How to Be Good could have appropriately been titled Who Gives a Shit? or How to be Good for Nothing because that's what Nick Hornby is with his cheesy writing style and trite observations.

Probably more like 3.5 stars.
The novel is incredibly ugly as far as aesthetics go. The language is so pedestrian it depressed me at times, as well as the story itself did. But I liked this book much more than I did High Fidelity for its lack of cuteness, its courage, its intellectually complex and deep, wry and dark engagement with the big questions of morals versus moralism, and the essence of goodness. I almost wanted this to be an essay, because of the narrator’s dull mind and voice… But the dilemmas, the dilemmas and the social critique so brave and astute… Yes, it is a confusing book. And a book I’m glad to have read.

I started this in the morning and could not put it down. Finished in one day. A good use of a nice Sunday.

Nick Hornby is a favorite and after this experience I may go ahead and read all of his books, I’ve liked every book of his that I have read. I also like music and sports and his take on relationships is also something to behold.

Read the reviews on this and we can all decide that this has inspired strong emotions, many people love it and it seems an equal number of readers have rang it up with one and two stars. He’s got a lot going on.

While reading I thought of the Biblical quote from Matthew 19:21-22. “Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me. When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.”

Hornby describes a family in London where a wife, mother and doctor is having some serious marital problems. She and her husband, kind of an underemployed angry crank, may be going through a divorce. She worries what this will do to their two young children and her internal monologues comprise most of the body of the text.

Then the husband meets a faith healer - DJ GoodNews - and all hell breaks loose. First of all, GoodNews heals the husband’s back problems as well as some other ailments. Husband actually tries to be a better person, making some real changes. Wife wonders if they can make the marriage work after all.

And that’s where the meat and potatoes are served up. GoodNews wants them to give away their possessions, give to charities, invite homeless people to come live with them, etc. Wife, who considers herself a “good person” and can talk the talk, is sorely tested with walking the walk. Hornby examines her real struggle, wanting to pay back to society, wanting to help the less fortunate, but also needing to provide for her own family. The children’s reactions to the changes are golden.

This is a post-modern work in that it does not follow a recognized template and the ending is … cumbersome. If you’re looking for a Lifetime movie with an all smiles happy ending, its not here, but Hornby has put together a modern morality play that asks some difficult but relevant questions and provides some delicious moments for us to consider.

I found this book much harder to read than it should have been due to the style of the protagonist's narrative. I found her lengthy, self reflective internal monologues boring and verging on self absorbed. I thought nothing really happened in the plot and some important questions were left unanswered (eg how did goodnews actually heal people?).

On the positive side I thought that it began to explore some interesting ideas about what it means to be 'good' in today's society, however I didn't think it did much to offer a resolution or really explored the theme as completely as it could have done. There were times when I laughed out loud, but despite this I found it a struggle to finish.