Rating: 
Summary: The bad side of being good...
Review: What would you do if you were married to the world's angriest man? Having to put up with a husband so horrible, sarcastic and bitter is Katie Carr's nightmare come true. More than anything she wishes David can change his ways, look on the bright side of things, smile every once in awhile. Well, you know what they say -- be careful what you wish for....How to Be Good is more sarcastic than funny, although sarcasm can be hilarious sometimes. As for the pace of the story, it did not flow as well as I wanted. I felt a little pushed into the story from page one, as if I walked in on a heated argument without even knowing the reasons. I craved background information like water in the desert. Normally, I like books to just get to the point, but How to Be Good was one where a little pre-story information would have been extremely helpful. Probably a second read-a-round would be in order for me to appreciate the book fully. As for the story itself, the premise is hilarious. I love the idea of an angry man being miraculously transformed by a spritual healer, and now his overbearing goodness and piousness completely drives his family insane. Snide and original, How to Be Good will make you laugh and scream despite any difficulties or dissappointments with the presentation. Definitely not his best book, but readable all the same. I suggest High Fidelity for a primo example of Nick Hornby's storytelling talent.
Rating: 
Summary: ...
Review: This is terrible. Hopeless plot, ridiculous characters, badly written with 10s of errors of spelling and grammar (even includes 'pacific' for 'specific'!). I threw in on the floor in disgust, as did several of my friends. If you want to know just how bad it is, read any of the dialogue between son and parent and try to guess how old the son is meant to be. (Clue - he's not 36.)I like Nick Hornby but this is ....
Rating:
Summary: Not the best I've read.
Review: Overall this book starts off great but I felt towards the middle of the story the book begain to slow down and just repeat the same story over and over just in a new situation. Katie I felt was at times just whining woman who wanted things to go her way and got upset when her husband tried to change his life and she couldn't feel like she was part of it. David, well he changed a lot and there was a lot I didn't like about what he changed. There is extreme point where he got annoying. Sure it was nice to give some of the stuff they had to people who didn't have any and sure give some money to the homeless, but when he started spending all his time with Goodnews and changing the views of his children is where I got annoyed. Overall this book had sort of a poor ending with much more said about what had happen and what was going to happen.
Rating:
Summary: a question to ask yourself?
Review: Nick Hornby's "How to be Good" is certainly more of a question than it is an instruction manual. The two main characters, a husband and wife, *almost* couldn't be from further ends of the spectrum. She's a politically-correct doctor that holds all of the "good and right" political & social views, but her own life is a mess: she's in a bad marriage, having an affair, etc. Her husband (David) on the other hand is the self-styled "angriest man in Hollowell" (a newspaper columnist) that is angry and will "tell it like it is" to anyone including his wife and kids. David has an epiphany of sorts one days and decides to change his evil ways if you will. He does a complete 180 degree turn. He gives his kids toys to poor kids, invites a homeless person to live with them, and a myriad of other devices aimed at "being good." While being good is certainly never easy (and is often quite hard) Hornby I think does an excellent job showing that even approached with the best heart in the world that "being good" can drive others mad if you aren't careful. The book is absolutely hilarious in places (my favorites are when David meets his "guru" DJ Goodnews.) I think the book stands as a good piece of fiction (although it doesn't end anything like I wanted it to) I like to look at it more of a primer for one to look at one's own definition of "how to be good." It can be a great way to delve into your own ideas, morals, etc...isn't that what a great piece of fiction should do?
Rating: 
Summary: what a let down...
Review: sigh...after reading Nick Hornby's High Fidelity and About A Boy my expectations were that he incorporate the same brilliant wit diplayed into How to Be Good. I really gave the book a chance, hoping that with each new chapter I would become totally engrossed. It didn't happen. What did happen was a far-fetched 360 degree character twist and an unbelievable story. I stuck with it and read the WHOLE book, shaking my head and wondering why I wasted my time.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but not Great
Review: While I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I would be lying to tell you it is of the same caliber as his previous works. The story itself held my attention, but the resolution was absent. This is the story of Katie & David, a British couple who have lost the flame of their marriage after too many years of not trying. It starts with their relationship in crisis, because Katie has looked to other means to achieve the attention she needs. She is a good person, a doctor as she tells us numerous times, but she has become sick of her husbands scathing negativity. The truly interesting thing about this story was the relationship of a house-husband verses a single female provider. It was interesting to see the historical roles reversed. David, filled with pain, decides to seek alternative medicine advice... and when he is cured of his pains and negative energy... Katie is really unsure of what to do with herself. The story is entertaining, and I enjoyed its exploration of "political correctness" and what exactly doing enough for others is. Unfortunately, I do not feel that the characters were ever resolved, nor was it always believable that they would act as they did. If you are a Nick Hornby fan, you may enjoy this book. He is a very skilled writer. However, if you are just checking him out for the first time - I would recommend you start with "High Fidelity" and come back to this one later. Happy reading!
