As I started reading this I said to myself, “Jeff, maybe your first Hornby book probably should have been High Fidelity not this one.” The narrator’s a 40ish British woman who’s married to an angry guy and who has two kids and is currently having an affair, but you know brutal cynicism and snark transcend everything. It really does.

The questions is thus: If your spouse, suddenly goes from Mr./Mrs. Truculent, spewing venom everywhere, to someone who wants to do nothing but good deeds, do you:

1)tInsist upon having their head examined (My choice)?

2)tDo you remain on the sidelines and lob sarcasm and jaded remarks and try to undercut all the goodness (Her choice, my second choice)?

3)tDo you become an official doer of good deeds(HA! Let’s face it, no one’s choice)?



Hornby’s a funny and insightful writer, but even I was turning away from the world weary voice of sardonicism by mid-way through the book. Too much of a good thing.

Mi primer Hornby ¡Hurra! Gracias Kitty, gracias Núria excelente recomendación. Ya tengo 31 Canciones en la repisa.

¿Por dónde comenzar?

Será por mi absoluta identificación con el mundo reflexivo de la Doctora Katie Carr.

En su mente, es decir donde sucede toda la novela, soy ella. No en sus acciones y decisiones, y definitivamente no soy ella en el rumbo que toma su vida ni en su destino final, yo de la primera página en adelante hubiese derrotado por caminos bien distintos.

Pero a donde quiera que vaya, suceda lo que suceda en el mundo exterior y con los demás –cambien milagrosamente o no– yo como Katie seguiría atrapada en mi mente, en mi autocomplacencia, en mi autocrítica, en la eterna reflexión, en la duda, en la insaciable búsqueda de reafirmación, en el escepticismo, en el miramiento del eterno “y si…”, en la necesidad de cumplir con estándares pero escapando a los clichés, en la manía de adelantarme hacia la idealización, en saltarme por completo la realidad presente y esa necesidad de ser más: más aceptada, más correcta, más feliz, más perfecta, más buena y esa irreducible sensación de que por más que lo intento algo no encaja, algo no está bien

“Porque la gente como yo siempre está pensando que está equivocada; casi siempre está segura de que va a ir al infierno, por mucho que en grandísima medida sus pensamientos de vigilia vayan encaminados a la consecución de lo contrario”.

Como ella, yo me estrello contra la terrible ironía que nace de tanto fermentar ponderaciones, juicios, opciones, pensamientos y decisiones porque

“A veces hemos de ser juzgados por nuestros actos únicos.”

Como comentó Núria “tiene muchas capas” esta novela.

Crisis de la mediana edad “En cierto modo he perdido el norte y eso me asusta.”; complicaciones de existenciales sobre la vida matrimonial “…como si dormir en la misma cama fuera lo único que importa en el hecho de estar casados.”; sobre la vida familiar “Los rituales familiares se asemejan a esas flores del desierto increíblemente resistentes, capaces de florecer en los terrenos más inhóspitos.”; sobre la comunicación en pareja “El cinismo es nuestro lenguaje común compartido.”

Todo comienza como una anécdota más bien gastada sobre la vida en el matrimonio y sus momentos menos amables.

A pesar de esa simpleza es tratado con gusto de escalpelo … “…de súbito me asaltó la nauseabunda sensación de lo bien que conocía ese silencio, su forma y su tacto y todos sus mordaces recovecos.”

El tacto del silencio.

Que lance la primera piedra quien no conoce el tacto del silencio en pareja. ¡Que profundamente dolorosa y literal es esa metáfora!

Para entonces creí que me encontraba ante un largo pesado y doloroso drama. Y lo es. Sólo que se pone tan absurdamente divertido y es delicioso.

Poco a poco la historia comienza a adquirir matices de globalización de cierto modo toda la novela es una tremenda cachetada. ¿A qué?

Hornby responde en una entrevista: "Si tuviera que resumirla de esa manera (y no es que quiera hacerlo) diría que muestra el reconocimiento liberal de las contradicciones del liberalismo."

Yo lo reduciría a semántica.

Ser buenos y tener una buena vida no significan lo mismo, y querer que ambas cosas coexistan en la praxis definitivamente producirá una antinomia moral en la psique.

