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Ash Wednesday
Jimmy is AWOL from the army, but—with characteristic fierceness and terror—he’s about to embark on the biggest commitment of his life. Christy is pregnant with Jimmy’s child, and she’s determined to head home, with or without Jimmy, to face up to her past and prepare for the future. Somehow, barreling across America from Albany to New Orleans to Ohio and Texas in a souped-up Chevy Nova, Christy and Jimmy are transformed from passionate but conflicted lovers into a young family on a magnificent journey.
Ash Wednesday is a novel of blazing emotion and remarkable grace, a tale that captures the intensity—the excitement, fear, and joy—of being on the threshold of the mysterious country of marriage and parenthood. Powerful, assured, large of heart, and punctuated by moments of tremendous humor, it represents, for Hawke the novelist, a major leap forward.
Ash Wednesday is a novel of blazing emotion and remarkable grace, a tale that captures the intensity—the excitement, fear, and joy—of being on the threshold of the mysterious country of marriage and parenthood. Powerful, assured, large of heart, and punctuated by moments of tremendous humor, it represents, for Hawke the novelist, a major leap forward.
221 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
88 people are currently reading
1902 people want to read
About the author
Ethan Hawke
42 books1,257 followersEthan Green Hawke is an American actor, author, and film director. He made his film debut in Explorers (1985), before making a breakthrough performance in Dead Poets Society (1989). Hawke starred alongside Julie Delpy in Richard Linklater's Before trilogy from 1995 to 2013. Hawke received two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Training Day (2001) and Boyhood (2014) and two for Best Adapted Screenplay for co-writing Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013). Other notable roles include in Reality Bites (1994), Gattaca (1997), Great Expectations (1998), Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007), Maggie's Plan (2015), First Reformed (2017), The Black Phone (2021), and The Northman (2022).
Hawke directed the narrative films Chelsea Walls (2001), The Hottest State (2006), and Blaze (2018) as well as the documentary Seymour: An Introduction (2014). He created, co-wrote and starred as John Brown in the Showtime limited series The Good Lord Bird (2018), and directed the HBO Max documentary series The Last Movie Stars (2022). He starred in the Marvel television miniseries Moon Knight (2022) as Arthur Harrow.
In addition to his film work, Hawke has appeared in many theater productions. He made his Broadway debut in 1992 in Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, and was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play in 2007 for his performance in Tom Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia. In 2010, Hawke directed Sam Shepard's A Lie of the Mind, for which he received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Director of a Play. In 2018, he starred in the Roundabout Theater Company's revival of Sam Shepard's play True West.
He has received numerous nominations including a total of four Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Tony Award.
Hawke directed the narrative films Chelsea Walls (2001), The Hottest State (2006), and Blaze (2018) as well as the documentary Seymour: An Introduction (2014). He created, co-wrote and starred as John Brown in the Showtime limited series The Good Lord Bird (2018), and directed the HBO Max documentary series The Last Movie Stars (2022). He starred in the Marvel television miniseries Moon Knight (2022) as Arthur Harrow.
In addition to his film work, Hawke has appeared in many theater productions. He made his Broadway debut in 1992 in Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, and was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play in 2007 for his performance in Tom Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia. In 2010, Hawke directed Sam Shepard's A Lie of the Mind, for which he received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Director of a Play. In 2018, he starred in the Roundabout Theater Company's revival of Sam Shepard's play True West.
He has received numerous nominations including a total of four Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Tony Award.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 333 reviews
March 8, 2011
Tell me, how many Hollywood actors can write novels? Especially ones who are still active in movies? Especially if there is no co-writer beside his/her name?
Ethan Hawke (born 1970) has written two decent novels: The Hottest State (1996) and this book, Ash Wednesday (2002). When these books came out, I was not yet into heavy reading so these did not interest me. But a couple of years back, a member in our Filipinos group here in Goodreads favorably commented on these books so when I saw them in my favorite second-hand bookshop, I bought them right away. Then I realized that it will be Ash Wednesday tomorrow, March 9, 2011 so I finally opened and started reading this book open last Sunday night.
I am not really a Hawke’s fan. However, I liked him in Robin Williams-starrer Dead Poets Society (1989) where he played as one of the students and the first to stand up on the desk in the ending scene. Who can forget how he and the beautiful Julie Delphy talked endlessly but intelligently inside the train in Before Sunrise (1995) and again in Before Sunset (2004)? I also enjoyed watching him in the science-thriller Gattaca (1997) faking his inclusion in that training school where only people of superior genes live. However, what really caught my attention was when he sensitively read Fable of the Mermaid and the Drunks, one of Pablo Neruda’s featured poems in the movie soundtrack of Il Postino (The Postman) (1994). The young man has beautiful mind inside his equally beautiful head so it did not really come as a surprise when I saw that he has also authored two novels.
Ash Wednesday is a gritty love story between an AWOL soldier, Jimmy Heartsock and his girlfriend Christy. With his angst, Jimmy is half-Cauldfeld and with his Catholic beliefs, half-preacher. I thought I would like this character because it seems to be multi-dimensional but when I finally closed the book, it just did not make any imprint in my mind especially with the contrived ending where Jimmy decides to stay in the middle between the two obvious choices. The character of Christy makes more sense not only because she knows what she wants but once she makes a decision she goes for it no matter what the odds are. She does not vacillate unlike Jimmy who, despite being a military man, keeps on changing his mind, refuses to give up drugs, and goes fucking girls left and right.
However, Hawke’s storytelling has a distinct style: straightforward, cocky yet sincere. It does leave you with a feeling that you are taken for another ride just like after closing and finishing a Nicholas Sparks book. It is not at all mushy like how love stories normally are. Some lines are with sprinklers of Hawke’s own brand of philosophical musings that proves his sensitivity and self-awareness as a person. Good thing that those musings do not go overboard so as to give his readers the chance to have a little room for interpretation and draw out conclusions. Had it gone overboard, I would put a comment here that Hawke has that fondness to state the obvious. An example of this is that the book’s ending is set on an Ash Wednesday (time for reflection and prayers) which ends the Mardi Gras (time for merriment, booze, drugs) in New Orleans. Jimmy got incarcerated the eve of Ash Wednesday and got freed the following day which means that he is a new man and ready to face his responsibility as soon-to-be father and husband to Christy.
