...
Show More
No clue how to describe this book to myself or my coworkers or anyone generally. I liked it though.
Ease Reading-Find Your Next Favorite Book
How to Be Good
...
Show More
Die Ärztin Katie hat alles, was sie sich wünschen kann: einen tollen Job, gesunde Kinder und einen erfolgreichen Mann. Super - auf den ersten Blick. Beim zweiten sieht's schon etwas anders aus. Und beim dritten stellt sie sich unweigerlich die Frage: Warum gibt es eigentlich für alles Gebrauchsanweisungen, nur nicht für das Leben?
305 pages, Paperback
First published May 31,2001
This edition
- Format
-
305 pages, Paperback
- Published
-
August 1, 2003 by Droemer Knaur
- ISBN
-
9783426615355
- ASIN
-
3426615355
- Language
-
German
About the author
...
Show More
Nicholas Peter John Hornby is an English writer and lyricist. He is best known for his memoir Fever Pitch (1992) and novels High Fidelity and About a Boy, all of which were adapted into feature films. Hornby's work frequently touches upon music, sport, and the aimless and obsessive natures of his protagonists. His books have sold more than 5 million copies worldwide as of 2018. In a 2004 poll for the BBC, Hornby was named the 29th most influential person in British culture. He has received two Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay nominations for An Education (2009), and Brooklyn (2015).
Readers also enjoyed
Community Reviews
Rating(4.1 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
38(38%)
4 stars
31(31%)
3 stars
31(31%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
0(0%)
100 reviews All reviews
...
Show More
The first 30 pages of this weren't enjoyable at all, and the final 10 pages are a huge let down. That said, the 250 pages in the middle of the book were great. I can't think of another book that had a bad start and a bad finish but the middle was so well done. If the entire book was like the main bulk of it I'd consider this as a 5-star read. Hornby's greatest strength as a writer is definitely his witty / entertaining dialogue.
...
Show More
One of the "blurbs" on the cover of my library copy this book uses a one word review: "hilarious". This is very misleading. "How to Be Good" is an excellent read, confronts the many changes in a modern marriage where husband and wife are unsure of the ground of the marriage. There is humor. There are some very funny moments but this is not pure comedy. Not in my eyes. It's a portrait of modern ennui and angst mixed together and forming a very messy stew.
Katie, the wife, is a doctor, and one of her consistent refrains as she assesses her life and the lives of those around her is that she is a doctor and does good things for people every day. But she's struggling to believe it. Her husband, David, has been a negative, argumentative, non-working presence for several years. And there are 2 children. Can she leave? Should she leave? Can David become the loving husband she thinks she remembers?
Oh my! And this is only the very beginning. Then there are THE CHANGES!! the GOOD things that happen. Well this is where one becomes happy you aren't Katie or live in Hornby's imagination. It's funny and bleak and outrageous and true to somebody's life but thankfully not mine.
Rating a strong 4
Recommended for those who enjoy domestic drama/dramedy/?comedy.
Katie, the wife, is a doctor, and one of her consistent refrains as she assesses her life and the lives of those around her is that she is a doctor and does good things for people every day. But she's struggling to believe it. Her husband, David, has been a negative, argumentative, non-working presence for several years. And there are 2 children. Can she leave? Should she leave? Can David become the loving husband she thinks she remembers?
Oh my! And this is only the very beginning. Then there are THE CHANGES!! the GOOD things that happen. Well this is where one becomes happy you aren't Katie or live in Hornby's imagination. It's funny and bleak and outrageous and true to somebody's life but thankfully not mine.
Rating a strong 4
Recommended for those who enjoy domestic drama/dramedy/?comedy.
...
Show More
The voice is pitch perfect. So easy to read, I snapped this up in three days. Funny, canny, with entertaining presentation of some ugly truths about the nuclear family.
::Spoilers start here::
Katie is going to sleep at a friend's apartment and thinking about why she wants to step away, have a time out from being David's wife. "That's all there is left, when you take away working hours and family suppers and family breakfasts: the time I get on my own is the time I would have spent being a wife, rather than being a mother or a doctor. (And God, how frightening, that those are the only options available. The only times when I am not performing one of those three roles is when I am in the bathroom.)"
I liked how Katie has moved to some self knowledge by the end of the book. She knows that she wants to be with her family, including her husband. She knows that it's important that they function and support each other as a family and not invite various acquaintances into that intimacy. She knows that she needs to read and take in art in order to nourish her mind. She's fairly clear that she will choose middle class complacency and the easy path rather than engaging with every issue that comes past. But she's still ignorant of her own values beyond these items. I thought the last line of the book was an atonal clash with what was a satisfying falling together at the end. But I grant that Katie has not widened her consciousness very far and has not done wrestling with her selfish ness and her vanity about being "good". So the blankness she sees beyond her family makes sense.
::Spoilers start here::
Katie is going to sleep at a friend's apartment and thinking about why she wants to step away, have a time out from being David's wife. "That's all there is left, when you take away working hours and family suppers and family breakfasts: the time I get on my own is the time I would have spent being a wife, rather than being a mother or a doctor. (And God, how frightening, that those are the only options available. The only times when I am not performing one of those three roles is when I am in the bathroom.)"