En castellano, por ejemplo, no puedes pretender que tener aire a acondicionado es bueno para el planeta. Y así mil millones de ejemplos de cómo lo que queremos tiene un alto precio social.

Ser buenos no garantiza una buena vida y para tener una buena vida no es necesario ser buenos (eso es muy evidente, si no pregúntenle a los narcos dueños de la mansión en Desierto de los Leones en México que tenían hasta tigres albinos, dos panteras, un león.. etc etc etc)

Es una crítica a querer demasiado supongo o una crítica al no saber lo que quieres, a la ambigüedad de pretenciosas expectativas.

O te dedicas a ser bueno según algún manual y pagas el precio de ello, o te dedicas a tener una buena vida y pagas el precio de ello.

Pero ambas cosas en sentido absoluto como que es mucha soberbia pretenderlo. Y una imbecilidad creer que no tiene precio.

Y hasta perece que lanzara yo un sermón.

Pero es que creo que ese es conflicto nuclear de la novela. Queremos tanto, tanto, tanto así que somos obscenos.

Queremos casa, una pareja romántica sexy dulce colaboradora comprometida que nos entienda que vaya en nuestra dirección, queremos hijos modelos bellos inteligentes sociales sanos, queremos un trabajo bien remunerado reconocido con categoría y para colmo queremos ser buenos.

Queremos que cesen las guerras, queremos que los ancianos sean amados, queremos justicia en el mundo, el fin de la violencia, erradicar el hambre, que no hayan más locos, enfermos vagabundos ni niños ni mascotas abandonados en la calle.

Queremos eso. ¿Quién no? ¿Quién quiere lo contrario?

Lo queremos desde la comodidad de una buena vida, en el centro de una buena sala, frente a una buena comida ante un buen televisor al lado de una buena pareja. (Yo quiero eso)

O por lo menos, mínimo, que todo eso del hambre la enfermedad la guerra y la locura estén bien lejos de mi calle de enfrente.

Y además, no queremos ser hipócritas. Hablo de mi y de las y los Katie del mundo.

No queremos reconocer que queremos eso y la buena casa. Y que, que broma no?, la buena casa no es compatible con indigentes en la puerta a los cuales darles una ayuda.

Supongo que es una critica la vida fatua y pretenciosa del “suburbio”. Critica nuestras expectativas y el formato según tomamos las decisiones de nuestra vida.

Yo decidí no intentar ni en lo más mínimo ser buena genéricamente hablando. Prefiero encontrar ser buena en algo y ser feliz con ello.

Y si eso choca moralmente con ciertas tristes realidades del mundo, pues qué se le hará? tocará dejarme meter en el gueto de los cínicos.

Porque los seres humanos disque civilizados no podemos andarnos sin etiquetar y clasificarlo todo, sin separar lo bueno de lo malo, ¿será porque no podemos conciliar nuestras contradicciones, nuestras expectativas de vida privada con nuestras expectativas de vida colectiva?

Al fin y al cabo, también quiero que los demás sean felices… pero que trabajen y se esfuercen por ello. Que ellos (todos, los demás, incluyendo a mi pareja) sean buenos para algo y encuentren su felicidad allí.

¿Pero para qué tanto moralismo y evaluación si lo que me parece más importante de la novela es otra cosa?

Es ser Katie Carr y escucharme/leerme/darme cuenta de que

“Es el acto mismo de leer lo que echo en falta, la oportunidad de apartarme más y más del mundo hasta hallar por fin un poco de espacio, un poco de aire no viciado, un aire que no haya sido respirado ya un millar de veces por mi familia.”… “Y no es sólo la lectura sino el hecho de escuchar, de escuchar algo distinto a los programas de televisión de mis hijos y la cantinela pía de mi marido y la cháchara la cháchara la cháchara del interior de mi cabeza…”

Porque al leer ya no estoy atrapada ni en mi mente ni en el mundo ni en las dicotomías entre lo bueno y lo malo.

Leyendo ya no hay autocomplacencia, autocrítica, reflexión, duda, búsqueda de reafirmación, escepticismo, necesidad de cumplir con estándares, escapar a los clichés, manía de adelantarme hacia la idealización… etc, etc, etc.

