How to be Good isn't Nick Hornby's most famous novel, and I don't think it's his best. But what the book lacks in persuasive storytelling it makes up with necessary and uncomfortable questions. The plot centers on marriage and family; Katie is a doctor with a curmudgeonly husband who spends his life complaining and writing a weekly column called "the angriest man in Holloway." Katie wants to be good, but it doesn't come naturally. She finds she has to force herself to be nice to her patients, and she jumps into an extramarital affair with little regret. Meanwhile her husband David encounters DJ Goodnews, a sort of 21st century shaman, who transforms his worldview. David is overcome with goodness and decides to actually live out his beliefs. He gives $80 to a man he has never seen before, takes his daughter's laptop to a women's shelter, and convinces three neighbors to allow homeless people to move into their spare bedrooms. Katie is so disconcerted by David's new saintly lifestyle, she sneaks out at night to sleep in a friend's empty apartment.
What does it mean to be "liberal" in today's world? If you buy produce from the farmer's market, drive a hybrid car, and have an anti-war bumper sticker, is that "good" enough? What does it mean to truly live in a selfless manner? I think Hornby is right to point out the hypocrisy of white middle-class liberalism. I'm reminded of this every time I walk into Whole Foods, where the wealthy customers are buying their fancy organic this-and-that from mostly African American and Latino low-wage employees. There's something wrong with this picture.
