Review: How To Be Good By: Nick Hornby

How to Be Good by Nick Hornby
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Katie Carr thought her life was okay, that despite her flaws, she was a good person - yes, she didn't spend quite enough time with her children - yes, she found her husband distasteful and asked for a divorce - yes, she had an affair -- but she was a doctor, she provided the money for the house, she did good, didn't she?
Katie's husband David has undergone some kind of religious conversion, moved his guru into their home, has become the world's kindest calmest man from being the world's angriest, and finds he has plans to save the homeless beginning with them living in their spare room. Just as she watches the competition between her daughter to be good, to do good, better than her son - just as everything she question's about how she does as a person, Katie wonders just what does it take to be good.
Laughter and insight are found within the pages of this book, the crisis and building, the questions of life and love that can only be answered by the individual. Written in Katie's voice, a wonderful internal battle ensues that the reader is privy to - afterall she is a good person, she is a doctor. Sometimes this book was hard to read, too raw, too real in the demise, in the relationships, but isn't that what the author does best... make us think, deliver us, and have us pondering long after the last page --- that's what makes you coming back for more.

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