Leyendo no me siento perdida pero si soy absolutamente inubicable.

Al final la novela me dejó tan profundamente deprimida, me tomó un par de días si quiera comentar lo triste que quedé.

Katie… pobrecita ¡Qué bueno que no soy ella!

Hornby dice: "Creo que la gente se ha fijado en dilemas morales que no era mi intención plantear; el libro acaba con una imagen desoladora de la vida familiar, y sin embargo uno o dos críticas que me he permitido leer sugieren que el libro acaba con Katie redescubriendo la cultura, como si el libro tuviera un final reconfortante. No lo tiene."

La disfruté infinitamente porque me agarró como una buena obra de teatro de esas que producen catarsis, que desatan reacciones internas y en algo, por mísero que sea, te toca y te cambia.

This book certainly divides fans, but I didn't mind it. As always Hornby's books are very readable and easy to get through.

Middle of the road, three stars.

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.

Protagonist Katie Carr became a doctor to “do some good in the world,” and she sees herself as a good person. However, she is unhappy in her marriage and is frustrated that she cannot help some of her patients. Her husband, David, writes an “angry man” column and she feels he treats her with apathy and even contempt. They have two school-age children. She tells David she wants a divorce. Then something unexpected happens. After visiting a healer who has taken the name GoodNews, David seems to become a new person. He is now on a mission to make the world a better place, such as getting his neighbors to take in homeless children, handing out his (and his wife’s) money to the poor, and giving away his children’s toys.

It is narrated by Katie and filled with sarcastic humor. When her husband changes, it forces Katie to examine what it means to be good, especially given that she feels uncomfortable with his actions, which, of course, fall into the category of “good acts.” It invites the reader to consider what it means to be a good person. I found this book engrossing and read it in one sitting. My only disappointment is the ending. This is my first book by Nick Hornby, but it won’t be my last.

Really intimate first person novel about a woman whose husband suddenly stops being snarky and facetious and becomes really sincere and loving. Basically I completely sympathized with her feeling that this person, while arguably much NICER than her husband, was basically NOT her husband any more, and was also pretty annoying.

It's a great humorous approach to the same kind of material about morality that Jonathan Franzen explores in Freedom. Only, you know, funny and enjoyable rather than...Great American Novel. This is Hornby in a nutshell - he gets inside his characters heads, he creates wholly believable absurdity, and he gets under your skin while doing it.

I read this in a day. Here is how this day went: I was staying at my family's summer house with my mother and niece and nephews. I woke up late, came downstairs and made a cup of coffee. My mother had taken the whole gang to a pancake breakfast so I sat on the deck and sipped my coffee while working on a crossword puzzle. When my mother returned, she brought me pancakes and a copy of how to be good from the church bazaar. I declared that I saw no reason to leave my deck chair for the rest of the day. Eventually I did get up for the bathroom and a change of clothes (pajamas are rather hot on a summer day) but I essentially stuck to my pledge. Engaging in sloth while reading about how our human weakness makes us, well, human was a lovely way to spend a vacation day and I recommend it highly.

I suppose I could have liked this book more except I really wanted her to fall back in love with her husband and she just didn't. Things got better but...it was a little too real, I guess you could say. I can't fault the book for that, really, but I do favor an escapist book when I'm on vacation.

This book embodies the term "First-world problems". While it raises some interesting questions, and supplies ultimately inadequate answers to them, this is definitely a book which could only be written by someone from a privileged perspective.

Katie is a thoroughly modern woman. She supports her nuclear family as a physician. Her husband, David, is a stay-at-home companion who cooks and tends the kids and half-heartedly writes. He is cranky and angry (a familiar state for many men in today's marriages) and Katie finds herself unhappy enough to wind up in bed with another man. After Katie asks for a divorce, David refuses and makes a sudden about-face, becoming an understanding, kind, thoughtful man overnight. He challenges the entire family to not just give lip-service to their progressive philosophy but to actually walk the walk, by giving away some of their possessions, offering their home as shelter to homeless waifs, and encouraging the family to right their past wrongs.

