Hornby, Nick – How to be Good
Yet another one bought during visit to Briony’s in March (the sportsbag she lent me to bring my books home ended up weighing in at 20KG.)
Obviously, I’ve read it before.
It works well on a second reading.
The final line is so brave… I can imagine the writer spending hours, days, if not weeks, pondering over that finish.
“Is that how I do it?” He must have asked himself.
Yes Mate. That’s the only way to do it. That’s the only way it works.
In a way, this is an upsetting novel (I think that the author intended that) as the reader realises that the writer has ‘Oh, my God… Grown Up.’
The reason that this is upsetting is that we have either (A) Grown Up with The Author or (B) Not Grown Up At All.
I’m not sure which is worse.
All the best
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