Synopsis
In his fourth novel, Nick Hornby writes about a doctor named Katie Carr whose difficult husband, David, known as the "Angriest Man in Holloway," writes a newspaper column. Katie has had enough. But then David falls into the hands of a do-gooder mystic and becomes, suddenly, a caring, earnest person--and Katie begins to question her own life. HOW TO BE GOOD was a New York Times Notable Book for 2001.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 2004-04-09 | | Narrated by: | Frances Barber |
Publisher's Note
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.
Industry Reviews
"It's not just that [Hornby] makes us laugh....It is that Hornby has an undisguisedly hopeful soul. There is scarcely a character here...towards whom we are not made to feel a pang of human empathy....Beneath his mantle of gloomy cool, Nick Hornby is still a softie, happily."
Times Literary Supplement - Candice Rodd (05/25/2001)
"[I]n the end, this oddly retro novel is hamstrung by the unequal contest between Katie and GoodNews, and by Katie's monotonous hand-wringing. HIGH FIDELITY and FEVER PITCH grabbed the reader by the lapels because the narrators...were true originals. Katie Carr, Hornby's marionette in HOW TO BE GOOD, is a far less entertaining M.C. She is the kind of intelligent, practical woman who builds first-class societies but second-rate novels."
New York Times Book Review - Joe Queenan (07/01/2001)
"[Hornby] has a wonderful sense of the comic value of rage....Despite some great moments of brutal, over-the-top comedy, there's a tenderness that runs through this novel-an anguished concern about the calamity of moral desire in a world whose needs exceed everything we can give it. What's most troubling, though, is the story's implication that the struggle to be always good is somehow incompatible with intelligence or even a sense of humor. The stark choice here is between ignorance of the world or tyrannical idealism."
Christian Science Monitor - Ron Charles (07/05/2001)
"[A] cosy, knowing, very readable satire....But don't expect any particularly penetrating or challenging conclusions--let alone, as the title seems to promise, an instruction manual for the virtuous."
Literary Review - Samuel Leith (05/20/2001)
| See an error? Submit a change request |
All rights reserved.
