A guy's guy, from a woman's perspective

Nick Hornby: A 'Good' writer

From David Daniel
Special to CNN

BEVERLY HILLS, California -- Based on his books, British novelist Nick Hornby would seem to be a modern guy's guy.

His first two novels, "High Fidelity" and "About a Boy," earned him the title "the maestro of the male confessional" from The New York Times. They also earned him notice from Hollywood: "High Fidelity" was made into a well-received film with John Cusack, and "About a Boy," with Hugh Grant, is in post-production and awaiting release.

However, with his new novel, "How to Be Good," Hornby has decided to look at the world from a female point of view.

The book concerns Kate, an unhappily married doctor ready to leave her husband David, a curmudgeonly free-lance columnist. Kate has had an affair; David spends his time in their comfortable London home, railing against the world in print.

Then, one day, David meets a self-styled guru named DJ GoodNews and decides to turn his life around by doing good works. Though David's new-found happiness would seem just what Kate is looking for, it ends up making her life even more miserable.

'The next stop on the train line'

For a writer whose male characters have been poster children for commitment-phobic guys, Kate may seem quite a departure. But Hornby, 44, doesn't see it that way.

"This book doesn't feel to me like a departure, it feels like the next stop on the train line," he says, taking a break from a reading at a Beverly Hills bookstore.

"I'm really writing here about one relationship ... then, it's about the differences between the two people. And that's what makes relationships crumble in the end, is the differences between two people," he continues.

"But I also decided that it was a lot of phooey, all the stuff that I wrote before about the differences -- partly because of the response of women to the books. When women start coming up and say '"High Fidelity" is about me,' I think, 'Well, I don't know anything.' They're books about people. They're not books about men necessarily."

Hornby has said it's no accident his books tend towards the introspective. "I usually read books by women and that's because I prefer books about the domestic ... the way that you live your life," the former English teacher told an Australian TV show. "A lot of books by guys, a lot of films by guys, have people blowing each others' heads off. ... It kind of got ridiculous that that's the only reflection of life that you can find. I wanted to try and write a kind of male equivalent of some of the best female novelists -- there didn't seem to be stuff about what went on in ordinary guys' heads."

Hornby's first book, "Fever Pitch" (1992), about his passion for Britain's Arsenal football (soccer) team, earned him a wide following and a prize for sportswriting in Britain. The book was as much about the nature of sports fandom and interpersonal relationships as it was about Arsenal.

He followed that up in 1995 with "High Fidelity," which artfully used pop music as a background for its protagonist's romantic problems, and in 1998 with "About a Boy," about an arrested adolescent in his late 30s who learns to open his heart by taking in a 12-year-old -- though his original intent was to use the kid to meet girls.

Realistic outlook

He was pleased with the way Cusack and director Stephen Frears transferred "High Fidelity" to the screen.

"They just stuck with the book, and they did what they had to do to make the book into a movie, and that was very much what they wanted to do -- they wanted to transfer the spirit of the book onto the screen."

"How to Be Good" is almost certainly destined for the movies as well, though there's no telling how audiences might take the bittersweet tale. In the book, David begins to walk his and Kate's liberal talk through a series of events. He stops writing his column; he gives their belongings away; he encourages their children to welcome a homeless teen-ager into their residence.

Meanwhile, Kate -- who continually reminds herself that she's "a good person" -- finds herself calling her own life into question. After all, she has a resignedly bitter attitude about some of the patients at her practice, she did have that affair, and she generally assumes the worst -- or at least is cynically realistic -- about many people she meets.

What does it truly mean, Hornby asks through these characters, to be good? And is it really worth it, especially when a marriage is at stake?

In the book, Hornby leaves the question up in the air. In person, however, he leans towards being realistic.

"It's kind of the reverse of 'the road to Hell is paved with good intentions,' " he says. "This is 'the road to Heaven is paved with idiocy.' "