How to Be Good - Nick Hornby

...more of a say about how her salary was spent? Hornby plots this nicely, by giving David an opportunity to be very forgiving about Katie's affair - depriving her of the chance to really get mad at him, and his increasing smugness. Not fair, I cried! If it was my bloke giving away my kids toys I would tell him to shape up or ship out - as would most women I suspect. The plot counts for little in this book - there's not much of it, and what there is ...
...interactions. Family life, middle class relationships, popular culture in Britain in the noughties - it's all here for us to think and ponder over. And we may all ask ourselves - are we *good* people? And who gets to define what that is anyway? It's thought provoking stuff. Hornby's trademark is his constant references to popular culture - and here they fly thick and fast. Everything from Posh 'n Becks and Ali G through to Tracy Emin and the cast ...

ShoppingGirl 27.01.2003 · Read full review
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Review of How to Be Good - Nick Hornby

...with all things Arsenal and how that obsession impacts upon basic human relationships. In How to be Good he is once again on the subject of relationships however this time the story is told from the female point of view. I always imagine it must be a bit harder for a writer when they write from the perspective of the opposite gender however in this book Hornby makes a pretty good job of it, having said that as I'm male maybe he is just confirming ...
...book is about relationships and how people sometimes just accept the life they lead without really questioning it. It is not meant to be a feel good book, there is a lot of friction within the book however there are also some very funny lines as well which is one of the strengths of Hornby writing, the ability to capture the self defacing humour of the British. The main character Katie goes through a huge amount of soul searching in the book and ...

atticusuk 08.04.2007 · Read full review
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Review of How to Be Good - Nick Hornby

...Boy, and the parts of How To Be Good that I’d read novelized in the Times had been fantastic. Plus, this was the paperback version. But, it wasn’t the mainstream paperback version. It was a limited edition £9.99 version which, in my book, is almost as bad as a hardback. Hardbacks aren’t me – they look funny on the shelf for a start – and this version, although softback, was also big. Too big. So, with a heavy heart, ...
...me, there’s no comparison. ********* How To Be Good Published by Penguin ISBN 0 140 28701 9 £6.99 rrp (but you'd be mad to pay that) ~13 x 20 cm – just the right size :p ...

zoe_page 18.05.2002 · Read full review
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Review of How to Be Good - Nick Hornby

...a couple of days – how wrong I was, its less than 48 hours since I started the book – and well, I just finished it. Now don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying I have a dislike of Nick Hornby, in fact if I was being honest I’d say that theres only 3 authors that I’d buy a book by solely because they’re involved in it – and Nick Hornby comes way above Stephen King and Alex Garland any day. For you ...
...book by how long it takes me to read it, the longer it takes me the more dull it is to me – and How to be Good broke my record reading time by a whole 2 days, so it has to be, well, errr, good doesn’t it? So first things first a little bit about the story-line – the biggest selling point of this title was that Nicks done this one from the female point of view rather than the male and well, to be honest, it’s a classic Hornby ...

Angelus 14.04.2002 · Read full review
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Review of How to Be Good - Nick Hornby

...that I have no idea how to be good. ‘Behave’ was a term I was incredibly comfortable with by the age of, I dunno, bout three months. If there was ever trouble, guaranteed it was my sticky paw to blame. I thought I was cute; I called it ‘mischievous with a smile’. My mum thought I was ‘brat like’. Looking back she was probably right… Anyways… I’m sure if I’d had Nick Hornby’s latest ...
...humane struggle with it and how bloody difficult it actually is to attain along with ones sanity. ‘How to be Good’ is a smashing book, the fourth of a smashing, eh, foursome from Mr Nick. Smashing smashing smashing! And that’s all I’ve gotta say about that!!! Only playing…. Like I’ve EVER written a review under 6980 words. .parp! Well here goes… Nick Hornby has been one of my favourite authors for quite ...

