probably funnier than the contemporaries that get the award named for him. I've read Sunshine Sketches so I feel I'm qualified to make that completely unfounded judgment. However the publication of this book is defini This book was recommended to me with some praise, but when I saw the premise and source my enthusiasm shrank a bit. Political satire about Canadian politics? Yeah... Winner of the 'Stephen Leacock Award for Humour'? I'll give it a shot, but I think Leacock's 100+ year old books are probably funnier than the contemporaries that get the award named for him. I've read Sunshine Sketches so I feel I'm qualified to make that completely unfounded judgment. However the publication of this book is definitely a 'good story' though I can see why agents and publishers would pass on it.

It's, to be gentle, a pretty bland book. It makes the CBC seem exciting and dynamic. The characterizations are so safe, the strife is so one-dimensional, the jokes (with a few brilliant exceptions) are barely chuckle-worthy. In many ways it's the 'Little Mosque on the Prairie' of Can-Lit. To my mind, at least, the book is a perfect product of the Liberal, political mindset that generated it. It's so cautious it's often toothless. It's super upper-middle class in its biases (true or not) and spews out globalist exceptionalism (why should a first world country make shoes when it can outsource legacy industry to veritable slaves in the third world?).

It's self-congratulatory. It managed to be ageist in spite of itself – Fallis depicts Pete1 and Pete2 as two 'alarming' 'anarchist' punks (dwelling in, from the book itself, a 'punkhouse') who for some reason work for his protagonist and the liberals, meanwhile he depicts an elderly lady in a positive light. Conservatives are rapacious and deceitful antagonists, but to be fair the Liberals are painted as opportunists and cynics as well. The NDP is portrayed with the sort of verve seasoned authors employ to describe toasted bread. The Scotch protagonist Angus McLintock is portrayed as a sort of impossible saint with mostly cantankerous and charming character shortfalls.

You can tell the man who wrote this knows a thing or two about politics. I'll grant the book that. It's also a perfect example of an agenda, and though it tries to posit that duty and sound policy can co-exist with contemporary politics, mostly it just serves to prove the opposite. It's partisan. The plot is standard feel-good Canadiana. Much of the dialogue is tone-deaf. Hackneyed. Cliches abound. The grammar pedantry the author surrogate brags about didn't prevent a misplaced comma from reaching publication. All the characters are white (except for one guy, ostensibly, in Papua New Guinea) and boring and vanilla flavored, even the punk Petes, who are given about one-billionth of a normal human personality. Even the main character has nothing defining him but his employment history, his education, and his political views. There are generalizations and simplifications every time reality threatens the idealistic narrative, but it's a (broad) satire and definitely a bit of a fantasy as well, so mostly it's forgivable.

All of which form a book that so perfectly encapsulates the modern political hellscape that I cannot in good conscience rate it poorly. This should be taught in schools. It might be unintentional, but the author paints a bleak picture of the future, of politics, and of Canada in general. For some reason (probably due to post-secondary education, author-surrogacy, and political views) the main character meets and enters into a relationship with a younger woman. Despite neither of them really having anything to say. Yeah. Yep. The case is overstated. The only real character in the book is reserved for Angus McLintock, and he often becomes a 'character' in the quote-worthy sense.

There are certainly positives. The plot has legs. You will finish the book in a reasonable amount of time and it will not tax your mind too much. It's got some good parts, and some decent insights. It is not written by a robot (though I'd love to see a Conservative version of this same book, it would be a good laugh). It's a bit stilted and awkward here and there, but probably you won't find the same kind of deep-level problems I did with it. Odds are, if you can place yourself on the political spectrum, you'll get a decent kick out of this book. It is, if nothing else, contemporary enough. Other reviewers probably summarized the best parts, so I'm free. To be honest I would've given this a 2.5 if I could. I liked it but not always, and in general I felt contemptuous about it. ...more

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Oct 29, 2011 An Odd1 rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fun, fan

On Feb 2014 CBC-TV mini-series conclusion, kilt marches down federal halls of power, force meets immovable, bodes well for sequel. terryfallis.com excerpts
The Best Laid Plans, from Robbie Burns' To A Mouse 1785, is a popular title. Terry Fallis, experienced in engineering and public relations, penned a podcast that grew. Humor meets honor, "passion for proper English" conquer the compromised democracy of Canadian politics. (Typo: p 193 "through the ringer" should be wringer, two rollers that sq ...more

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Apr 25, 2011 Sue Smith rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-read-in-2011

I was a little worried when I picked this one up to read and discovered it was about Canadian politics. Any book on politics is enough to make me inwardly groan - fictional or non - there's something about politics that puts me into a coma.

Truthfully it's probably because I'm waaaaay to cynical and disillusioned. Too many promises and not enough to show for it all.... I dislike the inherent untruth to it all and it immediately sets my brain to numb and buzz so I can't take any of it in. *sigh* S ...more

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Jan 11, 2017 Dawn rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: authors-canadian, read-2017, locale-canada, politics-and-sociology

I'm not sure how appealing this book will be to anyone who does not know Canada, Canadians or the Canadian political scene but I found it hilarious.