Despite those weak points, this is still a good read if you are looking for a fresher approach in telling a truthful kick-ass love story. I also had an easy time imagining the characters. I thought of Ethan Hawke as Jimmy and Uma Thurman (to whom he dedicated this novel) as Christy and any of those road-trip American movies and I can say that the book is movie-perfect. Too sad that the movie adaptation of his first novel, The Hottest State did not fly and Hawke is now 41 years old (too old to play Jimmy).
Still, the novelist Ethan Hawke can hold a candle for Nicholas Sparks, that one I can assure you.
Ethan Hawke (born 1970) has written two decent novels: The Hottest State (1996) and this book, Ash Wednesday (2002). When these books came out, I was not yet into heavy reading so these did not interest me. But a couple of years back, a member in our Filipinos group here in Goodreads favorably commented on these books so when I saw them in my favorite second-hand bookshop, I bought them right away. Then I realized that it will be Ash Wednesday tomorrow, March 9, 2011 so I finally opened and started reading this book open last Sunday night.
I am not really a Hawke’s fan. However, I liked him in Robin Williams-starrer Dead Poets Society (1989) where he played as one of the students and the first to stand up on the desk in the ending scene. Who can forget how he and the beautiful Julie Delphy talked endlessly but intelligently inside the train in Before Sunrise (1995) and again in Before Sunset (2004)? I also enjoyed watching him in the science-thriller Gattaca (1997) faking his inclusion in that training school where only people of superior genes live. However, what really caught my attention was when he sensitively read Fable of the Mermaid and the Drunks, one of Pablo Neruda’s featured poems in the movie soundtrack of Il Postino (The Postman) (1994). The young man has beautiful mind inside his equally beautiful head so it did not really come as a surprise when I saw that he has also authored two novels.
Ash Wednesday is a gritty love story between an AWOL soldier, Jimmy Heartsock and his girlfriend Christy. With his angst, Jimmy is half-Cauldfeld and with his Catholic beliefs, half-preacher. I thought I would like this character because it seems to be multi-dimensional but when I finally closed the book, it just did not make any imprint in my mind especially with the contrived ending where Jimmy decides to stay in the middle between the two obvious choices. The character of Christy makes more sense not only because she knows what she wants but once she makes a decision she goes for it no matter what the odds are. She does not vacillate unlike Jimmy who, despite being a military man, keeps on changing his mind, refuses to give up drugs, and goes fucking girls left and right.
However, Hawke’s storytelling has a distinct style: straightforward, cocky yet sincere. It does leave you with a feeling that you are taken for another ride just like after closing and finishing a Nicholas Sparks book. It is not at all mushy like how love stories normally are. Some lines are with sprinklers of Hawke’s own brand of philosophical musings that proves his sensitivity and self-awareness as a person. Good thing that those musings do not go overboard so as to give his readers the chance to have a little room for interpretation and draw out conclusions. Had it gone overboard, I would put a comment here that Hawke has that fondness to state the obvious. An example of this is that the book’s ending is set on an Ash Wednesday (time for reflection and prayers) which ends the Mardi Gras (time for merriment, booze, drugs) in New Orleans. Jimmy got incarcerated the eve of Ash Wednesday and got freed the following day which means that he is a new man and ready to face his responsibility as soon-to-be father and husband to Christy.
Despite those weak points, this is still a good read if you are looking for a fresher approach in telling a truthful kick-ass love story. I also had an easy time imagining the characters. I thought of Ethan Hawke as Jimmy and Uma Thurman (to whom he dedicated this novel) as Christy and any of those road-trip American movies and I can say that the book is movie-perfect. Too sad that the movie adaptation of his first novel, The Hottest State did not fly and Hawke is now 41 years old (too old to play Jimmy).
Still, the novelist Ethan Hawke can hold a candle for Nicholas Sparks, that one I can assure you.
July 26, 2024
Della categoria di quelli che "mi è piaciuto anche se non mi è piaciuto".
Protagonisti francamente insopportabili: non fanno che deprecare lo squallore delle loro vite e al tempo stesso non fanno altro che crigiolarvisi dentro come suidi nel fango. È una contraddizione urticante. Ma suppongo che, se questa contraddizione la si trova così spesso nei romanzi, deve esistere realmente nel mondo reale, per tante persone.
In questo romanzo c'è tutto il lato un po' squallido delle periferie d'America: ma è innegabile che tale squallore possa anche arrivare ad avere un suo fascino. E sì, in questo romanzo ci arriva. È la stessa America raccontata nelle canzoni dei Pearl Jam, quindi non posso non ritrovarmici almeno un po', sebbene poi viva in un contesto e con un metodo completamente diversi. Ed anche la psicologia dei due, certe loro trovate e riflessioni, non sono per nulla scontate.
Ad un certo punto il racconto inizia a mostrare un aspetto inedito di tutta quanta la faccenda, si rivela un romanzo molto religioso, quasi mistico. La cosa non è molto nelle mie corde, a tratti ho perso un poco l'attenzione ma poi ci sono arrivata in fondo volentieri. Del resto, per intuire che potessero esserci riferimenti religiosi nel racconto, bastava fare caso al titolo. Sono io che sono tarda. C'è una fede fatta più che altro di illuminazioni improvvise ed estemporanee, pentimenti e ripensamenti.
Aspetto non di poco conto: è scritto bene. Dopo di che, poco importa sapere se veramente è stato scritto da un attore famoso o da un ghost-writer.
Protagonisti francamente insopportabili: non fanno che deprecare lo squallore delle loro vite e al tempo stesso non fanno altro che crigiolarvisi dentro come suidi nel fango. È una contraddizione urticante. Ma suppongo che, se questa contraddizione la si trova così spesso nei romanzi, deve esistere realmente nel mondo reale, per tante persone.
