Hornby examines her real struggle, wanting to pay back to society, wanting to help the less fortunate, but also needing to provide for her own family. Wife, who considers herself a “good person” and can talk the talk, is sorely tested with walking the walk. GoodNews wants them to give away their possessions, give to charities, invite homeless people to come live with them, etc. Wife wonders if they can make the marriage work after all.Īnd that’s where the meat and potatoes are served up. Husband actually tries to be a better person, making some real changes. First of all, GoodNews heals the husband’s back problems as well as some other ailments. Then the husband meets a faith healer - DJ GoodNews - and all hell breaks loose. She worries what this will do to their two young children and her internal monologues comprise most of the body of the text. She and her husband, kind of an underemployed angry crank, may be going through a divorce. Hornby describes a family in London where a wife, mother and doctor is having some serious marital problems.

When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.” “Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me. While reading I thought of the Biblical quote from Matthew 19:21-22. Read the reviews on this and we can all decide that this has inspired strong emotions, many people love it and it seems an equal number of readers have rang it up with one and two stars. I also like music and sports and his take on relationships is also something to behold.

Nick Hornby is a favorite and after this experience I may go ahead and read all of his books, I’ve liked every book of his that I have read.

I started this in the morning and could not put it down. Really enjoyed this tongue-in-cheek read, as much for the questions it asks of us all. What happens when you're the solo breadwinner, housekeeper and child-rearer, but you're husband 'sees the light' and gives away family possessions, houses the homeless and seeks to do real good, and suddenly despite you bearing all the weight of the family, he claims the moral high ground? What ensues is a darkly funny and at times spot-on albeit infuriating look at the self proclaimed liberal elite. When David meets a faith healer DJ GoodNews (yup, that's his name!), Katie and their two children are not prepared for the huge impact a 'reborn' husband and father who want 'to do real good' will have on their lives.Īnother modern Western world gem from Hornby but this time from a female perspective. London based doctor Katie Carr is kind of always pissed off with her politically Left leaning husband, David who is so angry with the world all the time he even has a 'Mr Angry' column in the local newspaper.

Hornby how to be good