With a funny euphemism laced sex scene, for example: "Rachel, my Rachel, was on her knees in front of the Opposition House Leader. Let's just say she was rather enthusiastically lobbying his caucus." and digs at architecture "Built in 1952, it had an utterly forgettable but, I suppose, practical architecture of that era - early Canadian ugly.", mode ...more

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Feb 03, 2011 Jenn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, feministy

I adore this novel! Admittedly, I do have a bit of a predisposition towards Canadian politics, but whether or not that is true for all readers should not influence enjoyment of The Best Laid Plans. Fallis is an impressive writer, who employs humour and heart in equal measure, resulting in a story with a snappy pace, rich characters, and a stirring plot. I was especially taken with Fallis' inclusion of a letter from one character to his deceased partner at the end of each chapter, adding a second ...more

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Oct 21, 2015 David Yoon rated it really liked it

I liked this book. It was warm and entirely Canadian. I know that sounds like faint praise but it fits. I read this in the lead up to the Canadian elections which proved perfect timing as well.

Daniel Addison is trying to escape the cynicism of Ottawa politics, not to mention a betrayal at the hands of his girlfriend. He ends up managing the campaign of an unlikely Liberal candidate with zero chance of being elected - so of course you know how that’s going to go.

The issues he has to deal with ar ...more

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Jun 23, 2014 Krista rated it it was ok

Shelves: can-con, 2014

The Best Laid Plans is the first novel written by Engineer/PR firm President Terry Fallis. As the author couldn't find a publisher, he released this book chapter by chapter via podcast, found an audience, eventually won the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour, and it was named the 2011 Canada Reads title. That's a lot to recommend this book -- it's funny, set behind the scenes in Ottawa, and everyone in Canada should be reading it (according to our cultural overlords at the CBC) -- but this seems l ...more

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Mar 02, 2019 Barbara McEwen rated it really liked it

Shelves: canadian

3.5 stars - It definitely has it's corniness and predictability but that is sort of the genre. It also has charm and likable characters. Plus , it's timely as we are certainly seeing a lot of short-sighted voters won over by short term gain for long term pain.

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Feb 11, 2011 London Mabel rated it it was ok

Recommends it for: people who like fart jokes?

Recommended to London by: Canada Reads

My short review: I liked the characters, I was interested in the politics, it was a pleasant read, but man it was badly written.

My long review: I don't blame every publisher for famously turning this book down, the writing is AWFUL. 1. there's too much of the author in the book. What are the chances of two English-language-usage-obsessed people meeting each other? Very slim. It would have been charming for the narrator to have this obsession, or the protagonist Angus. In the end it seemed preach My short review: I liked the characters, I was interested in the politics, it was a pleasant read, but man it was badly written.

My long review: I don't blame every publisher for famously turning this book down, the writing is AWFUL. 1. there's too much of the author in the book. What are the chances of two English-language-usage-obsessed people meeting each other? Very slim. It would have been charming for the narrator to have this obsession, or the protagonist Angus. In the end it seemed preachy.

2. He's terrible at describing settings and people. In a humor novel long descriptions just invite you to pass over them, unless you're very very brilliant. Otherwise a few well chosen words is funnier. (PG Wodehouse: "She looked like something out of the Book of Revelations.")

3. Our hero Angus had no failings. He had one small plan go awry, but everything else he did went over brilliantly.

4. Not very suspenseful. Really, there was no suspense to the book at all. No tension. No arcing plot. No bad guy, no antagonist, no goal, nothing to strive for, no tension. The book just wandered along until a sudden mild spike in tension in the last chapter. It looks like the sequel has an antagonist, so it might actually be better.

5. The first few chapters of the book could have been cut, they added almost nothing to the book. I would have given up if I hadn't listened to the Canada Reads debates, and been spurred on by Ali Velshi's excited descriptions of Angus. I spent the whole beginning of the book just waiting waiting waiting for Angus to get elected.

6. The character of Muriel is so prominent in the beginning chapters of the book, and then becomes a ghost once Angus is elected. You could have completely removed her from the book, it would hardly have affected the plot.

7. You could have removed the narrator's romantic interest from the book and it would hardly have affected the plot. I hesitate to call her a romantic interest. She was there, she and the narrator fell in love in about two seconds. There was no romantic tension, it wasn't drawn out at all, there was no fun love story to keep the reader hooked, no fun subplot to jolly me along. It just existed. It needn't have.

8. Fallis didn't know how to build up the right kind of tension, so as to surprise me with the Angus Moments. I never had that edge of the seat 'Oh my God no no no -- he's gonna do it! OH NO!' moment that I get in really outrageous books. I always knew Angus would do the outrageous thing, so it wasn't suspenseful, which made it less funny. Pete 1 and Pete2 were amusing, but Fallis never did anything really funny with them. The finale would have been funnier if we witnessed it in first person, rather than hearing it after the fact. .

The good: Except for having no faults, Angus was a great character. Everyone else was likable. I wanted to see them win.

I was interested in seeing how a Canadian political campaign works, and then how daily government works. So I enjoyed the setting and the insider knowledge.

It was a quick read, and I always returned willingly to the book. I'd be temped to give it three stars just because I didn't find it an onerous read. But in the end... there were so many things technically wrong with it... I just don't think I can. If I hadn't heard it defended on Canada Reads, I don't know if I would have made it past the first few chapters. ...more

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About Terry Fallis

Terry Fallis

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Terry Fallis is the award-winning author of seven national bestsellers, including his latest, Albatross, all published by McClelland & Stewart (Penguin Random House). His debut novel, The Best Laid Plans, won the 2008 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour and was crowned the 2011 winner of CBC Canada Reads as the "essential Canadian novel of the decade." In January 2014, CBC aired a six-part television ...more