In questo romanzo c'è tutto il lato un po' squallido delle periferie d'America: ma è innegabile che tale squallore possa anche arrivare ad avere un suo fascino. E sì, in questo romanzo ci arriva. È la stessa America raccontata nelle canzoni dei Pearl Jam, quindi non posso non ritrovarmici almeno un po', sebbene poi viva in un contesto e con un metodo completamente diversi. Ed anche la psicologia dei due, certe loro trovate e riflessioni, non sono per nulla scontate.
Ad un certo punto il racconto inizia a mostrare un aspetto inedito di tutta quanta la faccenda, si rivela un romanzo molto religioso, quasi mistico. La cosa non è molto nelle mie corde, a tratti ho perso un poco l'attenzione ma poi ci sono arrivata in fondo volentieri. Del resto, per intuire che potessero esserci riferimenti religiosi nel racconto, bastava fare caso al titolo. Sono io che sono tarda. C'è una fede fatta più che altro di illuminazioni improvvise ed estemporanee, pentimenti e ripensamenti.
Aspetto non di poco conto: è scritto bene. Dopo di che, poco importa sapere se veramente è stato scritto da un attore famoso o da un ghost-writer.
December 25, 2014
How can characters who are so multi-layered and so well-developed somehow be problematic?
The problem is that the two characters at the center of this book -- the fledgling couple Jimmy and Christy -- are flaky (or eccentric if you prefer a term with a positive connotation). The problem is that eccentric people are always interesting -- but for arbitrary reasons. They are quitting jobs, doing drugs, getting married, quitting drugs, finding God, cleaning up their bad habits, starting up new bad habits, all for reasons that are hard to relate to. They are anti-heroes in their flakiness (Achilles, the Greek hero of the “Iliad,” is the classic example of flakiness -- refusing to fight a war out of stubborn pride).
Both characters are likable in their own ways, but this likeability is overwhelmed by their unlikeable flakiness. In so many ways these are people you know -- people who seem very talented but can’t get out of their own way and inexplicability do dumb things. I’ve worked in education, so I meet these people all the time. It’s too frustrating and normal to be tragic. It’s mostly just frustrating.
Flaky characters present a particularly difficult problem for fiction. Fictional characters are often expected to go through some kind of meaningful change. But though eccentric characters change all the time, can their changes be described as meaningful?
It’s also the reason artists’ lives are rarely interesting, at least beyond short anecdotes. Hang out with someone like Andy Warhol for a night and it’s a story. Hang out with him for a year and it’s an ordeal.
Now that I have that (major) gripe out of the way, there is another secret to this book. Every reviewer is bound to underrate it because it’s written by Ethan Hawke. It’s easy to dismiss this book as the amateurish work of a vain actor, with a main character that mirrors many of his slacker roles (these reviews are in no short supply on Goodreads). But once you get beyond the Hawke name, the big secret of this book is that it is very finely crafted. The story is disciplined, every chapter works as a short story, polished and refined. The characters are well thought out. If anything, the story seems too deliberate and perhaps a tad overwritten. These faults, however, are the signs of an author who is trying to overcompensate for the missteps of a previous work (I haven’t read Hawke’s first book so this is just my guess.
What does this amount to then? A great book and a great second step in the maturity of a writer.
So where is the third book? Did Hawke give up after this one? Did he write a third book but never publish it? Or did he realize the overwhelming disadvantage of publishing under the Hawke name? Perhaps there is a third Hawke book out there hidden under pseudonym.
Is that all I have to say about this book? Well, not quite. I will be blasphemous. I will use Hawke and Hemingway in the same review. And why not? In some parts of this book, the characters disgusted me. This seems like a sin -- and then I remembered that Hemingway could disgust me. “The Sun Also Rises” had absolutely disgusting characters doing disgusting things, and I still think of it as a classic “youth and its discontents” novel. Can a good novel make you feel dread? Yes! Ash Wednesday at one point evoked a terrible sense of dread -- a sense that things couldn’t work out for the characters. This was the same feeling I had reading “To Have and Have Not,” a book I finished in two nights.
There is a manic energy that drives this book. “It’s amazing anyone lives to thirty” the young male protagonist says at one point. I used to feel exactly the same way. The characters, these two young characters who evoke dread and disgust, are people I know. They are EXACTLY like people I know. That makes the book necessary, horrible to read, and invigorating.
Is it possible to give a flawed book five stars? Sure it is. When you’re young and starting out as a novelist, you can only write imperfect novels. But this is a very, very good one.
The problem is that the two characters at the center of this book -- the fledgling couple Jimmy and Christy -- are flaky (or eccentric if you prefer a term with a positive connotation). The problem is that eccentric people are always interesting -- but for arbitrary reasons. They are quitting jobs, doing drugs, getting married, quitting drugs, finding God, cleaning up their bad habits, starting up new bad habits, all for reasons that are hard to relate to. They are anti-heroes in their flakiness (Achilles, the Greek hero of the “Iliad,” is the classic example of flakiness -- refusing to fight a war out of stubborn pride).
Both characters are likable in their own ways, but this likeability is overwhelmed by their unlikeable flakiness. In so many ways these are people you know -- people who seem very talented but can’t get out of their own way and inexplicability do dumb things. I’ve worked in education, so I meet these people all the time. It’s too frustrating and normal to be tragic. It’s mostly just frustrating.
Flaky characters present a particularly difficult problem for fiction. Fictional characters are often expected to go through some kind of meaningful change. But though eccentric characters change all the time, can their changes be described as meaningful?
It’s also the reason artists’ lives are rarely interesting, at least beyond short anecdotes. Hang out with someone like Andy Warhol for a night and it’s a story. Hang out with him for a year and it’s an ordeal.
Now that I have that (major) gripe out of the way, there is another secret to this book. Every reviewer is bound to underrate it because it’s written by Ethan Hawke. It’s easy to dismiss this book as the amateurish work of a vain actor, with a main character that mirrors many of his slacker roles (these reviews are in no short supply on Goodreads). But once you get beyond the Hawke name, the big secret of this book is that it is very finely crafted. The story is disciplined, every chapter works as a short story, polished and refined. The characters are well thought out. If anything, the story seems too deliberate and perhaps a tad overwritten. These faults, however, are the signs of an author who is trying to overcompensate for the missteps of a previous work (I haven’t read Hawke’s first book so this is just my guess.
