How to Be Good by Nick Hornby Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of How to Be Good
Book Review: Earnest can be far more suffocating than anger.
Summary: 2 Stars
Nick Hornby's novel centers on a very unhappy marriage. Kate is a general practitioner who is the main breadwinner for her family, which includes two young children. David is a wannabe writer whose greatest success is a column for a local newspaper which bills him as the "Angriest Man in Holloway." She's so tired of her husband's rants that she's embarked on a rather half-hearted affair with a man whose strong point seems to be that he's pleasant. To spite Kate, one day David consults a ragamuffin alternative healer who succeeds in curing both his bad back and his bad temper. Overnight, the angriest man turns into the most earnest man, one who's determined to "walk the talk" of liberalism by handing out money to the homeless, finding homes for teen runaways, and donating his children's toys to the kids in a woman's shelter. Kate soon discovers that earnest can be far more suffocating than anger. Hornby's working on an interesting idea here, but with Kate the sole narrator, he doesn't quite succeed. She's a bit too whiny and passive to sustain interest, always reacting rather than acting, even when taking a lover.Book Review: Entertaining but not Hornby's best
Summary: 3 Stars
Quick review: it had some funny moments but was more down and less upbeat than Hornby's previous novels. While Hornby addresses issues beyond relationships this time, he loses some of the spark that was in his other novels. Unfortunately Hornby seems to be better at humor than writing about social problems in G.B. and the Western world. On the other hand, there ARE quite a few parts that made me laugh and I smiled plenty of times- just not as much as I did while reading High Fidelity and About a Boy.Book Review: Exactly how much do I have to do to be Good?
Summary: 4 Stars
When are your good deeds enough? When do you become truly Good? What if you go from being insufferably mean to an even worse opposite--insufferably nice to everyone, to the detriment of your own family? Giving away your children's computer to the needy, giving away the family dinner, inviting homeless strangers to live in your house...when is enough enough? Sarcastic and self-centered David undergoes just this transformation in Hornby's novel, and it's a train wreck of action for his family.
This book has gotten some negative reviews, but it caught me in the right way and I found it hilarious. I found the musings on being Good to be very comical and witty. Check it out from the library and give it a chance to see how it strikes you.
Book Review: Fabulous book
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an enormously funny portrayal of middle-aged marriage and middle-class, middle-aged life in general. If you want a laugh-out-loud read, I highly suggest How to Be Good.
Book Review: Flawed but well worth reading
Summary: 3 Stars
What is a good life? That is the question posed, but not answered, in this book. The story opens with Katie Carr - burnt out by her efforts to be a "good" doctor, mother, and wife - on the verge of divorce from her perpetually angry husband, David. But then David undergoes a spiritual transformation and begins to challenge everything Katie ever knew about how to be good. His newfound righteousness provides a bizarre and hilarious backdrop for Katie's own spiritual journey.Hornby's powers of observation and satiric wit are sharp as ever, but if you're expecting a light romantic comedy, you won't find it here. Rather, Hornby paints a portrait of a marriage poisoned by years of discord. Your enjoyment of this book will probably hinge on whether you find the character of Katie Carr to be sympathetic and believable. I found her efforts to maintain her moral compass while trying to regain a passion and sense of self lost in the demands of her daily life to be shockingly true. However, Katie's humorous musings eventually overwhelm the thin, rather confusing plot. The resolution of the story is not especially satisfying, and the contrived final image provides an equal measure of hope and despair.