Rating: 
Summary: Not his best
Review: Having read all of Hornby's books, this is my least favorite. If you're a real fan I suppose it's worth reading--there is some evidence of his sense of humor and the style is very much the same, but if you haven't read About a Boy or High Fidelity I would suggest reading those first.
Rating: 
Summary: Realistic
Review: Katie Carr THINKS of herself as a good person. She's a doctor, a mother of two, and supports all the right liberal causes. Her husband, however, is a bitter, angry man -- until meets a New Age guru who transforms him into a person DOES good things. His transformation calls into question Katie's beliefs about herself and her marriage. This novel sheds light on what it really means to be good and the compromises we all make. As some reviewers have said, it is somewhat depressing, but it is written with great wit, and I feel, great realism.
Rating:
Summary: Different
Review: I loved High Fidelity, Fever Pitch, and About a Boy. This one is quite different. It is darker, and quite depressing. It is, nonetheless, well written and certainly outside of the mainstream. BUT, while I could completely relate to the characters in Hornby's other books, this one failed on that count. It did leave me a touch satisfied by how much better my marriage is than that described in How to Be Good, but I doubt that was the objective.This one IS worth reading, but be prepared that it is NOT like Hornby's other books.
Rating: 
Summary: Another great Nick Horny novel
Review: I loved High Fidelity for what it was, About a Boy for what it was, and I love How to Be Good for what it is, a sometimes funny, sometimes serious look at a character I could relate to--a professional who loves her family and her career but who is nonetheless full of doubts. I appreciate the fact that Hornby isn't writing the same book over and over.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoy the Ride
Review: This isn't Hornby's best book, but it's still well worth a read. It's an enjoyable ride, and that's the key. Like all of his other books, this one doesn't have a definitive end, but that's because he writes about life as it really is -- messy and ongoing. Enjoy it while it lasts, but don't expect everything to be tied up nicely when it's done. The joy of Hornby's work is that it is so true, and that when it's done, you always want to know more, to see more, and to find out what happens next. I felt that way at the end of High Fidelity (I'd love to see Rob and Laura again,) at the end of About a Boy (do you think Will finally grew up?) at the end of Fever Pitch (although you do get some follow up to Fever Pitch in the intro to Speaking with the Angel,) and How to be Good isn't any different. That may sound like a weakness, but I think it's a strength. It really makes you think about what you've read when you're done. I guess the best thing I can say about this book is that I read it in one sitting. It's that good and that absorbing. I read a lot of books by a lot of authors in a lot of genres(buying books is my biggest vice, ask my wife) but no-one excites me more than Hornby. I'm already looking forward to whatever he writes next.
Rating:
Summary: Hornby Branches Out - A Little
Review: As I read this, I was alternately surprised by the departures from Hornby's previous works and comforted by the similarities in the way he paints the characters. In addition, I alternately hated and identified with the main character. The first thing that was surprising is that the book is a first-person account by a woman. Anyone who has read any of Hornby's previous works might find this a departure. Not being female, I have no idea how close to the feminine psyche and internal thinking Hornby might be, but it comes across as realistic and honest. There are other elements, however, that are familiar, such as the slightly quirky and sometimes obsessive personalities, as well as the inclusion of a young boy who seems smarter than his age. The love/hate relationship with the main character is based more on her surroundings than anything. At first, she appears to be simply a selfish, overly emotional waste of a character, and it is hard to bring yourself to like her. Not that the people around her are particularly likable either, though. However, when her husband has his "experience" and starts going overboard toward touchy-feely goodness, it is hard not to sympathize with the woman living with this maniac. She's still the same hypocrite as before, she just appears better by comparison. If there is a major complaint about the book that I have, it is in that it does not go far enough in many instances. That is, with Hornby you expect some understated humor, but it seems too understated here. For instance, there is the extremely off-center character DJ Goodnews, who seems underutilized as perhaps the most quirky and interesting character in the book. Overall, a good novel for Hornby. It is not High Fidelity, nor About a Boy, nor even Fever Pitch, and for that it may lose some of the more testosterone-infused crowd who enjoyed previous books. It is still a good work, though, and proof that Hornby will not rest on writing High Fidelity over and over for the remainder of his career.
