Nick Hornby

Roman

How to be good

Katie, a liberal, urban mother and doctor from North London, finds her life turned upside down when her husband, David, undergoes an outrageous spiritual transformation, in a hilarious novel about marriage, parenthood, religion, and morality. By the author of High Fidelity and About a Boy. Reprint.

How to be Good

Maui Santos

I wasn't keen on this book. I didn't relate to the characters, I have an idea that they are a married couple but it just didn't work for me.

How to be Good is Nick Hornby's hilarious bestselling novel on life, love and charity 'I am in a car park in Leeds when I tell my husband I don't want to be married to him any more. . . ' London GP Katie Carr always thought she was a good person. With her husband David making a living as 'The Angriest Man in Holloway', she figured she could put up with anything. Until, that is, David meets DJ Goodnews and becomes a good person too. A far-too-good person who starts committing crimes of charity like taking in the homeless and giving their kids' toys away. Suddenly Katie's feeling very bad about herself, and thinking that if charity begins at home, then maybe its time to move. . . This laugh-out-loud novel, from the bestselling author of About a Boy and High Fidelity, will have you gripped from start to finish and will appeal to fans of David Nicholls and Jonathan Coe, as well as readers in need of a moral compass everywhere. 'Pins you in your armchair ad won't let go . . . How to be Good? How to be bloody marvellous, more like' Mail on Sunday 'It does exactly what it says on the cover. Hornby's prose is artful and effortless, his spiky wit as razored as a number-two cut' Independent 'The writing is so funny, and the set-pieces so brilliant...Hornby's best book since Fever Pitch' Lynn Truss, The Times

It’s something and nothing at the same time. 

But that’s what’s good about it, it’s a seemingly relatable normal married life with troubles  that challenge the notion of who is good and goodness as a whole. 

It brushes the issue of manipulative morality and dealing with a partner making wrong decisions. 

It’s a very unique read. I didn’t know what to expect when I started, I liked it. 

Ilham Usman

It’s something and nothing at the same time. 

But that’s what’s good about it, it’s a seemingly relatable normal married life with troubles  that challenge the notion of who is good and goodness as a whole. 

It brushes the issue of manipulative morality and dealing with a partner making wrong decisions. 

It’s a very unique read. I didn’t know what to expect when I started, I liked it. 

Matthew Chasco

I found that I had to get through about 100 insufferable pages before it became anything worth reading. 
If you can weather a bitter married couple arguing (in British) or even find that sort of thing entertaining, this is your book.

According to her own complex moral calculations, Katie Carr has earned her affair. She's a doctor, after all, and doctors are decent people and on top of that, her husband David is the self-styled Angriest Man in Holloway. When David suddenly becomes good however, properly, maddeningly, give-away-all-his-money-good, Katie's sums no longer add up and she is forced to ask herself some very hard questions

Floor Wetzels

Did not like this book. The characters are very annoying and depressing. 

Katies Seitensprung ist eigentlich nicht das Problem, auch wenn sie ihrem Mann spontan einen Scheidungsantrag macht, der nicht angenommen wird. David, ein frustrierter unveröffentlichter Schriftsteller, hält das Banner der Familie hoch, zu deren Unterhalt er nur bescheiden mit giftigen Zeitungskolumnen beiträgt. Aber immerhin ist er ein recht ordentlicher Hausmann und ein eingespielter Ehepartner. Katies großes Problem ist DJ GoodNews. Der moraltriefende Heiler mit dem exotischen Augenbrauenpiercing und unbestreitbaren Heilerfolgen zieht zu Katie und David und krempelt die Familie um.

Gabe Cortez

Will Holland

Mitz

Martha F.

Eva Gonçalves 

Katie Carr is a good person. She recycles. She's against racism. She's a good doctor, a good mom, a good wife...well, maybe not that last one, considering she's having an affair and has just requested a divorce via cell phone. But who could blame her? For years her husband's been selfish, sarcastic, and underemployed, writing the "Angriest Man in Holloway" column for their local paper. 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. He's even got a homeless kid set up in the spare room. Katie isn't sure if this is a 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.

Lindsy Rice

Kemie G

Melissa Bragg 

According to her own complex moral calculations, Katie Carr has earned her affair. She's a doctor, after all, and doctors are decent people, and on top of that, her husband David is the self-styled Angriest Man in Holloway. But when David suddenly becomes good - properly, maddeningly, give-away-all-his-money good - Katie's sums no longer add up, and she is forced to ask herself some very hard questions. Nick Hornby's brilliant new novel, a No. 1 bestseller in the UK and Ireland, offers a painfully funny account of modern marriage and parenthood, and asks that most difficult of questions: what does it mean to be good?

How to be good Roman

Reviews