How to be good, according to Nick Hornby

You wake up the next morning and your hair is a mess. Your brain starts to pound within your head, and to wave your hand to say a simple hello to your friends is excruciating. These are the consequences of staying up past midnight, just to read a book that you can’t put down just yet. I don’t usually read past midnight, probably because reading before bedtime would just make me doze off. But just recently I suffered these symptoms one morning because the night before I was led into the world of plain insanity, madness, total transformation, and extreme humor. The world of Nick Hornby’s How To Be Good.

It‘s a catchy title. It takes up most of the front cover wherein right under, written in a tiny font it says "a novel." While right on top of the title in bold letters, the author: Nick Hornby, author of About A Boy and High Fidelity. Why am I mentioning all these? Because you probably wouldn’t read the book based on what it’s called. If you saw someone reading it, or you saw the book in the library or something, you’d probably think it contained tips on how to get friends, or share, or simply how to be good. But actually, it’s not. Where Nick Hornby got the title from and what it has to do with the story at all will be mentioned somewhere in the book. It’s the story of thirtysomething Katie Carr, good in every way, with everything she needs. She has a family, a good job (as a doctor), a best friend (Becca), and a husband, David, who writes a column entitled "The Angriest Man in Holloway." David is bitter, sarcastic, and, well, angry. Since their wedding 20 plus years ago, he’s grown a little overweight, and grumpier. Because of David, Katie is led into wanting an "almost divorce" marriage and an affair. But then everything changes. Well, not really everything, more of, David. He becomes the opposite. He gets a new guru friend and he starts doing things like sending homeless people to homes, feeding homeless people at public parks, and donating a computer to a foundation of women who get beaten up. Total transformation. Basically, that’s all that’s happening within the book. With Katie telling the story. It’s 305 pages inside the mind of Katie Carr.

I should say Nick did a great job standing inside the shoes of a woman, throughout the 305 pages of the book. It would have to be something like Robert Redford wearing Anne Taylor’s red high heels. Believe me, it’s very funny.

The book is a classic comedy with a touch of heart. It’s not all touchy-feely. But neither is it all comedy.

It’s a simple story, with a simple plot, and you don’t have to "be" anything to admire it. I’m 13, and I loved it. You don’t have to be thirtysomething, bitter, a doctor, or a mom. Anyone qualifies. You just have to enjoy yourself. Because the novel itself is enjoyable. There’s nothing deep that only a literature writer would understand, and nothing too shallow that only a sensitive person would shed tears at. It’s a simple story. And if you probably changed a couple of words, or a couple of characters, it would probably end up as Sweet Valley series. Like I said, it’s a simple story. But with a touch of Nick Hornby, then the story becomes all-around special. You’re going to have to admit that there aren’t many books with insane characters, nervous breakdowns and depression that can still hold the essence of something called humor. Any woman from 12 to 70 years would definitely enjoy the book. I’m not saying it’s all that, but the story has a little of something almost anybody could relate to.

Actually the funny thing is I don’t even have the book. And I had absolutely nothing to do with it until one day it hit me that I needed to read something funny...something that would just sort of lift my spirits. After reading Girl Interrupted by Susana Kaysen, and The Catcher In the Rye by J. D. Salinger, it hit me that I’ve been reading "depressing" books lately, and I just felt a bit...depressed. Of course I’d have to send lots of thanks to Amanda, for lending me the book and warning me right before it slipped off her hands that I was going to love it. Maybe I’m over-exaggerating about everything. If you happen to read it and you think it’s boring, dragging and not funny at all, I suggest you re-read the book, because as much as I exaggerate about it being the best, I’m not wrong when I say it’s funny. I’m not crazy. Exaggerating maybe, but not crazy. I know what’s good, what’s not, vanilla or chocolate, Satan or the angel, Brad Pitt or James Dean. And How To Be Good is just...good.