READ IT AND WEEP!! (How to be good - Nick Hornby)

Member Name: Gingaro

Product:	How to be good - Nick Hornby
Date:	05/07/05 (138 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: An interesting subject for a male author to tackle

Disadvantages: Poor plot, the story just ends and leaves the reader wondering is that it

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 Tom and Molly and the long suffering (in her eyes) wife of many years of David described in his newspaper column as the "Angriest Man in Holloway." Not only is Katie desperately unhappy in her marriage, he truly believes that divorce is the answer, embarks upon an affair and then……..

I can’t really leave the plot there can I? It doesn’t sound interesting at all. After asking for a divorce Katie begins to realise that being single again, telling her children she is leaving them and setting off on a new life simply isn’t going to be as she had fantasised and decides to have another go at working things out with her points scoring husband.

Her husband David, “The Angriest Man in Holloway” knows Katie inside and out, can manipulate her without even thinking about it, can 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 pages this is not a particularly long book and I actually managed to read it in around 10 hours but the one thing that struck me as I read and read was that it all seemed so repetitive. David would do something to make himself feel good and in turn make the world a better place and then Katie would ramble on about how empty she always felt. As the book is from the female perspective and written by a male, I just get the impression he didn’t know how to feel or empathise with his main character. Don’t get me wrong, this is a fabulous piece of writing, it kept me hooked and I wanted to know what scheme David would think up next, and how they sorted out, if indeed they did sort out their marital problems, but it just lacked any sort of cutting direction that made me think “WOW” and I found myself only laughing at most 5 times during reading.

Throughout the book the characters aren’t developed further than brief overviews and then it is left up to the reader whether you like, hate or empathise with Katie, David and the family. Personally, I empathised with David prior to his enlightenment. He was funny, sarcastic and an all round decent kind of guy.

After reaching the end I found myself saying out loud “Is that it.” I get the impression that Hornby just couldn’t be arsed by the time he reached the end and decided to call it a day. I wish he hadn’t, this could have been so much more. I’m disappointed and feel robbed. Can I have 10 hours of my life back please?

NOT RECOMMENDED

ISBN 0-140-28701-9
£6.99
Published by Penguin Fiction

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Summary: Avoid like the plague.........