What does this amount to then? A great book and a great second step in the maturity of a writer.
So where is the third book? Did Hawke give up after this one? Did he write a third book but never publish it? Or did he realize the overwhelming disadvantage of publishing under the Hawke name? Perhaps there is a third Hawke book out there hidden under pseudonym.
Is that all I have to say about this book? Well, not quite. I will be blasphemous. I will use Hawke and Hemingway in the same review. And why not? In some parts of this book, the characters disgusted me. This seems like a sin -- and then I remembered that Hemingway could disgust me. “The Sun Also Rises” had absolutely disgusting characters doing disgusting things, and I still think of it as a classic “youth and its discontents” novel. Can a good novel make you feel dread? Yes! Ash Wednesday at one point evoked a terrible sense of dread -- a sense that things couldn’t work out for the characters. This was the same feeling I had reading “To Have and Have Not,” a book I finished in two nights.
There is a manic energy that drives this book. “It’s amazing anyone lives to thirty” the young male protagonist says at one point. I used to feel exactly the same way. The characters, these two young characters who evoke dread and disgust, are people I know. They are EXACTLY like people I know. That makes the book necessary, horrible to read, and invigorating.
Is it possible to give a flawed book five stars? Sure it is. When you’re young and starting out as a novelist, you can only write imperfect novels. But this is a very, very good one.
July 31, 2012
In the name of honesty I will tell you that I was skeptical going in... because he's Ethan Hawke, a guy who probably wanted to add "novelist" to his already long and gorgeous resume.
More honesty: Two chapters in I realized that I needed to carry a notebook because I had to pull over constantly to rewind the audio (do we still call it rewinding?) and write down my favorite passages. There were so so many.
"To love each other and live in the truth. To not lie at all. To maintain a perspective on the other and not wholly judge them in context to yourself..."
Suffice it to say I think Ethan Hawke is brilliant. He reignited the romantic in me, someone I thought was dead. I will eventually buy this book and highlight three quarters of it.
More honesty: Two chapters in I realized that I needed to carry a notebook because I had to pull over constantly to rewind the audio (do we still call it rewinding?) and write down my favorite passages. There were so so many.
"To love each other and live in the truth. To not lie at all. To maintain a perspective on the other and not wholly judge them in context to yourself..."
Suffice it to say I think Ethan Hawke is brilliant. He reignited the romantic in me, someone I thought was dead. I will eventually buy this book and highlight three quarters of it.
February 15, 2019
A very human story.
And I say human because in this novel Hawke makes it possible to believe what's happening; it feels real.
Jimmy is an immature 30 year old soldier in the US army who decided to enrol because he didn't know what to do with his life after his father committed suicide. His life is a complete mess; he has no direction, no perspectives, no motivation. Except for Christy.
Christy has had a tough life, estranged from her father, a politician and womaniser who doesn't seem to connect with her needs, she decides to flee at 16 to get married to an alcoholic. She is divorced at 22 and she knows what to expect from life.
But when Christy and Jimmy meet, they can't help their mutual attraction. What seems to be only a sexual relationship becomes something deeper than none of the two could have ever imagined.
They hate each other most of the time, but the love each other more.
Scared of facing responsibility and of his own feelings, Jimmy leaves Christy, who is pregnant without him knowing it.
And that's the starting point of the novel. Christy going back home to Texas, alone and pregnant, and Jimmy, realising he is a piece of "shit" and that he has abandoned what he most treasures, so he decides to leave the army to chase Christy and ask her to marry him.
The chapters move from Jimmy to Christy's point of view; and one of the things I liked most about this novel is the way the characters think and talk about their life, their fears, their beliefs. And how they don't agree most of the time, but somehow that makes them even closer.
This is a story about love, friendship and life, not the kind of sweetened life we find in romantic stories, but the tough life we have to live and endure every day.
Ethan Hawke has proved that, apart from being a brilliant actor, he can also write and make you feel deeply.
Recommended.
And I say human because in this novel Hawke makes it possible to believe what's happening; it feels real.
Jimmy is an immature 30 year old soldier in the US army who decided to enrol because he didn't know what to do with his life after his father committed suicide. His life is a complete mess; he has no direction, no perspectives, no motivation. Except for Christy.
Christy has had a tough life, estranged from her father, a politician and womaniser who doesn't seem to connect with her needs, she decides to flee at 16 to get married to an alcoholic. She is divorced at 22 and she knows what to expect from life.
But when Christy and Jimmy meet, they can't help their mutual attraction. What seems to be only a sexual relationship becomes something deeper than none of the two could have ever imagined.
They hate each other most of the time, but the love each other more.
Scared of facing responsibility and of his own feelings, Jimmy leaves Christy, who is pregnant without him knowing it.
And that's the starting point of the novel. Christy going back home to Texas, alone and pregnant, and Jimmy, realising he is a piece of "shit" and that he has abandoned what he most treasures, so he decides to leave the army to chase Christy and ask her to marry him.
The chapters move from Jimmy to Christy's point of view; and one of the things I liked most about this novel is the way the characters think and talk about their life, their fears, their beliefs. And how they don't agree most of the time, but somehow that makes them even closer.
This is a story about love, friendship and life, not the kind of sweetened life we find in romantic stories, but the tough life we have to live and endure every day.
Ethan Hawke has proved that, apart from being a brilliant actor, he can also write and make you feel deeply.
Recommended.
July 12, 2020
THE DETAILS⇣
⇢ 3 ✰STARS✰
⤏ WRITTEN & NARRATED BY ETHAN HAWKE (THE ACTOR)
⤏ TWO POV'S
⤏ REALISTIC MIXED WITH A SORT OF PULP FICTION
⤏ SOME GENUINELY HEARTFELT MOMENTS
⤏ LENGTH OF AUDIO - 7 HOURS, 10 MINUTES
⤏ I LISTENED ON LIBBY THROUGH MY LIBRARY
MY THOUGHTS⇣
This book is full of moments, heartfelt ones, juvenile ones, and some that are just scattered with rambling delusions. When you put all these moments together you are left with a story that has heart and even depth...when you dig deep enough. The problem is it's a real challenge to grasp anything long enough to dig deep enough...his thoughts fly by and he's on to another. It really made it difficult to connect.
