Che dire? Allora, dico subito che il libro non mi ha entusiasmato. Purtroppo non mi ha coinvolto, l'ho letto tutto ma è rimasto per così dire in superficie. Le prime pagine le ho trovate lente e banali. Invece poi il libro cambia e si nota l'acuta intelligenza viva dell'autore incarnata in un animo femminile, e il libro fino a prima della fine regge le mie aspettative.. poi finisce,banalmente e in modo poco significativo. I valori della famiglia ci sono ancora? Una donna da sola fino a che punto può difendere quella che crede sia la sua famiglia?

No clue how to describe this book to myself or my coworkers or anyone generally. I liked it though.

Picked up as a bit of an antithesis to the slightly heavy non-fiction I'd been struggling through, this was a short but thought-provoking (and sometimes very amusing) light read - following a family going through marriage difficulties, focussing on morals and meaning in life to make some interesting points. In truth it was a bit heavy-handed overall, and I didn't find the characters utterly convincing or very likeable, but the book did strike a chord at several points. Not Nick Hornby's best, and I think I may have read it before a decade or so ago, but I did enjoy it quite a lot (and perhaps this is because I am now older and have more in common with the characters experiencing some existential doubts).

4.5 Incredibly introspective stars Not recommended for those who are looking to escape

This was the first Nick Hornby book I've ever read. I've seen some of his films, and I enjoyed them a great deal!

I thought this book was extraordinary!!! I would normally be quick to shout "what does a man know about a woman", "how dare he write in the first person, from a woman's point of view", but Hornby is spot on! He must be a very perceptive person.

I loved the tone, the British sarcasm and wit of the liberal, middle class doctor, Katie Carr, who's trying to figure out how she's ended up in a loveless marriage, with an over-bearing, enraged husband, with kids who aren't too bad, but whom she sometimes doesn't like that much. Basically, she's having a mid-life crisis, where she doesn't know what's the point to anything, or if there is a point. She's having an affair, after twenty years in a monogamous relationship, but she's not very enthused or sees the point of that either.

And then, things change. More exactly, her husband changes. There's a case of be careful what you wish for, when David, Katie's husband, becomes a very altruistic, mild, "save the world" type of person, who no longer finds everything and everyone aggravating and worth of his disdain. There is a case of better the devil you know, when Katie has to adapt to different changes, that take even more energy. There is a lot of doubt, some outbursts, confused kids thrown in the mix. Will Katie and David's marriage survive? Is surviving enough? But is giving up and walking away the answer?

I suppose this book is not for everyone. While there are some funny moments, it's a very realistic, therefore dry and depressing account of a middle aged couple and their struggles. But it is extremely well written, it's very introspective and I suspect one could draw lots of conclusions from it.

Great book, although depressing!

Completely annoying MCs. I'm surprised I made it through. Disappointed because I like the author.

This is hands down the funniest thing I’ve ever read.
I flew through it.
It is really my kind of humor.

The main character is a middle class woman on her 40s who is struggling at her marriage. Her husband is very rude and she is trying to be good, she is a doctor and has 2 kids, but she ends up having an affair. Something happens and her husband becomes the opposite of rude, a good samaritan. But that is not easy for her either (not much spoiling here, the back of the book actually tells much more, I am glad I haven’t read it and went in blind).

I’ve loved that it is a female main character. I really liked “High Fidelity” but I could relate to this one more.

It is brave in tackling difficult issues face on, like divorce, adultery and poverty, but the writing is so witty that I was laughing on every other page. Belly-hurting funny.

The idea of the book sounded so great when I read it. A husband that is angry all the time with a marriage failing because of it turns into a good person. The idea had the potential to be a really good, interesting story. Intead it turned out to be about, not just being a "good" person, but being better than everyone else. Giving money away to the poor, inviting the homeless to live with you. Becoming best friends and eventual roommates with GoodNews. The ideas were rather absurd.

The reviews on the cover state that the book is hilarious. And it's true, that I did laugh out loud a few times, but that still didn't change my view of the book. It took me over a month to get through this book because I was so uninterested in it that when I had the opportunity to read, I chose not to. When I did choose to read, I'd read only a few pages and put the book down. Only towards the end did I become interested in the book and I ended up reading pages at a time because I wanted to see how the book would turn out. And still - the book disappointed. There were so many ways to take the ending. Yet I feel the author took the "safe" way. *Spoiler*: Staying in the marriage for the kids and because it's too hard to imagine life outside of the marriage is ridiculous. Of course people do it everyday. It is reality, but they do it in normal marriages - not in marriages to a completely different, abnormal, person. I don't see how Katie and David's marriage will ever find a way back to being a good marriage, so in the end they have destined themselves to being unhappy for the rest of their lives because they were too afraid to find true happiness. If I never read another Nick Hornby book, that'll be fine by me. On every page he had the potential to turn the story around and take it someplace good and I feel he failed every time.

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.

محشره
ديدي كه راوي داستان -يه زن چهل و خرده اي ساله-نسبت به زندگيش داره
كنار اومدنش با شرايط سخت و عجيب و غريب زندگي
قابل درك بودن احساساتش نسبت به همسرش كه طي يه ملاقات با يه غريبه ي به مراتب عجيب غريب تر از داستان تغيير شديدي ميكنه و از يه ادم وحشتناك تبديل به بزرگترين خير دنيا ميشه
همه چيز اين كتاب عاليه
به جز خود اصل داستان...و اينكه اصن توضيح نميده اين ديگه چيه ؟؟؟؟ دست شفابخش؟!؟!شوخي!!!!!!!ا
ولي خوب كلا خيلي كتاب جالبي بود و بعضي جيزايي كه خانمه(اسمش يادم نمياد...دييييي) ميگفت به شدت تو فكرم ميبرد
كنجكاو شدم كتاب هاي معروفتر نويسنده رو بخونم
پ.ن : اين كتابو از جنگل پنج تومن خريدم چون يه گوشش تا شده اندازه يه سانت...اكر تهران هستيد حتما بهش يه سري بزنيد خيلي عاليه

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 are filled with dichotomies, and I don't expect characters in a book not to have them, but there were simply too many contradictions 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." Disappointing, for sure.

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.

I loved this book, even though I hated the beginning and I didn't really like the ending either. At first I thought it was a book about nasty people, divorce and affairs, and I'm really tired of those themes. It turns out it was about much more.

I don't care that Hornby is a man writing from a female protagonist's POV, since he did it so well. I love humor about manners, morals and hypocrisy, and this is was what the book is about.

So many people found this book depressing, but I didn't. I found it realistic, human and honest. I read about it in "Stuff White People Like," and although the SWPL author may have been making fun of it, I really liked it. Maybe because I'm white, or guilt-ridden, or relate to the characters, but I liked it.

The ending doesn't wrap things up with a bow, but maybe the lesson is that people should start thinking about the small things in life, that lead to the big things, before it's all over. Who knows? I'm just trying to be good, like everyone else;)

This was a very interesting look at what it means to be a good person and live a worthy life; while I did find it a little irrelevant to my own life and mildly depressing at times it was definitely still a worthwhile read, also just very enjoyable and hilarious to read.