Rating: 
Summary: A page turner...
Review: I was told that I would not be able to put down "How To Be Good," and it delivered -- I set aside most of my weekend chores to find out what became of the characters. The premise, although fanciful, was intriguing, because it seeks to answer a question many of us struggle with: how do you know for sure you're a good person? Katie Carr, the novel's protagonist, is struggling with that question, and with her disappointment in her domestic life. Married for 20 years and basically miserable, she is engaging in a half-hearted affair and considering divorce when her husband goes through an uncharacteristic spiritual conversion, changing the course of their future.Although the characters are stock (especially the couple's two children, who seem faceless they are so bland), the writing shines when it examines the guilt that accompanies the middle class lifestyle, and the desire to do something to assuage it. Although some of the symbolism is a bit obvious (the New Age guru who guides their spiritual change is named GoodNews), the inner conflict of the characters rings true. Like his two previous novels, Hornby is taking his protagonist on a journey from sniveling immaturity to greater depth. It differs from "High Fidelity" and "About A Boy", though, in its conclusions, which seem vague. Katie doesn't seem any happier at the end of this journey than she was to begin with; and some of the final thougths seem tacked on arbitrarily, including the silly final image, which doesn't satisfy. Maybe Katie is simply a selfish malcontent, like an older version of Will from "About A Boy". Although I'm all for readers drawing their own conclusions, something felt left out of the last chapter, as if Hornby needs to live a few more years before he decides what he thinks about all of this.
Rating: 
Summary: Hm...
Review: It was a pretty quick read, though a little confusing- esp the ending
Rating: 
Summary: Thumbs down from a Hornby fan
Review: Among my favorite reads are "About a Boy" and "High Fidelty." And, truthfully, Hornby writes just as well in "How to Be Good." His characterizations provoke reaction, the depth of Katie's thoughts are very real, and the wry, sarcastic humor is on target. Even so, I did not enjoy this book. Finishing it was just a hair less than a struggle. I don't necessarily read to feel good all the time (though that is among the reasons), but this book _really_ doesn't make the reader feel good. It's downright depressing and frustrating. I wanted to shake Katie so many times; admonish her for not standing up for herself more. Then again, I also wanted to shake her for relying so heavily on her profession to make her "good." It is highly annoying. But I suspect that is part of Hornby's point, so I won't go any further down that road. A talented writer, yes. An interesting, though somewhat dubious storyline. Worth your time? Perhaps. Unfortunately only you can answer that question.
Rating: 
Summary: Truly Bad
Review: If you finish this book then it is a tribute to your perseverance. It is a turgid, boring novel where the characters are just wooden props that are pushed about to help present the writer's 'clever' ideas. As well as suffering Hornby's trite insights into the dynamics of a failing marriage, we are served up his views on the ethics and morality of middle class Britain: it's painful to read these shallow observations dragged over 300 patience testing pages. If this was a first novel submitted to an editor he'd write back saying that the work shows promise, and that he'd be happy to consider the next book. Unfortunately for us Hornby is an established writer, and this diatribe has been served up to the reading public. The book has achieved some outstanding reviews from critics. For example, the UK's Sunday Times call it "a biting clever novel of ideas... profound, worrying, hilarious, sophisticated, compulsive." Well bite me; I'm worried about anyone who thinks this is a decent book. It's a case of the Emperor's clothes: Hornby's other books were so good, it's hard to believe that he knew how to be this bad.
Rating:
Summary: By one of world's best authors...
Review: ... yet sadly one of the worst novels I have ever read. Unbelievable (in all the wrong ways), shallow and, untimately, pointless. Read anything else by him instead.
Rating:
Summary: A "bad" book from a "good" author
Review: Hornby has nothing to say and rambles on and on to no effect. "How to be good"? A simple question to answer - treat others with respect and keep your sense of humour. Why do it? Because we all want to live in a civilized world. What's so hard to understand about that? The fact that he needs to write this daft book questioning the whole thing points to a crisis in Hornby's own life, not in our society. A poor relation to High Fidelity, which was witty, detailed and accurate. I personally don't believe in faith healers and I don't believe that an intelligent, educated person would have the kind of spiritual conversion that David has had. Once the novel became fantasy rather than reality, I found that I couldn't really care about the characters and skim-read the rest of the way to the end. Still, some good bits of writing, and I sincerely hope Nick cheers up before his next novel!
