How to be Good
2 journalers for this copy...
Trade paperback. Reading guide available at penguinputnam.com/guides.
From Library Journal
"I'm not a bad person. I'm a doctor," says Katie Carr, liberal 1990s North London mother of two. This is her hollow mantra, the only comfort that she can feign while her 20-year marriage to surly David falls to pieces. Just when she is about to be kicked out of the house after confessing to an affair, David returns from a visit with an ecstasy-dropping club kid-turned-faith healer named DJ GoodNews a changed man. For his third novel after the male-sympathetic High Fidelity and About a Boy, Hornby hasn't merely gotten in touch with his feminine side (though Katie's violent emotionalism, surgical introspection, and perverse romanticism are all on the mark); more importantly, via Katie he harrowingly portrays how ambivalence attacks the heart like a virus at mid-life. Nothing, not even her children, it seems, is completely deserving of Katie's love or her disgust. Readers will see themselves in all of Katie's flaws especially her selfishness. But fear not, old-school Hornby fans, for this departure is expertly tempered with flecks of humor and pop culture references. Essential for all contemporary fiction collections.
From Booklist
*Starred Review*
In a departure from Hornby's trio of recent best-sellers, which positioned him as a wise and funny spokesperson for the Modern Male, this new novel features a woman protagonist, and it is every bit as charming and effective. Katie Carr, mother of two, is a doctor in a small London practice; she thinks of herself as a good person—good, despite the affair she's been having, which is justified because her husband, David, is such a sourpuss. David is, in fact, professionally cynical. He writes a newspaper column called "The Angriest Man in Holloway," in which he shoots arrows at any popular subject he can think of. Into their fractured family comes GoodNews, a charismatic, multipierced Generation X-er who displays miraculous healing powers. Under GoodNews' tutelage, David reforms his ways to the extreme; he starts giving away material possessions, attempts to make reparations for decades-old wrongs, invites a homeless teenager to live in the spare bedroom—all to Katie's increasing alarm. What does it mean to be truly good, anyway? Breezy without being shallow, truth seeking (and, egad, spiritual) without being sentimental, Hornby's novel explores the theme of goodness with tremendous fun. The novel's final message seems to be the potentially deadly "There's no place like home," but Hornby succeeds, in large part because he's got the heart, the brain, and the courage to prove it quite convincingly.
From Library Journal
"I'm not a bad person. I'm a doctor," says Katie Carr, liberal 1990s North London mother of two. This is her hollow mantra, the only comfort that she can feign while her 20-year marriage to surly David falls to pieces. Just when she is about to be kicked out of the house after confessing to an affair, David returns from a visit with an ecstasy-dropping club kid-turned-faith healer named DJ GoodNews a changed man. For his third novel after the male-sympathetic High Fidelity and About a Boy, Hornby hasn't merely gotten in touch with his feminine side (though Katie's violent emotionalism, surgical introspection, and perverse romanticism are all on the mark); more importantly, via Katie he harrowingly portrays how ambivalence attacks the heart like a virus at mid-life. Nothing, not even her children, it seems, is completely deserving of Katie's love or her disgust. Readers will see themselves in all of Katie's flaws especially her selfishness. But fear not, old-school Hornby fans, for this departure is expertly tempered with flecks of humor and pop culture references. Essential for all contemporary fiction collections.
From Booklist
*Starred Review*
In a departure from Hornby's trio of recent best-sellers, which positioned him as a wise and funny spokesperson for the Modern Male, this new novel features a woman protagonist, and it is every bit as charming and effective. Katie Carr, mother of two, is a doctor in a small London practice; she thinks of herself as a good person—good, despite the affair she's been having, which is justified because her husband, David, is such a sourpuss. David is, in fact, professionally cynical. He writes a newspaper column called "The Angriest Man in Holloway," in which he shoots arrows at any popular subject he can think of. Into their fractured family comes GoodNews, a charismatic, multipierced Generation X-er who displays miraculous healing powers. Under GoodNews' tutelage, David reforms his ways to the extreme; he starts giving away material possessions, attempts to make reparations for decades-old wrongs, invites a homeless teenager to live in the spare bedroom—all to Katie's increasing alarm. What does it mean to be truly good, anyway? Breezy without being shallow, truth seeking (and, egad, spiritual) without being sentimental, Hornby's novel explores the theme of goodness with tremendous fun. The novel's final message seems to be the potentially deadly "There's no place like home," but Hornby succeeds, in large part because he's got the heart, the brain, and the courage to prove it quite convincingly.
Really funny -- I devoured this book in two days and immediately wanted to find The Polysyllabic Spree, the only Nick Hornby book I haven't read (other than My Favourite Year: A Collection of Football Writing, in which I'm not interested. I did read Fever Pitch, though, and liked it better than either movie.).
Mailed to Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA, through PaperbackSwap.Thanks for finding this book
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I just received this book in the mail today from editorgrrl, as a result of requesting it from paperbackswap.com. What a cool site this is! I'm really looking forward to reading this. My best friend has recommended several of Nick Hornby's books to me, but this will be the first one I've read.
"When I look at my sins (and if I think they are sins, then they are sins), I can see the appeal of born-again Christianity. I suspect that it's not the Christianity that is so alluring; it's the rebirth. Because who wouldn't wish to start all over again?"
Just finished this book a couple nights ago, and I must say, I was highly impressed. Like I said when I received the book, this was my first by Nick Hornby, and I was really drawn in by his writing style - the main character is witty and dry, yet heartfelt and honest. I began to see more of myself in her than I wanted to. I truly enjoyed this book, and it's in my nature to want to add it to my permanent collection and hoard it for myself, but just because it's a BC book, I would feel guilty not passing it on. So, with a sigh, I'll post it at PaperBackSwap.com and see how quickly it goes...
Just finished this book a couple nights ago, and I must say, I was highly impressed. Like I said when I received the book, this was my first by Nick Hornby, and I was really drawn in by his writing style - the main character is witty and dry, yet heartfelt and honest. I began to see more of myself in her than I wanted to. I truly enjoyed this book, and it's in my nature to want to add it to my permanent collection and hoard it for myself, but just because it's a BC book, I would feel guilty not passing it on. So, with a sigh, I'll post it at PaperBackSwap.com and see how quickly it goes...
Getting ready to ship to a fellow PaperBackSwap.com member in Boston. Enjoy!