Rating: 
Summary: Main Point
Review: All of these bad reviews forget the what I take as the main point of the book. Hornby does not say to give up but rather not to spread yourself thin by trying to save the world when you and those close need just as much help if not more. It's easier to care for those that you don't know. Her husband tries to save the world while his family falls apart around him. He does everything that one would think is good except he hurts those that have any meaning while the homeless remain homeless and the hungry stay hungry.
I thought that this book was an awesome thought provoking read.
Rating:
Summary: A disappointment
Review: I love High Fidelity and have read it 3 times; Fever Pitch, even though it's about soccer, is one of the best sports books written, in terms of trying to explain a personal and ultimately trivial mania to the world. I think Hornby began to lose it a little with About a Boy; I found that book to be without any edge and just a little bit too precious. But with How to Be Good, Hornby loses much credulity. Without giving away any of the plot I'll just say that the plot is not believable. Hornby does a great job with his female narrator and when he/she is explaining the rotten state of her marriage, nothing rings false. But when the "motor" of the book begins, the bottom falls out; after this, the book is a tough read -- why go on reading what will happen when none of what is happening seems remotely true? It's a shame; this could have been a much, much better book had not Hornby stretched us to the limits of reason. However, he is discerning, clever and unpretentious enough to rebound.
Rating: 
Summary: In search of the quick fix
Review: How to Be Good is an entertaining, easy read. It's quite funny in places, and the author nails a variety of current obsessions and foolishnesses on the head. Nevertheless, the book ultimately disappoints. The characters all seem to be striving for an easy solution not only to the question of how to be good, but of how to live, period. Homelessness got you down? Here's a simple plan to end it, once and for all. Suffering a spiritual crisis? Try one church, one time, then give up. Buried under the weight of materialist culture? Give your stuff away--and your kids' stuff, too! Inevitably, when the quick fixes fail, the characters revert to their resigned, hopeless view of the world. None of them seem to be able to relate to the other human beings in their lives with any kind of depth of understanding--they are incapable, apparently, of taking on the hard day-to-day work of loving their children, their spouse, their parents, their friends (which is the actual answer to how one should be good, right?). The author indicates at the end of the novel that a life with books and CDs is perhaps our only consolation--and certainly they are consolations, but the idea that art can save us died, I hope, some decades ago. Another reviewer said that this book was for "upperclass atheists." She didn't elaborate, but I can't help but think of Princeton's Peter Singer, whose utilitarian worldview seems to pervade this novel (and is punctured--unwittingly, perhaps--in the course of it). I'll mention one other major problem: the author introduces one character who seems to have supernatural powers--he heals actual physical maladies with his touch--but he never explains if the powers are supposed to be "real," or where they came from, or what their significance is. About midway through, the supernatural aspect vanishes but the character remains in the novel until its end. Despite my reservations, I would say that the book is worth the few hours it takes to read simply because it encourages reflection on how suburban, educated, bourgeois, guilty, postmodern man (and woman) should live.
Rating:
Summary: Bloomin' Marvelous!!
Review: After all the bad reviews I read, I started reading "How to be Good" thinking that I was going to hate it. Instead, I loved it. It was refreshing to see a man write a book from a woman's prospective. I was in awe of the main character throughout the entire book. Granted it wasn't "Fever Pitch", "About a Boy" or "High Fidelity" but after so long the same type of book from the same author becomes a bit drab, he took a chance, twisted a lot and came out on top. I cannot wait to read his next novel and can only hope that it is as refreshing as his last.
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