Daysleeper 29.05.2002 · Read full review
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Review of How to Be Good - Nick Hornby

How to be Good by Nick Hornby was described as “Hilarious, sophisticated and compulsive” by The Sunday Times and was thrust upon me by the wife after I complained of being bored on the tube to and from work. She gave me a choice of two books, but How to be Good won as I had rather enjoyed Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch and although it had remarkably sad undertones, was in parts a very funny book. The book follows the life of Dr Katie Carr, mother to ...
...read her expressions and knows how to make her tick. Out of spite, rather than attending a doctor when he is laid up with back pain he visits a faith healer called GoodNews who pushes David onto a path of enlightenment. Unfortunately for Katie, David wants to drag her along with him and so the story continues with conflicts with the in-laws, taking in the homeless and David’s plan for everyone to give away their earnings to feed the world! At 244 ...

Badger_Boy 01.02.2005 · Read full review
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Review of How to Be Good - Nick Hornby

Considering I have a bit of an aversion to hardback books (no room in my already jam packed handbag) I’ve been anxiously waiting for this book to come out in paperback so that I can add it to my much loved Nick Hornby collection. However I noticed the book in my local library a few days ago and couldn’t hold out any longer. I grabbed it possessively, in case there was a sudden stampede to snatch it from the shelf, and made my way to the ...
...I won’t blame you if you haven’t) you will have noticed that this exciting event took place a few days ago and I am already writing my review. No massive deduction (unless I am writing this without having read the thing – very naughty!) to conclude that I finished this book within a few days. A good sign you might think – must be a compulsive read! And well yes, it was a good read – I certainly hurtled through it at ...

marwood 20.09.2001 · Read full review
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Review of How to Be Good - Nick Hornby

...It is a reflection of how much I enjoyed this book that I overcame my initial disgust and could not leave this out of my hands for 2 days! Katie Carr is a doctor, a wife, a mother. She is married to David - the "Angriest Man in Holloway" according to the header on his weekly newspaper column, and they have 2 children, Tom and Molly. Katie is, as she describes herself, a good person. Katie is having an affair. During one particularly stressful phone ...
...that she no longer knows how to react to the situation, the world has shifted and she has no experience on how to handle it. It never fails to amaze me how men can write books from a female viewpoint and vice versa. I have grown up with a father and a brother, I have been with my fiance for 7 years, and I have many male colleagues. However, if you asked me to sit down and write an essay from a man's point of view I'd find it very difficult not to ...

free4susan 03.11.2002 · Read full review
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Review of How to Be Good - Nick Hornby

...the homelss and teach everyone how to live better lives. David gives away his son's computer, invites a homeless lad called Monkey to live with them and encourages his children to bring home children they really don't like as some weird form of pennance. Throughout this, Katie remains sceptical, powerless to stop what is happening in her home, and disgusted by her husbands smug, self satisfied attitude to his new found enlightenment. DJ GoodNews ...
...my theory anyway. How well does Hornby create a female voice? Interesting question. I was fine with Katie - but I'm not the most femenine of women and if I was writing about myself, I probably wouldn't mention my appearance much or be all that comfortable talking about sex. There are women like Katie on that score. She's burned out emotionally, worldly weary and cynical - I can recognise that too. The great gender divide is nothing like as big as ...

Bryn_Pearson 23.10.2001 · Read full review
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Review of How to Be Good - Nick Hornby

...to read Nick Hornby’s latest, How To Be Good. A tale of marital disillusionment that results in a hilarious reassessment of the central relationship in the book between Katie and her husband David. The story is told through the eyes of Katie and much has been written about whether Hornby has captured the female psyche convincingly. I think he does carry it off but I found myself concentrating on this rather than the story when I started reading, ...
...makes them good people and how far a person should go to attain goodness. Katie having considered herself always to have been a good and genuine person (she’s a doctor isn’t she?), finds herself, by way of a reaction to her husband’s over the top ‘goodness’, saying and doing things she wouldn’t have before and hating herself for it. The other aspect of Hornby’s writing that I love are the children in his ...

