Big BOoTy List #7 - Best Laid Plans

Best Laid Plans - Terry Fallis

 In an effort to 'Canadianize' myself more with national authors, I picked 'One Brother Shy' by Terry Fallis from my local library back in the Fall. It was the story of a brother who finds out he has a twin and they reunite through modern technology. It was a good book but seeing as this BOoTY list is for 2019, I'm not counting it.

However, I did discover that Mr. Fallis had won the Leacock award (awarded to best Canadian humour novel) in 2011 and even better, he did it by self-publishing! Now there was an encouraging story for me and Karmageddon, available now.

I ordered Best Laid Plans and also contacted Mr. Fallis for advice and inspiration on how he experienced the self-publishing route. He chose to make BLP into a podcast and created interest that way. In all honesty, I know what a podcast is but have yet to engage in it. It seems like a good idea if you spend a lot of time in public transit but I digress.

When his book made the short-list for the Leacocks, he received a call from a book agent who offered to take him on and the rest was history. He also strongly stated that it was so much better having a book publisher behind him than going the difficult and lonely self-publishing route to which I fully agree but I don't have a book agent calling me yet.

I thanked him and waited for the book, curious and anxious to see why this book won a major award without the support of any major Canadian publishing house.

And here it is, the seventh book of 2019.

First, it is good and well-deserving of the Leacock. There is no way I would guess it as being self-published.

Yet...was this the final product? Or is this after a publisher bought it, sent it through their editorial departments?

To be clear, I really enjoyed this book. It's for a very specific audience. To me, the book re-enforced a stereotype I have of the 'Canadian reader'. That stereotype is a person who reads Farley Mowatt and Alice Munro while sipping on an imported beer or white wine sitting in their cottage overlooking 'the lake'. It's a beautiful image, one I think every writer aspires to be. I am no exception yet it made me realize that is not the audience I am writing for and if that is true, then perhaps entering Karmageddon into the Leacock Awards was a mistake.

Best Laid Plans is centered on Federal politics, has university-educated protagonists, call-outs to proper English usage and centers on the older-50 crowd. There's an element of sexual depravity in there and also romance, both old and new. All of it is handled beautifully and diary entries help to create that second point of view of the B story. It's not heavy-handed which is what makes it so good. It's Canadian and gossipy; due to Mr. Fallis' time in politics it's not hard to imagine there is some general subtext between the lines.

I could see why he won the award; the humour is more of overall context than situational. It is distinctly Eastern Canadian yet the setting of Parliament is inclusive of us all.

I can't see this book being enjoyed by younger Canadians who have no interest in government which I guess is my only criticism. The only two young characters are university students who dress like anarchists yet are the only volunteers for the political candidate. It relies heavily on the reader being educated and politically conscious which sadly re-enforces the my own biased view that award-winning books aren't meant for those just struggling to get through this thing called Life...