Add BookmarkThe Best Laid Plans: A Novel
Thirty-something Daniel Addison is jaded and burned out from his Parliament Hill job as a speech writer for the Liberal Leader of the Opposition. After a messy breakup with his girlfriend, Daniel is eager to escape the duplicitous world of Canadian politics, so he accepts a faculty position with the University of Ottawa's English Department. He soon moves into a boathouse apartment in nearby Cumberland owned by Angus McLintock, a cranky engineering professor in his sixties who is mourning the... (show more)
Thirty-something Daniel Addison is jaded and burned out from his Parliament Hill job as a speech writer for the Liberal Leader of the Opposition. After a messy breakup with his girlfriend, Daniel is eager to escape the duplicitous world of Canadian politics, so he accepts a faculty position with the University of Ottawa's English Department. He soon moves into a boathouse apartment in nearby Cumberland owned by Angus McLintock, a cranky engineering professor in his sixties who is mourning the recent loss of his wife.
Both Angus and Daniel intend to retreat from the world for a while, but fate won't have it. Angus is desperate to avoid teaching English to first-year engineering students yet again. Daniel, as penance for abandoning his party on the eve of an election, must find a Liberal candidate to run in ultra-Conservative Cumberland. In an unlikely alliance, Angus consents to stand as the in-name-only, certain-to-lose Liberal candidate, and Daniel agrees to take Angus's English class.
Everything is going according to plan until the voters are suddenly forced to take a closer look at Angus, throwing his certain defeat into doubt. Scrambling to deal with this unexpected development, Angus and Daniel land in the middle of a hilarious political maelstrom that tests not only their friendship but their beliefs in government and democracy. (show less)
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Brilliantly funny political comedy. Even for non-Canadians, who will surely recognise some aspects of their own national political system, or you may treat it as a Gulliver's Travels kind of satire. Very likeable characters (maybe a bit too likeable) and wonderful language that does not get in the way of fast-paced story telling. One of the most enjoyable audiobooks I have listened to so far, it had me laughing out loud in the train, and it is certainly more sophisticated than most self-publi... (show more)
Brilliantly funny political comedy. Even for non-Canadians, who will surely recognise some aspects of their own national political system, or you may treat it as a Gulliver's Travels kind of satire. Very likeable characters (maybe a bit too likeable) and wonderful language that does not get in the way of fast-paced story telling. One of the most enjoyable audiobooks I have listened to so far, it had me laughing out loud in the train, and it is certainly more sophisticated than most self-published audiobooks. My only criticism: all storylines wrap up a bit too neatly. The main characters sure have some karmic credit. Having said that, I'd rank it with Stephen Fry's novels for dry wit, humour, love of language and love of the slightly bizarre. (show less)
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Way too partisan, but funny, a little hokey, and not enough detail. The beauty is in the details, as they say. Midterms in November? I don't think so, Mr. Fallis.
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