This was my first Terry Fallis book, I found him to be very well written. I have introduced this books to many male readers and female and always receive positive feed back.

You always know what you're going get with a Terry Fallis book. A feel good story, a few chuckles and charming characters. In A New Season, we meet Jack who is grieving the loss of his wife. He’s trying to cope through the love of his son, the guys on the ball hockey team and denying that he is getting older. Jack is in his 60’s, but identifies as 35.

We follow Jack to Paris and his love of 1920’s in the city. It’s here that Jack will find new purpose and maybe love as well.

Different from Terry’s usual humour but with similar themes and a few songs to enjoy as well.

Really hard for me to get into. I wanted to read to support a Canadian author, and struggled to finish this one.

I think it is also tiring for me to read books that center around the pandemic, as honestly, I want to escape that time for awhile. I will be more selective in the future.

Things I appreciated:
- The theme of managing grief and how that transitions. We need more of these.
- Learning to live again
- Paris
- Made me think of struggles my father may have gone through after losing my mother

Things I didn't love:
- Didn't find it very humourous (I have been told Fallis has humour)
- Slow to start
- Pandemic setting
- Main character seemed to annoy me
- Writing style didn't grip me. I had to start and stop multiple times.


Would rate a 2* based on how much I enjoyed it, but acknowledge that I am likely not the target demographic. 3*

If you’re a reader in need of a book that will make you laugh, think, feel, and laugh some more (all while being unapologetically Canadian), Terry Falls is your man. I have loved every book of his I’ve read and his latest, A New Season, was no exception. In fact, it may have just become my favourite of all his books. It was full of so much…*waves arms around*...life! It had humour, grief, and love of all kinds as well as some soul searching and travel thrown in for good measure. It was, if we want to get right down to basics, a damn good novel.

Here’s the book’s description:
Jack McMaster seemingly has it all. A beautiful house, a loving son of many talents (including cooking, which is great news for Jack, if not for his waistline), even a special bond with his buddies in his ball hockey league. But he's also learning to live with loss, leaving a gaping hole in his life--a life that will never be the same as before. Jack passes his days knowing he has the support of his family and his friends, but he can't shake the feeling that his life has gone gray, and that time is slipping by so quickly.
Then, a short and shocking video from an unexpected source gives him the gumption to make a change and maybe even haul himself out of his melancholia. Inspired by his lifelong fascination with 1920s Paris, Jack finally visits the City of Light, following in the footsteps of Hemingway and Fitzgerald, and wandering the Left Bank. Slowly, the colour seeps back into his life, aided by a chance encounter in a café that leads Jack into the art world, and a Paris mystery nearly a century old.
Full of sincerity and warmth, A New Season shows us all that sometimes, making a change in your life can save your life.
For a book about a man dealing with overwhelming grief, it’s quite funny. Which isn’t a surprise for anyone who’s read Fallis’ books before. His humour isn’t for everyone but I adore it. It’s quick and dry and there were many literal lol moments as I was reading this one (always interesting when one is reading in a full staff room on one’s lunch break). I wish I could include some of the most excellent quotes to give you an idea of how witty the book is but 1. I read an egalley so it’s always possible some things may change and 2. We’d be here all day while I tried to choose some of the best quotes. This book isn’t humorous in an obvious way - it’s not like those blockbuster comedies many of us love to watch - but it’s quieter and Fallis uses his humour at just the right moments.

OK, so this bit is hard to write without giving anything away and I really like that the book’s description gives you enough information to know what you’re reading but is still vague enough to keep the book’s secrets, well, secret. First, the book is set in the summer of 2022 when the world is emerging from major pandemic restrictions and I want you to beware of that if you’re sensitive to these storylines and/or lost someone due to COVID-19. Second, and this is the doozy, I have been wrestling with the idea that if this novel had been written by a woman, it could be categorized as a romance. Not a typical romance where the love story is the only real objective of the narrative, but my favourite kind of romance where there’s a whole lot of life happening for the main character but, at the end of the day, there’s going to be a Happily Ever After. I love Fallis’ work, that’s not what’s up for debate here. What is, however, is how books are marketed and how publishers treat books written by men and women differently. I think if this book had been written by, say, Theresa Fallis, the illustrated cover would look a whole lot different and we’d be having a totally different conversation. I’m not sure if I have a real point here - it’s just something that’s stuck in my brain as I considered the book and how I’d write this review and recommend it to others.

