|
| How to Be Good | 
 enlarge | Author: Nick Hornby
Publisher: Penguin
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
Buy Used: £0.01
You Save: £7.98 (100%)
New (33) Collectible (7) from £0.01
Avg. Customer Rating:  126 reviews
Sales Rank: 12659
Media: Paperback
Edition: New Ed
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 0.9
ISBN: 0140287019
UPC: 000140287019
EAN: 9780140287011
ASIN: 0140287019
Publication Date: May 5, 2005
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: DESPATCHED FROM UK, BOOKS SHIPPED DAILY.
|
| Customer Reviews:
 The most pointless book I have ever read. December 10, 2007
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
This novel just didn't work. The central premise is off, and that means the entire rest of the novel - no matter how well-crafted - just does not gel. It's unbelievable in a bad way. I read on until the bitter end, and wish I hadn't.
Dismal attempt by a previously excellent author. December 5, 2007
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
Hornby's prior novels were excellent, but this one is a bad premise, badly executed. Read his work prior to this but do not waste your time with this one. Terrible.
 Hornby gets better and better August 28, 2007
3 out of 18 found this review helpful
I didn't much enjoy Nick Hornby's first couple of books. This one I thought was superb (and also "A Long Way Down"). I found the characters very believable though exaggerated and I loved his writing style. Katie is the GP who I thought laboured a little too hard over the whole "I'm a doctor, therefore I must be good" thing but I loved her response to the changes in her husband David and his attempts to genuinely do some good. I thought the descriptions of how they both felt were both funny and full of pathos and I thought the descriptions of their marriage were very true to life. Someone else has described this as full of middle-class angst - well if that's true then my life is also full of middle-class angst. I frequently struggle with the question of whether I'm doing enough and whether I am going to look back at the end of my life with regret that I haven't helped more or done more or given more. I'd highly recommend this to anyone.
A bit of a slog June 18, 2007
18 out of 20 found this review helpful
Blimey, that was hard work. Having previously read the excellent "Fever Pitch", the good "High Fidelity" and the okay "About a Boy", I though "It's a Hornby, It should be an enjoyable easy read". However, "How to be Good" is a trite tale of middle class angst, set in increasingly gentrified inner London. The characters are 2 dimensional and unlikeable to the extent that it is neither possible to sympathise nor empathise. My advice? Avoid it.
 A great read May 17, 2007
2 out of 18 found this review helpful
I have read this book several times and always enjoy it - it is very readable. I love the idea of the grumpy columnist being guided by 'Good News' (who is the character I liked least), and trying to convince all the neighbours to let homeless people sleep in their spare rooms and cooking a family roast and then serving up to the homeless! His doctor wife, Katie, finds it all so despairing that she moves out every nignt and is back for breakfast each morning. The funniest bits are when Katie starts to hate her own kids because they have become so unbearably smug. It is a very funny book!
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
