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Dec 07, 2013CPL_Laura rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
How does one go about being a good person? Nick Hornby hilariously addresses that question when David, a formerly cynical newspaper columnist morphs into an excessively altruistic do-gooder, whose new lifestyle alienates his wife and daughter. Narrated by the wife, who likes to think that since she's a doctor, she's a good person, How to Be Good starts off a bit slow, but really takes off when DJ GoodNews enters the picture. A self-professed healer, GoodNews appears to remove David's back pain, and then convinces him to transform his life. David's children are angry when he tells them to give away some of their toys, and his wife is appalled when he wants to open their home to the homeless. Can a marriage survive such goodness? Or will David totally alienate everyone his life, as DJ Goodnews has already done in his own? How to Be Good is amusing and also addresses serious questions. (Just be patient with the first 50 pages or so, as it doesn’t really hit its stride until DJ GoodNews shows up.) A great book discussion title. Read-Alike: Hornby's American counterpart is Tom Perrotta.