London based doctor Katie Carr is kind of always pissed off with her politically Left leaning husband, David who is so angry with the world all the time; he even has a 'Mr Angry' column in the local newspaper. When David meets a faith healer DJ GoodNews (yup, that's his name!), Katie and their two children are not prepared for the huge impact a 'reborn' husband and father who want 'to do real good' will have on their lives.

Another modern Western world gem from Hornby but this time from a female perspective. What happens when you're the solo breadwinner, housekeeper and child-rearer, but you're husband 'sees the light' and gives away family possessions, houses the homeless and seeks to do real good, and suddenly despite you bearing all the weight of the family, he claims the moral high ground? What ensues is a darkly funny and at times spot-on albeit infuriating look at the self proclaimed liberal elite. Really enjoyed this tongue-in-cheek read, as much for the questions it asks of us all. 8 out of 12 Four Star read.

2023 read

I've read most of Hornby's books. He's one of my favorites, and if I don't get his new one for my birthday (hint, hint), I plan to buy it and expect to enjoy it. Because I like the way he tells stories, like the way he writes, and enjoy his insights on people and relationships. So keep all that in mind when I say this one didn't really work for me.

I try to not read reviews of books I'm about to read, mostly for fear of spoilers, but also to keep from raising or lowering my expectations. That said, I did nose around enough ahead of this one to be aware it didn't seem to be Hornby's most beloved novel. And halfway through I wondered if maybe people just didn't care for reading him through a woman's point-of-view, because I was quite enjoying it. DJ GoodNews, while not someone I'd want to spend more than two minutes with, was entertaining and leading Katie Carr and her family through some downright zany life changes. Very entertaining, I thought. Why no love on Goodreads?

And then I got to the second half. And it just didn't really work. I can see Katie not wanting to tear her family apart. Divorce is so final, not to mention devastating when kids are involved. And I can appreciate she had conflicting feelings about it all. But she never really sorted anything out. She just became more miserable.

I also found the meeting with her brother at the church to be way too coincidental. She never attends, but just happens to go once and finds her clinicaly depressed brother there? Even harder to buy the wacky vicar coming into her office later for a consult. (Katie is a general practice doctor.) Even harder to buy how she badgered said vicar for an answer on whether she should leave her husband. And for all the significance of the one-time church visit, meeting her brother and finally realizing how borderline suicidal he is, she's never bothered to visit with him again?

The premise here is something that really could have worked. David (Katie's husband) turns from the Angriest Man in Holloway into a calm do-gooder whose only goal is persuading others to see the light as he has. As if their marriage wasn't already in trouble, that would be quite a shock for any couple. There are some funny scenes and characters. Some of this, especially in the first half, is vintage Hornby. But the ending felt both rushed and muddled.

If you're a Hornby fan, don't be so frightened off that you skip it. Just keep your expectations in check.

I started reading this on the subway ride home after I'd had several drinks and very little food, and I thought it was pretty funny. Unfortunately, my sober reading of it was much less enthusiastic. It was depressing and odd, instead of whimsical and quirky which I think was the intention. I read High Fidelity a long time ago, it was fine, cute, sweet, and as in this book, I like Hornby's scenes, which can be almost perfectly set: a chicken dinner with a miserable family and its two outcast guests can glow. But it's the story around these lovely scenes that drags, and the confused narrator who steps out of the scenes that mars them with aimless commentary. Humor is subjective, and this just didn't hit the mark with me.

Very interesting beginning. Once you’re in peace with the healing powers of DJ Goodnews and David’s sudden character swing, the book flows pretty good. I found the last chapters quite boring and I was left with no conclusion other than a shaman being a good substitute for a sports car in middle-aged crisis. Easy read, though, keeps you hooked.

Loved this book! I didn't think I would, actually, because it opens with the decaying of a marriage between two Brits with kids. The subject just doesn't grab me much, I mean, as escapist reading why would I want to read about an unhappy marriage? Before I knew it, though, I was sucked in by the marvelous writing and witty humor of Nick Hornby.

I had no idea where this book was going. There are so many unpredictable twists and turns and just when you think it couldn't get any crazier, it does. And it's lovely. Rather than give away any of that loveliness, the surprises and twists and delicious ridiculousness of it all, I will just say that while it starts out as a story about the failing of a marriage what it becomes is much deeper and personal and provoking and circular than you would otherwise imagine.

I realize that I'm being very vague, but you would be happier discovering the plot twists for yourself. You'll just have to trust me.

super grim. get the girl some ssri’s and a divorce.