But putting the notion of this being considered a romance or contemporary fiction aside, this book is a love story. Or, perhaps more accurately, a love song. Jack is an amateur songwriter and guitar player - he enjoys it but knows he’s not good enough to make it professionally so he’s just had fun creating and playing for the past few decades. So, music and songs are a big deal to Jack and that’s why this book kind of feels more like a love song. He’s even written a couple of love songs that are included in the novel (which, yes, were written by Fallis). This book isn’t just a love song about love. It’s also an ode to friendship, family, Paris, and, yes, even ball hockey and the good buddies one makes playing it.

I loved that this book was a bit of an ode to Paris and the writers of the Lost Generation (Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald being the most famous). Jack is unapologetic about his love and (mild) obsession with the time and the writers and it was so lovely to see him go after his dream of living in Paris and walking the same streets as those authors he’d long admired. The extra little twist added in was such a delight and really elevated the story (why, yes, that is purposely vague).

A New Season is an uplifting book, even amongst all the grief, that shows it’s ok to live life after a tragedy and perhaps, it’s even more important to do so now after what we’ve all lived through. Terry Fallis has written a novel that is funny and heartwarming and will keep you entertained (and feeling all the feels) from the first page to the last.

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, McClelland & Stewart (an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada), via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Another novel by a Canadian treasure

Terry Fallis is a Canadian treasure. I find his books are totally laugh out loud. This one is a bit different, a bit more reflective, but still has its moments of chuckles. It's a bit of a coming of age story for the older generation, a long awaited trip, friendship and loss. Highly recommended, like all Fallis's books!

Thank you to the publisher who lent me a time-constrained e-arc via Netgalley. This review is optional and my own opinion.

This is Terry Fallis at the top of his game! I absolutely loved this latest from a great Canadian talent, that features Jack, a middle-aged man still grieving the loss of his beloved wife who died suddenly and alone at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto.

Told with empathy, grace and of course, his trademark humor, this is a story about fathers and sons, an ode to 1920s Paris, finding love again and embracing life with passion. I loved the relationship between Jack and his son, Jack's ball hockey family and the way he finds the courage to take a trip to Paris he meant to go on with his wife but never did.

While in Paris Jack meets Calla, a British artist with a unique connection to the 'Lost Generation' of American writers and artists who flourished at that time. Their friendship develops quickly and the two bond over shared interests, ultimately falling in love.

Beautifully written, this is a story of hope and love with a fun historical mystery thrown in too. I HIGHLY recommend listening to this on audio as its both read by the author AND includes original performances of songs he's written over the years that play a key part of the story.

Advanced Book Review! Thank you @netgalley and @penguinrandomca for sending me this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
“From beloved and bestselling author Terry Fallis comes a novel unlike any of his others. A thoughtful exploration of aging, loss, family, friendship, and love, all with his trademark humour and heart.”
Let me preface by saying I love Terry Fallis’ books and I will always give them a higher rating because I get so absorbed in his books. Terry Fallis is a Canadian author who’s first couple of novels are kind of satires about Canadian politics which, as a former political staffer, I obviously loved. A New Season is his 9th book and I was so excited to get both a digital and hard copy in advance.
You know I love a book set in Toronto and the familiar references and since so much of this book is set in Toronto, it drew me in immediately. I also loved that once Jack goes to Paris, I was able to understand all the French.
I loved Jack’s experience in Paris but I’m not sure if there was a strong enough connection at the beginning to account for his desire to go. He talks about being obsessed with the Lost Generation, but it seemed to come out of the blue just to give him a reason to go to Paris.
I do think the author could have done a better job explaining who the Lost Generation was and their historical significance in 1920’s Paris. For those wondering, the Lost Generation was a group of American writers living in Paris in the 1920’s, such as Ernest Hemingway.
It’s also possible that I’m slightly too young for this book to fully understand all the references. It’s about a man in his early 60’s getting a second chance at life after going through a personal tragedy. It’s like the main character, Jack, is telling his story directly to the reader and it actually does have an autobiographical feel to it for some of the aspects, and overall I did enjoy it.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4
62 year-old Jack McMaster is a writer living in Toronto who seems to have it all. A beautiful house in a downtown neighbourhood, a successful career, a loving relationship with the young adult son who lives with him and good buddies from his ball hockey league. But Jack has been learning to live with loss for the past 2.5 years and his life feels grey - the colour has vanished and he's not sure how to get it back. An unexpected video message prompts Jack to plan the trip to Paris that he has always wanted to take. Jack has an obsession with 1920s Paris and The Lost Generation but has never visited the City of Light in person so he rents an apartment, books flights and heads to Paris for 5 months planning to be back before the next season of ball hockey. As Jack explores Paris wandering the streets of the Left Bank in the footsteps of Hemingway and Fitzgerald, he feels the melancholy start to lift and colour slowly comes back into his life with a little help from someone he meets by chance in a neighbourhood café.