Rating: 
Summary: Good Satire For The Times
Review: Meet an average 40 something British couple with marital problems. She's a doctor with decidedly liberal leanings and is considered the "good" one in the marriage only now she's having an affair. He's a columnist known as "the angriest man in Holloway" and makes a living by ranting about everything and everyone - he's not easy to live with. To annoy his physician wife he decides to see a faith healer known as GoodNews about his bad back and ends up coming away a changed man. He forgives his wife and decides to give away many of their possessions (including his son's computer because they don't need two). He starts a community program to encourage his neighbors to take in homeless teenagers and basically begins to try and convince his wife that it's their duty to change the world and make it a better place. She's now forced to decide just how good do you have to be in order to be a good person, she doesn't want a homeless kid in the house and she's worked hard for the things they have but how do you say no. I read this book right after reading Carol Sheild's Unless and I thought this was a much more truthful look at what it means to be good and how much self sacrifice is too much.
Rating:
Summary: How To Be Good could have been better...
Review: First, I have to say that I love Nick Hornby. When I read "About a Boy" I knew that if I opened the book and there were two pages of words facing me, at least one of those pages would make me laugh. Out loud. And I cried. It's one of my top 5 favorite novels. And "High Fidelity"? Forget about it. Hilarious stuff.
But "How to be Good" missed the mark for me. I felt the characters were unbelievable. David's transformation... GoodNews' 'healing powers'... and the constant contradictions that made up the main character, Katie. She thought one thing and would say another. She'd say something and you knew that she thought the opposite. I know that REAL people have contradictions and I don't expect characters in a book not to have them, but it was simply too much in this story.
It frustrated me that the affair situation never really felt resolved. I also couldn't come to terms with the fact that she didn't really like her kids. And the ending... the very last line? What a disappointment. Here's a story about a sad, deeply troubled family. There was very little humor (or at least laughter on my part) and the ending was so sad. Not even sad, really. Just, "Blah."
I must've liked it enough to finish it. I think I was hoping for redemption. Not the kind that Katie was seeking... but some sort of ending that was either happy or tragic ... or maybe they would experience some sort of growth. Give me something ... Make me laugh or cry or say "Ah-hah! So THAT is why they went through all this!" But in the end, it was, well, boring. I should have given it one star, but I really do think Nick is incredibly talented. I guess we all have our off days (or stories, in the case of a writer). Would I recommend this book to anyone? No, not at all. Would I buy another Nick Hornby book? Absolutely.
Rating:
Summary: How to ... be hooked !
Review: You are young, you get married, you have children, arguments and sexual chemistry together ...and the years go by...How to be Good ...is the story of any couple, and reading it gave me chills down my spine because it was so damnably relatable! When the romance gives way to reality and the business of making a marriage work, no author could have done it better. There is no constant in life but change and the novel depicts this beautifully. What is frankly more amazing is how a middle aged male author could get into the mind of a female protagonist so well, so lucidly and so insightfully...Nick Hornby must be having a lot of meaningful conversations with REAL wome, real wives, real mothers...no wonder this book is the product of that !
Rating:
Summary: Wow...
Review: As I read the reviews written by the other readers of this book, a growing feeling of contempt for the ignorance of our time-spirit rises in me. I don't care if I sound arrogant, but I just can't believe that so many people gave this book such poor reviews. The only reason I can come up with, is that pure genius seldomly is understood within the lifespan of the creator.
I'll admit that the storyline in itself isn't a pageturner, but that's not at all the issue. The real storyline takes place within the main-character, who is a brilliant representant of modern man. She sympathizes with the weak, but she doesn't empathize - therein lies the whole difference. We know that people starve to death everyday, that beggars sleep in the streets and that 13-year old girls in Thailand have to prostitute themselves in order to survive. And we care...just enough to sometimes feel a sting of guilt for not doing anything about it. Then we might contribute with a few dollars now and then, or have our old clothes sent to Guatemala and voilá: the guilt goes away. And if it doesn't, it's not worse than we can live with it.
The beauty about this book is that it isn't moralising. It's not trying to tell us that we SHOULD be better people. But what it does tell us is the fact, that we could really make a difference if we bothered to. This book is not a highly academic discussion about morality and ethics, nor is it a shallow attempt to tell the reader to open his/her eyes of the state of the world. It's simply a hysterically funny and precise description of a typical hypocritical mind of the western society, who gets challenged with the knowledge of her own power to change other peoples lives today...if she can be bothered.
Read it, it's hilariously entertaining, funny and intelligent.
If you want to know where I'm coming from, some of my favourite stuff include The Simpsons, Paul Auster, American Beauty, Chess, Luke Rhineheart (Diceman), Shakespeare, old Donald Duck cartoons and Stanley Kubrick.
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