Look inside

How to be Good

3.2(58)
Language
English
Available nowFree shipping
Buy Now

About the book

Product Description

A wise and hilarious novel from the bestselling author of Funny Girl, High Fidelity, and About a Boy.

A brutally truthful, compassionate novel about the heart, mind, and soul of a woman who, confronted by her husband’s sudden and extreme spiritual conversion, is forced to learn “how to be good”—whatever that means, and for better or worse…

Katie Carr is a good person…sort of. For years her husband’s been selfish, sarcastic, and underemployed.

But now David’s changed. He’s become a good person, too—really good. He’s found a spiritual leader. He has become kind, soft-spoken, and earnest. Katie isn’t sure if this is deeply felt conversion, a brain tumor—or David’s most brilliantly vicious manipulation yet. Because she’s finding it more and more difficult to live with David—and with herself.

Amazon.com Review

In Nick Hornby's How to Be Good, Katie Carr is certainly trying to be. That's why she became a GP. That's why she cares about Third World debt and homelessness, and struggles to raise her children with a conscience. It's also why she puts up with her husband David, the self-styled Angriest Man in Holloway. But one fateful day, she finds herself in a Leeds parking lot, having just slept with another man. What Katie doesn't yet realize is that her fall from grace is just the first step on a spiritual journey more torturous than the interstate at rush hour. Because, prompted by his wife's actions, David is about to stop being angry. He's about to become good--not politically correct, organic-food-eating good, but good in the fashion of the Gospels. And that's no easier in modern-day Holloway than it was in ancient Israel.
Hornby means us to take his title literally: How can we be good, and what does that mean? However, quite apart from demanding that his readers scrub their souls with the nearest available Brillo pad, he also mesmerizes us with that cocktail of wit and compassion that has become his trademark. The result is a multifaceted jewel of a book: a hilarious romp, a painstaking dissection of middle-class mores, and a powerfully sympathetic portrait of a marriage in its death throes. It's hard to know whether to laugh or cry as we watch David forcing his kids to give away their computers, drawing up schemes for the mass redistribution of wealth, and inviting his wife's most desolate patients round for a Sunday roast. But that's because How to Be Good manages to be both brutally truthful and full of hope. It won't outsell the Bible, but it's a lot funnier. --Matthew Baylis

From Publishers Weekly

Kate, a doctor, wife and mother, is in the midst of a difficult decision: whether to leave or stay with her bitter, sarcastic husband David (who proudly writes a local newspaper column called "The Angriest Man in Holloway"). The long-term marriage has gone stale, but is it worth uprooting the children and the comfortable lifestyle? Then David meets a faith healer called Dr. Goodnews, and suddenly converts to an idealistic do-gooder: donating the children's computer to an orphanage, giving away the family's Sunday dinner to homeless people and inviting runaways to stay in the guest room (and convincing the neighbors to do likewise). Barber gives an outstanding performance as Kate, humorously conveying her mounting irritation at having her money and belongings donated to strangers, her guilt at not feeling more generous and her hilarious desire for revenge. Barber brilliantly portrays each eccentric character: hippie-ish Goodnews, crusading David, petulant children and, poignantly, the hesitant, halting Barmy Brian, a mentally deficient patient of Kate's who needs looking after. Barber's stellar performance turns a worthy novel into a must-listen event. Simultaneous release with Riverhead hardcover (Forecasts, June 25).
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Frances Barber is perfect as the voice of Katie Carr, a North London doctor and mother of two in the midst of a mid

Editions (11)

ISBN9780670888870
PublisherVIKING
Publication Date12/31/01
Pages288

Reviews & Ratings

58 ratings

8 reviews

3.2

Tap to filter

  • 2.0

    📙 How to be good von Nick Hornby Normalerweise sind Nick Hornbys Romane geprägt von sarkastischem Humor, lebendigen sympathischen Figuren und der subtilen Auseinandersetzung mit ernsten Themen. Ich liebe About a Boy und auch High Fidelity und soweit mein Gedächtnis mich nicht im Stich lässt, ist auch A Long Way Down sehr lesenswert. Aber das hier war (für mich) leider so gar nichts… Katie fühlt sich zunehmend unglücklich in ihrer Ehe und ist kurz davor, sich von ihrem Mann David zu trennen – einem dauernörgelnden zynischen Mann, der an niemandem ein gutes Haar lässt. Als ein Geistheiler all seinen Zorn verschwinden lässt und zu allem Überfluss bei ihnen einzieht, verändert sich David radikal: ab sofort möchte er ein guter und selbstloser Mensch sein, was das Familienleben auf den Kopf stellt. Als Ärztin hält Katie sich eigentlich für einen moralisch handelnden Menschen, doch Davids Veränderungen zwingen sie, sich und ihr Handeln mehr und mehr zu hinterfragen und sich der Frage zu widmen, was „gut sein“ eigentlich genau bedeutet. Die Fragestellung des Romans könnte an sich spannend sein, verliert sich aber in sich im Kreis drehenden inneren Monologen von Katie und einer Reihe von absurden und oberflächlich bleibenden Situationen ohne emotionale Tiefe. Die Charaktere bleiben durchweg nicht besonders sympathisch und wenig nahbar, sodass man weder mitfühlt, noch besonders daran interessiert ist, wie ihre Geschichte endet. Humor ist auch in diesem Roman vorhanden, er zündet jedoch größtenteils nicht und wirkt eher gezwungen. Obwohl gewollt, um den Zustand ihrer Ehe zu verdeutlichen, fand ich die Atmosphäre, die zwischen Katie und David zu Beginn herrscht, nur schwer zu ertragen – so viel Wut, Missgunst, Abwertungen und verletzende Worte. Ich vergebe wohlwollende ⭐⭐/5 für die Grundidee des Romans und den typisch flüssigen und zugänglichen Schreibstil von Nick Hornby.

    Apr 26, 2026

  • laraluee
    laraluee

    6 Followers

    4.0

    Had me lol many times

    7 days ago

  • julia_bhrmnn
    julia_bhrmnn

    156 Followers

    2.0

    No, not good. Jedenfalls mocht ICH es nicht so richtig. Die Ich-Erzählerin war mir so unsympathisch, aber auch die Geschichte als solches war nicht meins.

    Feb 8, 2023

3 of 8 reviews

Reading is better with the READO app.

Discover books, track progress, read together.

Library

Keep track