Gaia 02.10.2001 · Read full review
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Review of How to Be Good - Nick Hornby

...back problem and is shown how angry and unhappy he is. So he decides he wants to do good. He offers the healer a home and plans to get everyone in their street to foster a homeless kid. Kate has to cope with his changes and schemes and reflections on her own goodness. The story nose dives here. The schemes and the characters reactions to them seemed a bit far fetched and unrealistic at times. At one point Kate moves into a flat round the corner ...
...so the kids won't find out - wouldn't fool most kids I know. I found it difficult to associate with the characters any longer. Not that much happens in the second half and I found it a bit boring. It's not predictable though. ~~ the characters ~~ He's written some very complex characters for Kate and her husband. I thought Kate was very well written, especially in the first half of the book. I could identify with her thoughts and emotions. He highlights ...

filmlover 13.02.2006 · Read full review
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Review of How to Be Good - Nick Hornby

...both in one sitting. When How To Be Good came out, I restrained myself until last summer, when I was browsing through WH Smith at Gatwick airport while waiting for a flight to Turkey, and I gave in. Learning about "How To Be Good" was too much of a temptation... Reading the blurb on the back, the book promises to be an interesting read. It deals with Katie Carr, a doctor, and her family. She has just had an affair, and is contemplating divorcing ...
...asks the question of just how well someone this good would get on in today's world, and Hornby makes a very good attempt at showing us. Giving away his children's toys, and inviting his doctor wife's most bizarre patient (Barmy Brian) round for a Sunday roast ensue, along with planning to redistribute the riches of the wealthy... Hornby's choice of characters is varied, and, once again, amazing. The story centres around Katie, a doctor torturing ...

emmorticia 10.12.2002 · Read full review
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Review of How to Be Good - Nick Hornby

...thinks 'no that is not how the real world works' She finds her husband smug, sanctimonious, and humourless she misses his once complicated mind. Molly is a daddy's girl who sees the new status quo as a chance to bond with her dad. Katie is beginning to guiltily think her daughter is turning into a prig. Whilst their strange domestic set up is leading Tom to misbehave at school. She fears that her children will be turned into weirdos by their father's ...
...homeless, because I could imagine how I would cringe if my other half decided to preach to the neighbours about helping the homeless. This book raises some complex questions about what it means to be good. David and Goodnews want people to give a lot of their income away to help the poor, and this sound good as do a lot of their ideas to help the homeless. Katie is quite ambivalent about a lot of what they say she believes it at one level, but on ...

ricci 08.01.2004 · Read full review
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Review of How to Be Good - Nick Hornby

Having first been introduced to Nick Hornby's work with 'Fever Pitch' and then undoubtedly his best work - 'About a Boy' I bought his latest novel without hesitation. Foe Nick Hornby combines a brilliant array of ingredients to produce some of the funniest, wittiest, touching and clever stories amongst modern writers today. His ideas are always originall, often simple - but it is the way he manipulates his charcters and explores his storylines which ...
...as you have probably gathered I am a bit of a fan! So I guess I have a somehat biased opinion of this book - although I would have to admit it's not quite as good as 'About a Boy' - a must read none the less. So on with the book itself..... STORY: The story is narrated by Katie, a middle-aged GP, wife and mother of 2. She is married to David who is "the angriest man in Holloway". The central storyline deals with Katie trying to come to terms with ...

claire1 14.07.2002 · Read full review
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Review of How to Be Good - Nick Hornby

I wrote this review for my college magazine so its not in a huge amount of detail as I dont like to give away to much of the story, i think it spoils it for anyone else. Author of the well known "About A Boy" Nick Hornby has done it again with his new book "How To Be Good" it's an "exactly what it says on the tin" type of book. This book is whitty and incredable well written considering he is writing from a woman's peerspective. The topic is clear ...
...nobody else has written about. Dr Katie Carr lives with her two children and "The Angriest Man in Holloway" better known as David, her husband, the journalist of the angry man column. Who hates everything from OAPs on buses to nights at the opera. But one day it all changes, David becomes a "good person" after meeting DJ Goodnews, a Spiritual Healer and do-gooder. But together they become unbearable, and too good, giving away everything they own, ...

daisymay_chantele 30.03.2005 · Read full review
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Review of How to Be Good - Nick Hornby