At its core, this is a story of a young couple coming to grips with impending parenthood and marriage. Filled with rambling reflections on everything to do with life, love, and the pursuit of happiness.
Rating wise...this was the most hurt by the lack of a second narrator for Christy's POV. Why did he think he could narrate both characters...I don't know...obviously he was good for the part of Jimmy...but he crashed and burned on Christy's part. It was disappointing...I feel like he could have easily gotten an actress to narrate the heroine of the story.
BREAKDOWN⇣
Narration Rating ⇢ 3½ STARS
Plot ⇢ 3/5
Characters ⇢ 3.5/5
The Feels ⇢ 3/5
Pacing ⇢ 2.8/5
Addictiveness ⇢ 2.7/5
Theme, Tone or Intensity ⇢ 3/5
Originality/Believability ⇢3.8/5
Flow (Writing Style/Ease of Listening) ⇢ 2.5/5
Romance/Chemistry ⇢ 3.5/5
Ending ⇢ 3.3/5
Summation ⇢ 3 STARS
⇢ 3 ✰STARS✰
⤏ WRITTEN & NARRATED BY ETHAN HAWKE (THE ACTOR)
⤏ TWO POV'S
⤏ REALISTIC MIXED WITH A SORT OF PULP FICTION
⤏ SOME GENUINELY HEARTFELT MOMENTS
⤏ LENGTH OF AUDIO - 7 HOURS, 10 MINUTES
⤏ I LISTENED ON LIBBY THROUGH MY LIBRARY
MY THOUGHTS⇣
This book is full of moments, heartfelt ones, juvenile ones, and some that are just scattered with rambling delusions. When you put all these moments together you are left with a story that has heart and even depth...when you dig deep enough. The problem is it's a real challenge to grasp anything long enough to dig deep enough...his thoughts fly by and he's on to another. It really made it difficult to connect.
At its core, this is a story of a young couple coming to grips with impending parenthood and marriage. Filled with rambling reflections on everything to do with life, love, and the pursuit of happiness.
Rating wise...this was the most hurt by the lack of a second narrator for Christy's POV. Why did he think he could narrate both characters...I don't know...obviously he was good for the part of Jimmy...but he crashed and burned on Christy's part. It was disappointing...I feel like he could have easily gotten an actress to narrate the heroine of the story.
BREAKDOWN⇣
Narration Rating ⇢ 3½ STARS
Plot ⇢ 3/5
Characters ⇢ 3.5/5
The Feels ⇢ 3/5
Pacing ⇢ 2.8/5
Addictiveness ⇢ 2.7/5
Theme, Tone or Intensity ⇢ 3/5
Originality/Believability ⇢3.8/5
Flow (Writing Style/Ease of Listening) ⇢ 2.5/5
Romance/Chemistry ⇢ 3.5/5
Ending ⇢ 3.3/5
Summation ⇢ 3 STARS
August 31, 2009
’Will-They-Won’t-They?’ On the Road
Those au fait with Ethan Hawke’s ‘philosopher groovy syndrome’ breed of intelligent, dreamy slackers in movie roles such as Reality Bites, Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, will find more than a hint of them repeated in this sophomoric tale. The only problem is that, though all those characters are likeable guys with interesting ideas, they might not be the tautest of storytellers.
Army fuckup Jimmy Heartsock finds himself going AWOL to propose to/win back his better half, girlfriend Christy Walker. Christy is thinking it’s time to call it a day at around exactly the same moment she finds herself pregnant. It’s will-they-won’t-they on the road. The narrative is told in first person by both Jimmy and Christy. Though Hawke does an admirable job telling Christy’s side of the story – a woman fond of, but frustrated and reaching breaking point with, her slacker of a fella – it’s the male voice which rings truest throughout. Channelling a beatnik/gonzo 20th Century classics American voice, everything is a sports analogy or a pyrotechnic of some description: Christy has ‘a dynamite ass,’ and a ‘fireball mind,’ sending Jimmy into inferiority about his (insert sports analogy here.)
Generally I did like this novel a lot, but more for the moments it contained than for the piece overall. It’s a very humanist narrative which takes in a lot of the history and flaws of two people who love each other but don’t agree about everything, and are suddenly are trying to decide ‘what next?’
The plot ties in the couple’s interaction (and copious copulation) with the symbolic background of Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. An appearance by a cat named Grace just as one character is seeking the concept of grace is also a little... I’m not sure. I veer between finding it all very clever one moment and finding it too heavy-handed the next.
I found my faith in the book faltered most when Jimmy (who, let’s be honest, is Hawke) is so madly in love with Christy (Ethan Hawke’s then-wife Uma Thurman, perchance?) that she can talk the most faux-philosophical bullshit while consuming a root beer float – and the next few paragraphs will be Jimmy raving about how fantastic, smart and sexy she is, based on what she just said. If the audience hasn’t had the character’s sexiness or intelligence proven to them by what she said/did – the subsequent praise will not add anything further.
Also, Ethan Hawke: I think you’re a lovely guy. In another life I’m sure I would’ve fallen for you in a coffee shop somewhere. But please, when you’re writing fiction as an already a high-profile guy, put a bit more distance between your real life and the ‘fictional’ characters you write. Make Kristy shorter than Uma, give her a different colour hair. Something. When the audience is likely to know a little bit about your love life already; you have to tread carefully and make sure your fictional voice is truly fictional, otherwise it gets distracting.
A good novel, but not fabulous. A lot of interesting moments and observations strung together. Without the name Ethan Hawke to help market it, I doubt it would be in print - but that's not saying much. Also – at the risk of being extremely cruel – I think I’d rather see this filmed by Richard Linklater than read it on the page. Some good cinematography could tighten up/shine over all the dull bits, and bring emphasis to the dialogue which is one of the strongest points.
