How to be Good

by Nick Hornby

To describe a novel as ‘sparkling with irony’ may seem a little oxymoronic, because one doesn’t think of irony of something which sparkles. Irony droops; irony is lethargic and sometimes mocking; irony is often funny but it is not sparkly. And yet, ‘How to be Good’ positively twinkles with satire. In an utterly plausible twist of real meets surreal, Hornby tells the story of Katie Carr & her family as they strive and struggle to be, as the title suggests, Good People. To label the book as ‘thought provoking’ would actually be an insult: because its charm lies in the honest way in which it depicts the thoughts and feelings common to so many people of a certain background and generation. While it is about how to treat other people, it seems that the ultimate (and bittersweet) moral of the story is to be kind to oneself. However, the main reason I urge you (even if you don’t like reading) to read 'How to be Good' is that its profoundness and poignancy is punctuated on every page with dry and hilarious, laugh-out-loud(-on-the-tube) witticisms, insights and humour.