I liked how Katie has moved to some self knowledge by the end of the book. She knows that she wants to be with her family, including her husband. She knows that it's important that they function and support each other as a family and not invite various acquaintances into that intimacy. She knows that she needs to read and take in art in order to nourish her mind. She's fairly clear that she will choose middle class complacency and the easy path rather than engaging with every issue that comes past. But she's still ignorant of her own values beyond these items. I thought the last line of the book was an atonal clash with what was a satisfying falling together at the end. But I grant that Katie has not widened her consciousness very far and has not done wrestling with her selfish ness and her vanity about being "good". So the blankness she sees beyond her family makes sense.
...
Show More
Τελικά το ειχα ξαναδιαβάσει. Δεν θυμομουν τίποτα.
Παραξενο ρε παιδι μου πώς μερικά βιβλια περασαν και δεν ακουμπησαν που λενε, κι άλλα χαρασσονται μέσα σου σαν με ξυράφι..
Παραξενο ρε παιδι μου πώς μερικά βιβλια περασαν και δεν ακουμπησαν που λενε, κι άλλα χαρασσονται μέσα σου σαν με ξυράφι..
...
Show More
I really need to see the movie An Education. Nick Hornby was nominated for the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, and the critics thought he did a pretty fine job. I also heard that his YA novel, Slam was fine. I'd like to see Hornby doing a fine job because I've pretty much given up on him.
I loved Fever Pitch; it is part of my personal mythology (I am an Arsenal fan, and it is very nearly a bible to Gooners). I also loved High Fidelity: slacker, music loving greatness. But since that brace of excellence, Hornby has been on a poor run of form.
His lowest point, for me, is How to Be Good. I am not usually one to be too critical of derivative works, believing as I do that the bulk of writing is derivative of something, but what I can't stand is an author who derives material from himself. Everything he does here is something he's done better somewhere else.
He did the miserable bastard and music appreciation better in High Fidelity, where he also did relationships better. He did middle aged, male redemption better, though not much better, in About a Boy. And he wrote much, much better in Fever Pitch even if it was his first book.
For a man who loves to joke with plenty of bitterness that he'll never win the Booker Prize, he sure produces plenty of drivel (come to think of it, maybe he'll win the Booker Prize anyway. Drivel seems to work).
I'm probably not being fair, but I've really loved Hornby's work, and I want to love it again. It's sorta like being an Arsenal fan right now. I love Wenger and what he brought to the club, but another transfer window has past and we've still got Almunia in net and Wenger's talking up the same old crap: "youth," "belief," "patience."
Fuck all that. I want a trophy this season. And I want Nick Hornby to get back to "being good" himself, not just writing about some wanker and his experiment with the homeless.
I loved Fever Pitch; it is part of my personal mythology (I am an Arsenal fan, and it is very nearly a bible to Gooners). I also loved High Fidelity: slacker, music loving greatness. But since that brace of excellence, Hornby has been on a poor run of form.
His lowest point, for me, is How to Be Good. I am not usually one to be too critical of derivative works, believing as I do that the bulk of writing is derivative of something, but what I can't stand is an author who derives material from himself. Everything he does here is something he's done better somewhere else.
He did the miserable bastard and music appreciation better in High Fidelity, where he also did relationships better. He did middle aged, male redemption better, though not much better, in About a Boy. And he wrote much, much better in Fever Pitch even if it was his first book.
For a man who loves to joke with plenty of bitterness that he'll never win the Booker Prize, he sure produces plenty of drivel (come to think of it, maybe he'll win the Booker Prize anyway. Drivel seems to work).
I'm probably not being fair, but I've really loved Hornby's work, and I want to love it again. It's sorta like being an Arsenal fan right now. I love Wenger and what he brought to the club, but another transfer window has past and we've still got Almunia in net and Wenger's talking up the same old crap: "youth," "belief," "patience."
Fuck all that. I want a trophy this season. And I want Nick Hornby to get back to "being good" himself, not just writing about some wanker and his experiment with the homeless.
...
Show More
This is the first Hornby book I have read and he did not disappoint. I found it fun and truly original. Katie, the main character, and her quirky, confused thoughts are very entertaining. It makes you realize how our minds can go crazy sometimes specially when put in odd circumstances.
This story is somewhat ridiculous but it also presents very serious issues on family and relationships. It speaks a lot about love and what it really means and gives importance to marriage and commitment. In a very humurous way, this book brings up the issue of charity and its evil side -- how doing good for other people can go wrong and cause hate instead of love.
I probably will not read this book again but it was definitely enjoyable and smart. I'm looking forward to reading more from Nick Hornby.
This story is somewhat ridiculous but it also presents very serious issues on family and relationships. It speaks a lot about love and what it really means and gives importance to marriage and commitment. In a very humurous way, this book brings up the issue of charity and its evil side -- how doing good for other people can go wrong and cause hate instead of love.
I probably will not read this book again but it was definitely enjoyable and smart. I'm looking forward to reading more from Nick Hornby.
...
Show More
zeer muah
Leave a Review