Those au fait with Ethan Hawke’s ‘philosopher groovy syndrome’ breed of intelligent, dreamy slackers in movie roles such as Reality Bites, Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, will find more than a hint of them repeated in this sophomoric tale. The only problem is that, though all those characters are likeable guys with interesting ideas, they might not be the tautest of storytellers.
Army fuckup Jimmy Heartsock finds himself going AWOL to propose to/win back his better half, girlfriend Christy Walker. Christy is thinking it’s time to call it a day at around exactly the same moment she finds herself pregnant. It’s will-they-won’t-they on the road. The narrative is told in first person by both Jimmy and Christy. Though Hawke does an admirable job telling Christy’s side of the story – a woman fond of, but frustrated and reaching breaking point with, her slacker of a fella – it’s the male voice which rings truest throughout. Channelling a beatnik/gonzo 20th Century classics American voice, everything is a sports analogy or a pyrotechnic of some description: Christy has ‘a dynamite ass,’ and a ‘fireball mind,’ sending Jimmy into inferiority about his (insert sports analogy here.)
Generally I did like this novel a lot, but more for the moments it contained than for the piece overall. It’s a very humanist narrative which takes in a lot of the history and flaws of two people who love each other but don’t agree about everything, and are suddenly are trying to decide ‘what next?’
The plot ties in the couple’s interaction (and copious copulation) with the symbolic background of Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. An appearance by a cat named Grace just as one character is seeking the concept of grace is also a little... I’m not sure. I veer between finding it all very clever one moment and finding it too heavy-handed the next.
I found my faith in the book faltered most when Jimmy (who, let’s be honest, is Hawke) is so madly in love with Christy (Ethan Hawke’s then-wife Uma Thurman, perchance?) that she can talk the most faux-philosophical bullshit while consuming a root beer float – and the next few paragraphs will be Jimmy raving about how fantastic, smart and sexy she is, based on what she just said. If the audience hasn’t had the character’s sexiness or intelligence proven to them by what she said/did – the subsequent praise will not add anything further.
Also, Ethan Hawke: I think you’re a lovely guy. In another life I’m sure I would’ve fallen for you in a coffee shop somewhere. But please, when you’re writing fiction as an already a high-profile guy, put a bit more distance between your real life and the ‘fictional’ characters you write. Make Kristy shorter than Uma, give her a different colour hair. Something. When the audience is likely to know a little bit about your love life already; you have to tread carefully and make sure your fictional voice is truly fictional, otherwise it gets distracting.
A good novel, but not fabulous. A lot of interesting moments and observations strung together. Without the name Ethan Hawke to help market it, I doubt it would be in print - but that's not saying much. Also – at the risk of being extremely cruel – I think I’d rather see this filmed by Richard Linklater than read it on the page. Some good cinematography could tighten up/shine over all the dull bits, and bring emphasis to the dialogue which is one of the strongest points.
November 2, 2009
It was ok, not bad, and that is what 2 stars is supposed to mean. It was a fairly absorbing read, but the characters were so prone to constant yet shifting self-analysis, always on the brink of disaster or in mid-crisis state, it was like a hyped up version of some fifties melodrama where everyone is having epiphonies every ten seconds, then something happens and they have a new epiphony. It was too much. Still... there was something interesting about the way the two characters thought about themselves and each other, and there were a few passages I really liked. So overall, it might be worth reading just for that. But I can't exactly say I liked it, yet I'm not sorry to have read it. Is that 2 or 3 stars' worth? Not sure.
Have to say that I really felt like he was writing about himself and Uma. Not that it's exactly representative, I think the main character was him but not him, sometimes an idealized version of a he-man Ethan wishes he were, then sometimes a big blockhead Ethan feels like he is. The girlfriend was tall and beautiful with big feet, always talking philosophically about everything (like Julie Delphy in 'Before Sunrise'), super smart and REALLY into sex all the time every day. I did feel like the female character, though admirable and cool and self-aware and confident and smart and all that, was still a male fantasy, one for bookish nerd boys who like women who are super smart and maybe a bit too complicated, thus a handful, but they are so sexy when they talk about nihilism and post modernist architecture and then take off all their clothes.
Have to say that I really felt like he was writing about himself and Uma. Not that it's exactly representative, I think the main character was him but not him, sometimes an idealized version of a he-man Ethan wishes he were, then sometimes a big blockhead Ethan feels like he is. The girlfriend was tall and beautiful with big feet, always talking philosophically about everything (like Julie Delphy in 'Before Sunrise'), super smart and REALLY into sex all the time every day. I did feel like the female character, though admirable and cool and self-aware and confident and smart and all that, was still a male fantasy, one for bookish nerd boys who like women who are super smart and maybe a bit too complicated, thus a handful, but they are so sexy when they talk about nihilism and post modernist architecture and then take off all their clothes.
February 10, 2015
mercoledì delle banalità e dei fessi che non crescono mai
Jimmy è un coglione della specie peggiore: quello che cerca la mamma
Christy Ann è la mamma, nel senso che cerca un coglione da adottare
la frittata è fatta e lei è incinta di un fesso che più che marito vorrebbe essergli figlio
la storia va avanti e indietro per un po', quindi non va da nessuna parte e il lettore, che presumibilmente ha superato i 15 anni, si annoia e gli viene voglia di prenderli a sberle, tutti e due...
poi gli viene in mente di rivendersi il libro...e dimenticare questi due fessi che non fanno nulla di cui valga la pena parlare...
Jimmy è un coglione della specie peggiore: quello che cerca la mamma
Christy Ann è la mamma, nel senso che cerca un coglione da adottare
la frittata è fatta e lei è incinta di un fesso che più che marito vorrebbe essergli figlio
la storia va avanti e indietro per un po', quindi non va da nessuna parte e il lettore, che presumibilmente ha superato i 15 anni, si annoia e gli viene voglia di prenderli a sberle, tutti e due...
poi gli viene in mente di rivendersi il libro...e dimenticare questi due fessi che non fanno nulla di cui valga la pena parlare...
dnf-shelf
January 26, 2020DNFed at 20%. I couldn't get into it, I couldn't connect to any of it, I don't know exactly why.