A New Season is a contemplative novel that looks at aging, friendship and loss. The story is told in the first person with much self-deprecating humour - it had the feel of a good friend telling a story and I enjoyed that style. This is a book that will likely appeal more to readers of a similar age or in similar circumstances who can relate to Jack's mid-life struggle. Parts of the novel are quite poignant and I sobbed through some of the early chapters of the book as Jack slowly reveals the loss he has suffered and his nearly 3 year long experience with grief. His observations on aging and the feeling that life is slowly slipping away are very relatable to anyone in their '50s or '60s.

I loved the Paris setting and learning more about the writers and artists that made Paris their home in the '20s. There are some fun and very Canadian aspects to the plot as well with all of the ball hockey games and Jack's love of music and songwriting that brings Jim Cuddy in as a character. (I doubt there's a Canadian who attended university in the mid to late '80s who didn't enjoy a performance by Jim Cuddy and Blue Rodeo at a campus pub and I was happy to read in the author's note that he's a genuinely nice human being!) There's also some romance and a little mystery to be solved in Paris but mostly this is the story of a man in late middle age learning to be happy again and enjoy a new season in his life. An enjoyable read!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for sending a digital ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Happy to include this title in the August edition of Novel Encounters, my column highlighting the month’s most anticipated fiction for the Books section of Zoomer, Canada’s national culture magazine. (see column and mini-review at link)

This book had a beginning that was so cumbersome to read. I tried to connect with this book but it was such a struggle . The ball hockey , and the subsequent time in Paris was really so uneventful. I am glad the main character found purpose and a partner after his Covid experience but I am really perplexed how so many people seemed to enjoy this book. I fast forwarded most of this book as it nothing of substance really happened .

Ball hockey in Paris? Who knew that was a thing?
Dear Zoomer Magazine: I never thought it would happen to me. Terry Fallis' new book is like an upper-middle class sixty-something Canadian man's fantasy life, tastefully rendered. I was given the impression that this was not a funny book.  I found it hilarious, in a good way.  It's a ride as 62-year-old Jack narrates his trip to Paris, post-covid, still grieving for his wife who died in the shit-sucking pandemic. Enjoy finely tuned self-deprecating humour and just the right amount of Paris fandom.  I've read (DNF'd would be more accurate) a few novels with North Americans in allegedly fabulous locations like Paris and it's easy for a less skillful author (with at least as good a publishing contract as Fallis) to devolve into Rick Steeves. That doesn't happen. You're rooting for Jack the whole time and you're right there with him when he finds everything he deserves. There is an ongoing thread that is a tribute to his ball hockey league brothers and rightly so.  About halfway through, it crosses the reader's mind that Jack may have sex at some point. Hard no, I shouted.… he's my husband AND my brothers, I don't want to see that!  Luckily Terry Fallis delivered the necessary closed bedroom door, too.  They may have to revisit that when they make the movie, of course.

Finally, #engineersinfiction: Fallis, an engineer by training, is always generous to members of the profession. This book wasn't about engineers but there is a very nice cliché-free paragraph about a minor character who is an engineer. 

Publication in late August. A great read.
Thank you author, publisher and #Netgalley for this advance e-copy.