In “How To Be Good” Nick Hornby’s narrator is a woman, and I think he was successful at writing from a female perspective. However, I would not quality the novel as one of Hornby’s successes.
Early on in the text there are some acute observations about relationships and our inner thoughts and secrets that are just brilliant. Hornby is very good at articulating some of the most abstract ideas and putting them into concise and appropriate words. All of his books seem to share that quality.
The story starts quickly, and then about 50 pages in it starts to drag. As a result it was a slower read for me than most Hornby. I think this was mainly because not one of the characters is likable. Not one. Our narrator can’t get over herself, and always brings up being a doctor as proof that she is a decent person. And her spiritually converted husband is smug and more than a little stupid in his ideas after conversion. And before conversion he was also a jerk. The supporting cast is no better.
The author really takes aim in his satire of a liberal (the narrator Katie) who likes to talk the talk, but has more than few problems walking the walk. To Kate’s credit, she does seem to recognize this about herself. Unfortunately scenes of good satire are followed by ridiculous moments, one being a scene where the narrator, her husband, and her lover share a conversation in her kitchen. It is just banal, and more than a little stupid.
In short, “How To Be Good” is a dark novel. The darkest Hornby I have read. The ambiguous ending will do little to satisfy the reader as it does not lend itself to think happiness and contentment is in store for the characters, and possibly the reader for that matter. It is a bit of a downer.

This is a audiobook review of the book. I had the Penguin audiobook abridged version, read by Frances Barber.

Katie Carr is a doctor, a GP, who is in all intent and purpose someone who is trying to be a good. She is unhappy with her marriage and asks her husband David for a divorce. Meanwhile she is having an affair with someone called Steven, whose only significance in the story is the man whom Katie had an affair with.

David is described as an angry person by Katie but we don't see much of this side of his character throughout this book, instead we see a rebuilt man, someone who wants to be good and does good deeds. We later find out the reason why.

Katie's lack of security with herself had put me off. It read almost as if Katie was the victim and David was some kind of psychopath. The humour in the story was washed away by its eerie optimism. I was half expecting a death somewhere in the story to bring about a change in the tone.

Throughout the book Katie carries a lot of guilt, painfully so. There were times when I wanted so much for David to fail, or at least have someone punch him in the face.

It's a shame that this story didn't have a saving grace, I'm sure it could have, without it I would mark this a 2.5 stars, but I like Nick Hornby so I'll round this up to a 3.

Similar vein to Zac… a very funny exploration of our class comfort and where we draw the line with giving.

Very funny book. It's a satire of the society, set in time in a pre-crisis scenario, with its consumerism and no worries about unemployment, salary cuts and so on... so, nothing to do with the current situation.
The wife is the narrator of her husband's spiritual change and everything is told by her point if view (that is great and needs to be in that way to be accurate) but I missed to know more about what happened to him. It would be great to know his opinion in all this story, extracts from his diary of something like that ...
For sure I would like to read more hornby 's soon.

A Nick Hornby book through and through -- whatever that means to you!

"A Long Way Down" is still my favorite. "About a Boy" is still my second favorite. And this book would bring up the back since I've only read three Hornby books. Even if it's lesser than these other two books, it still has that Hornby charm.

What is the Hornby charm? Take an interesting situation (an affair by a self-defined "good person"), add some eccentric details and characters (a faith healer named DJ FeelGood), frustrate your expectations and your desire for a clear-cut resolution to very human problems (divorce and finding happiness), but never go to a place that feels like all hope is lost.

Hornby will resolve your very human problems very problematically with loose ends and upset expectations...it's as frustrating as life, but never as frustrating as tragedy; at times uplifting, often funny...

So, what's the problem, if any? Well, just like a mainstream movie from a well-known director, you might get tired of the formula, you might read the next move a little too well, and -- if the book is easy to consume -- well, then you might be left wanting not just fiction, but genuine literature...

...and thus, my next read will be something more serious.

Moby Dick should do the trick!

“Come diventare buoni” è un libro triste. È triste perché non vuole raccontarti bugie, non cerca di confortarti o di mentirti ma rimane coerente con se stesso fino alla fine. Ti chiude porte in faccia, ti mostra come le persone, talvolta, non siano altro che un ammasso di rimpianti, autocompiacimento e pensieri repressi. Mi sono identificata con la protagonista, a volte stupendomi di me stessa, e ho provato il brivido degli eterni dubbi etici che sono alla base delle riflessioni del testo. Lo consiglio molto, soprattutto per la buona tecnica di narrazione