August 17, 2017
ok, non è un capolavoro. e si sente che l'autore viene dal mondo del cinema: cioè, pagina dopo pagina ti sembra di vedere davvero il film tratto dal libro scorrere davanti ai tuoi occhi. insomma, la storia è di quelle che abbiamo sentito raccontare altre volte ma il racconto scorre e funziona benissimo: consigliato, e non solo ai fan dell'ethan hawke che fa l'attore a hollywood.
April 29, 2021
Surprisingly excellent. Really makes a girl fall in love with Ethan Hawke, quite frankly.
April 28, 2021
The Low --
Competing First Person Narration: first person is tricky at the best of times, but going for multiple perspectives ramps up the level of trickiness for even the best authors. William Faulkner pulled it off in As I lay Dying, but Ethan Hawke is no Faulkner. The specific issue here is that Jimmy and Christy often speak with the same cadence and vocabulary. Maaaayyyyybbbeee some of that can be written off as a result of their relationship, but it doesn't really feel like that, and the result is a fairly regular breaking of the spell Hawke is actually (and almost successfully) weaving.
The Hollywood Ending: I will talk about "truth" in Ash Wednesday again later on, but one of the "truths" that Hawke was heading towards, and an expectation he sets up, falls off the cliff of his day job. Remember when Hawke stood up on a desk and squeaked out "O Captain! My Captain!" to Robin Williams? Well the ending is a little bit like that, and it derails the "true" ending he'd been heading towards. It's a shame because he really missed an opportunity to shine, and what he settled on doesn't have the emotional impact of Dead Poets Society, although who knows, maybe onscreen it would actually work (any plans to shoot this, Mr. Hawke?).
The High --
Jimmy and Religion: Jimmy, Hawke's male lead, is a Catholic. Not terribly devout, but trying hard to return to the fold, and his desire to enrich himself through religion plays a massive role in his relationship with Christy, who eventually reveals her agnosticism. It is, of course, where Ash Wednesday gets its title, and everything from Jimmy's sketchy remembrance of the rites of his own religion to the messiness his devotion creates with Christy is well handled. Plus, there is an old Massachusetts-Irish priest who I loved, and I wish Hawke would write a short story or two about him. Religion is the strongest thread in Hawke's messy tapestry.
The Middling --
Emulating Hemingway: as Dr. Jane Drover once told me, "You men will never escape the shadow of Ernest," and that is certainly true of Mr. Hawke. More than once I felt him stretching for that Hemingway "truth," and he approaches it occasionally, but he lacks the discipline of Papa, and he always falls just short. But just short of Hemingway is better than most, so there is something valuable in Hawke's failures. Perhaps if Hawke had better control of his adjectives, like Hemingway did, or had done more with the father-son thread, he'd have snuck a touch closer to the truths he sought, but even so, being overshadowed by Ernest isn't the worst thing here.
Competing First Person Narration: first person is tricky at the best of times, but going for multiple perspectives ramps up the level of trickiness for even the best authors. William Faulkner pulled it off in As I lay Dying, but Ethan Hawke is no Faulkner. The specific issue here is that Jimmy and Christy often speak with the same cadence and vocabulary. Maaaayyyyybbbeee some of that can be written off as a result of their relationship, but it doesn't really feel like that, and the result is a fairly regular breaking of the spell Hawke is actually (and almost successfully) weaving.
The Hollywood Ending: I will talk about "truth" in Ash Wednesday again later on, but one of the "truths" that Hawke was heading towards, and an expectation he sets up, falls off the cliff of his day job. Remember when Hawke stood up on a desk and squeaked out "O Captain! My Captain!" to Robin Williams? Well the ending is a little bit like that, and it derails the "true" ending he'd been heading towards. It's a shame because he really missed an opportunity to shine, and what he settled on doesn't have the emotional impact of Dead Poets Society, although who knows, maybe onscreen it would actually work (any plans to shoot this, Mr. Hawke?).
The High --
Jimmy and Religion: Jimmy, Hawke's male lead, is a Catholic. Not terribly devout, but trying hard to return to the fold, and his desire to enrich himself through religion plays a massive role in his relationship with Christy, who eventually reveals her agnosticism. It is, of course, where Ash Wednesday gets its title, and everything from Jimmy's sketchy remembrance of the rites of his own religion to the messiness his devotion creates with Christy is well handled. Plus, there is an old Massachusetts-Irish priest who I loved, and I wish Hawke would write a short story or two about him. Religion is the strongest thread in Hawke's messy tapestry.
The Middling --
Emulating Hemingway: as Dr. Jane Drover once told me, "You men will never escape the shadow of Ernest," and that is certainly true of Mr. Hawke. More than once I felt him stretching for that Hemingway "truth," and he approaches it occasionally, but he lacks the discipline of Papa, and he always falls just short. But just short of Hemingway is better than most, so there is something valuable in Hawke's failures. Perhaps if Hawke had better control of his adjectives, like Hemingway did, or had done more with the father-son thread, he'd have snuck a touch closer to the truths he sought, but even so, being overshadowed by Ernest isn't the worst thing here.
August 21, 2014
I thought I wouldn't like it, but I did. It was a quick and interesting read. The second half was better than the first.
Some of my favourite moments:
1. The basketball challenge between Jimmy and the 12-year-old, who cries when he loses his brother's money.
2. This exchange:
Steve sat down next to me. "Responsibility," he hissed. "Screw a woman over thirty-five and she'll give you the ride of her life - makes an eighteen-year-old look like a blow-up doll. I'm not talking about sex, I'm talking about a sense of play. My wife, man, she doesn't understand that. She's forgotten how to laugh."
"Maybe you never say anything funny," the bearded man blurted out from his corner.
"Oh, I'm funny, don't you worry about that."
3. And this one:
"I hated our wedding," I said out loud. I hadn't ever thought about that before, but at that moment I felt somehow that marriage was responsible for all this misery.
"Shut up about the wedding," Jimmy said, not looking at me. "The wedding was tits, OK? It was the best time you ever had in your life."