I strongly identify with Katie's dilemma. There is no lonelier place to be than trapped in a stale marriage with someone you no longer have anything in common with. Yet, when David attempts to become the sort of husband all women claim to want, Katie finds it irritating and annoying. I feel her. I would react the same way. And when David's journey toward goodness becomes stifling and sanctimonious, Katie's increasingly desperate and ineffectual attempts to bring David back to his old self backfire in often hilarious and always realistic ways.

Nick Hornby has created a fully realized picture of middle-class morality and hypocrisy which forces the reader to see how far we are from living our ideals.

Whilst I admit that there are some shrewdly observed elements of a fractured relationship (unfortunately writing from experience), this is not a pleasant read at all. It begins as it means to go on... and on... and on...

I had enough of a struggle making sense of my own disaster without looking on in Peeping Tom fashion at someone else's

Ok it's called "How to be Good", so I will try to be good.

It's an interesting idea that doesn't go anywhere, and on that basis, it should have been written as a short story.

Here's why it didn't go anywhere. The characters are one dimensional, there are no backstories, nothing is done with this miraculous faith healer.

We don't get to find out why David is so broken and cynical, and we are only told in reported speech about his conversion. This is the crux of the book for fuck's sake. Someone undergoes a complete personality change, I think we need to see it.

Goodnews can perform miracles with his healing powers, so why isn't he already on the telly and in the tabloids? The premise that David and Goodness want to do good deeds would be easily covered by making Goodnews a billionaire, then they could give all that money away.

Ok, sorry, trying to be good. Hornby has tried something different and he is trying to write about a real couple having problems. So, props for that, but unfortunately, it's as boring as fuck.

Katie - the doctor / wife - is a saint to have put with David for as long as she has already, but when he starts talking bollocks and giving away the kid's computers , anyone would kick him out, but she doesn't, she tries to understand him. Oh really!

I can't be good any longer. This book is deathly dull.

I blame the author for being self-indulgent and writing it, but I also blame his editors, agent and publisher who all let this book go to print. Someone has to stand up and say, "Nick, this is really bad." But after three bestsellers, it seems no-one had the gumption to do it.

Funny, I especially enjoyed the line describing a wacky vicar as “one wafer short of a communion”!

Okay, I can probably guess why this book is considered one of Nick Hornby's lesser works by fans of the author & yet it found a place on the Man Booker Prize longlist. Speaking for myself, I pick up a Hornby novel primarily for the laughs. Besides that, he gives you those warm, fuzzy moments & some observations about humankind in general that are worth their weight in gold. But do I go in expecting endless self-introspection & whining? Not really.

The protagonist of 'How To Be Good' is Katie Carr, a medical practitioner living with her husband David & her two kids in a London suburb. She is unhappy with her marriage, she is having an affair & has just called David to tell him that she wants a divorce. David refuses to accept that, but Katie is just as confused about her own decision. She thinks she's a good person & so she believes her husband should be one too instead of being the angriest, cynical & most sarcastic man in Holloway. Then one day, David meets faith healer DJ GoodNews who cures his bad back and out of the blue, David becomes a good person - one who cares about his wife, his children & everything that's wrong with the world out there, with GoodNews as mentor. And then Katie realises that one needs to be careful about what one wishes for - after all, charity begins at home...

Talking about what I liked about this book, the men win the arguments here. Okay okay, I'm not being anti-feminist here but one gotta see the funny side of it. The plot is inconsistent in its pace, sometimes gliding along while at times just not going anywhere, which brings me to the excessive self-introspection bit I wrote about earlier. It seems like Hornby is trying too hard to be different, after having written two books that are essentially coming-of-age stories. Hornby has this gift of creating impossible situations & then effortlessly finding his way out of it, but it seems he dwells upon these situations longer than necessary, leaving a bittersweet aftertaste.

Still, there is no dearth of genuine laughs in this book nor is there anything lacking in terms of characterisation. This is perhaps Hornby's most realistic novel till date, for one can recognise a bit of oneself & people they know in each of the characters one encounters.

So that's 3 stars for 'How To Be Good' by Nick Hornby. It certainly isn't one of Hornby's best, but it's just good enough to merit a read.

witty. and really human???? i enjoyed its honesty. the last sentence made me want to pull my hair out.