Rating:
Summary: How to be good turns out not to be very good!
Review: This is my first Nick Hornby book and I had such high hopes. Everything pointed toward this being very entertaining. It wasn't. It started out with lots of promise and the writing itself seemed very promising. But it went nowhere. It just died out before it ever got started. I felt like pushing it forward myself. It would have been better even if it hadn't went the way I wanted if had just went somewhere. 300 pages of a unhappy marriage and that's it. Man alive my own marriage could probably beat out this one for interesting dialogue. I'm sorry but I will read Hornby again because all I have ever heard of him seems to be so good.
Rating: 
Summary: A waste of time, ink, paper and manufacturing capacity...
Review: Like other readers of this book, I've become something of a Hornby fan. From Fever Pitch to "About a Boy" his writing has grown on me, and while his humour is typically one-dimensional and obvious it's had the comfort, warmth and feel-good of a familiar and favourite sweater. He's never done endings very well, but I've been able to forgive this for an occasional gem to be found in the middle or the clever hooks he uses at the beginning to draw us in.
I provide this context only so that you understand just how dire this book really is - from an appreciate, though not gushing, Horby fan. Once again, he doesn't get the endings right. Alas in this case, the 'middle' becomes an ordeal of endurance and the beginning section maps out an interesting premise for a novel - only to have this premise vanquished in its delivery. I'm reading also Dumas - "The Count of Monte Cristo" and the contrast between good fiction and appalling fiction has never been presented more starkly. Hornby is never able to make an observation without first prepping the reader and then reminding again the observation that was made. He never lift the characters from the one-dimension of the page, and never gives the reader any reason to feel for anyone in the book. The 'jokes' are completely staged, the observations that used to make Horby stand out are weathered and worn. The book lacks direction, pace or even a reason for keeping on reading it. The writing is infantile, he falls well short of properly getting into the female perspective he so earnestly desired, and with so many references to 2000 Pop Culture I wonder if this book has any longer shelf-life than a "marks & spencer prawn sandwich...." There is no doubt, this is by far the least engaging and the most poorly written and executed novel I've read in the past 18 months (and I've read some bad books)....... Believe me, if Amazon had the option for a zero-star rating, this would be it's just award. It's a waste of time, ink, paper and manufacturing capacity. Hornby needs to do a lot better next time.
Rating:
Summary: A philosophical novel
Review: The reason I said this is a phil'l novel is that it asks us to examine a question Susan Wolf raised in a widely remarked article in the Journal of Philosophy (1982) called "Moral Saints." In that piece the author asked if she or anyone she knew should be a moral saint, and her answer was no. This novel involves someone who is a real s.o.b. being transformed by an eccentric healer named DJ GoodNews into a perfect, albeit sanctimonious, do-gooder. And the result is mixed. I don't think this is the best portrayal of the rich variety and humanness of saints; for that I'd recommend the stunningly brilliant work of Austin Farrer (1904-68), the celebrated English theologian who was C. S. Lewis's confessor.
Rating:
Summary: Not Hornby's best work
Review: I read Nick Hornby's excellent novel "About a Boy" and was eager to read his latest. He gets off to a promising start, establishing a female narrator who speaks with a reasonably convincing voice. In fact, Katie Carr could have been the intelligent, sardonic version of Bridget Jones, whose introspection goes beyond counting alcohol units and calories. I found Katie to be entertaining enough to sustain my interest through the end of the novel, but with a few exceptions, the plot and the other characters seemed two-dimensional in comparison. Her son Tom showed potential, but the plot required her annoying daughter to get more airtime. Her husband became a caricature early on in the book, as did his guru. I would have preferred more about the female Anglican priest who sang "Getting to Know You" to her octogenarian congregation, or Katie's self-absorbed work-mate. All in all, the plot failed to live up to the promise of the more interesting characters, or perhaps the problem was that the interesting characters weren't given enough to do. In any case, the book was less memorable than "About a Boy" and not nearly as much fun to read. I know that Hornby was going for a bigger message with this book, but too often, this message resulted in the characters behaving in improbable ways, and dimmed the humor of even the funniest scenes.
|