Some of my favourite moments:
1. The basketball challenge between Jimmy and the 12-year-old, who cries when he loses his brother's money.
2. This exchange:
Steve sat down next to me. "Responsibility," he hissed. "Screw a woman over thirty-five and she'll give you the ride of her life - makes an eighteen-year-old look like a blow-up doll. I'm not talking about sex, I'm talking about a sense of play. My wife, man, she doesn't understand that. She's forgotten how to laugh."
"Maybe you never say anything funny," the bearded man blurted out from his corner.
"Oh, I'm funny, don't you worry about that."
3. And this one:
"I hated our wedding," I said out loud. I hadn't ever thought about that before, but at that moment I felt somehow that marriage was responsible for all this misery.
"Shut up about the wedding," Jimmy said, not looking at me. "The wedding was tits, OK? It was the best time you ever had in your life."
March 6, 2015
Ethan Hawke has made some interesting movies, and I've watched his chapter of Shakespeare Uncovered on PBS. Now I find that he has some serious writing chops. The young people he created for this story are so believable, their predicament so familiar and their pain and struggle so realistic that they seem drawn from life. I recommend this book.
January 31, 2019
After I learned that Hawke was a co-writer of the Before screenplays, I knew I had to read his work.
Ash Wednesday does not disappoint. It is eloquently executed. It is deep, introspective, existential. It's a beautiful portrayal of existence and the human struggle. He ends it on a decidedly optimistic note.
Reading this was wholly enjoyable.
Ash Wednesday does not disappoint. It is eloquently executed. It is deep, introspective, existential. It's a beautiful portrayal of existence and the human struggle. He ends it on a decidedly optimistic note.
Reading this was wholly enjoyable.
September 4, 2024
This was really emotional, it dives into the complex undercurrent of some of the most fundamental pieces of human life. The human condition is so unpredictable, the highs so unfathomably high and the lows so alarmingly low. I thought this book did a good job of expressing how surprisingly possible and common it is to go back and forth from one side of that spectrum to the other.
March 5, 2016
So real! Jimmy and Christy could be the couple next door, your parents, or friends. As Jimmy and Christy travel to Texas they make choices, grow, and question their lives. Such a real, heartfelt book full of inspiration and hope.
November 11, 2024
Started slow, began to meander, but finished on a really good note.
(FYI: Yes I know we're supposed to be in 'Nonfiction November' right now, but I was feeling all grumpy and sore when I woke up today, and the task of sorting out a pile of 'maybes' for my NFN TBR pile was getting really exhausting, so I just grabbed this slim volume that I'd read before, and allowed myself a little bit of fiction just once. #WhateverGetsYouThroughTheNight)
I think I picked this book up in a bargain-bin in a book-store, purely because I saw Ethan Hawkes' name on it and was curious to see if the guy was as good a writer as he was an actor. (I'd always found him kinda cute: quirky and intelligent; interesting to watch on screen. And of course, having seen him playing a writer in 'Sinister' I could sort of imagine him sitting down at a typewriter to bleed as he knocked out this book.)
If you've seen Hawke in any of the 'Before Sunrise' or 'Before Sunset' films, you'll know pretty much how the banter between our main characters plays out. Both parties are somehow super-ironic, post-modern, quickly-cynical, and yet incredibly romantic at heart. In 'Ash Wednesday' it was as if I was reading a book set back in New Jersey in the 1980s. It's Tommy and Gina all over again (if Tommy was actually AWOL from the military and Gina was Uma Thurman - sorry Ethan, but the comparisons were too frequent and too immediately recognisable for her not to have been loosely drawn around your wife at the time of this book going to publish; never mind that she would have been pregnant with your son Levon whilst you were writing 'Ash Wednesday'. Heck, knowing how long some authors take to write a book, you could even have been observing her pregnant with Maya a few years earlier too. But I guess it doesn't matter exactly when and what instance was giving you inspiration: the fact is, you're not just writing about what you know here, but who you know. Can't say I'd want to try to try an immortalise any snapshot of my family life, like insects trapped forever in amber. But if you and your ex-missus are okay with it, who am I to judge?
Everything in this book feels dusty. Like the air is so arid it might just cause your lungs to burn, until we get to Louisiana and then it's all humidity and uncomfortable heat, to aggravate all the impossibly happy people celebrating in the carnival. It's really only at this point that things start to ramp up a little after a really slow-burn, and we finally get to see who each of the characters are as fully fledged people. I can see what it is that scares them, excites them and upsets them. Before this point it's a lot of back and forth, with two rather unlikeable characters expressing themselves with the intellectual insouciance and dark cynicism that many of the late boomer / early Gen-X-ers would often vacillate between. The dialogue isn't the most realistic, but it's sometimes fun to read on a page, where all the punctuation shows the reader exactly where all the emphasis lies within each character's outburst.
It often feels more as if Jimmy & Christy are performing monologues - only they end up talking over one another - than speaking, listening and engaging in any real conversation. They both know what they want to do, but aren't exactly convinced that the other has made a definite decision, so we often end up veering off a little from what ought to have been a very well planned itinerary, for a very important trip. It doesn't bode well for one potential outcome when the "flying-by-the-seat-of-one's-pants" approach leaves them stranded in New Orleans during Mardis Gras, with no hotel rooms booked, no idea where they're going to go or what they're going to do. This is typical of Jimmy, who has yet to step up and embrace the maturity and masculinity required to be a man...much to Christy's increasing chagrin
But it's in Louisiana that with Jimmy's vulnerability, combined with his determination to be a better guy for Christy, there seems to be something of a heavy blanket lifted off of this story. All at once I found myself thinking back to certain sentences or paragraphs that I'd read earlier in the book, and I was able to see that on top of there being some deeply woven threads of foreshadowing in there, there was an earnestness that I think I'd missed in Jimmy's thoughts / speech; I'd written him off as a dumb young guy who was flaky and irritating. But he'd been filled with more and more emotions as this trip began. And being a young man he'd simply been trying to couch the sincerity of his feelings in a hard outer shell of sarcasm, cynicism, and nihilism.
I really loved the way everything came together at the exact right time, without actually telling us too much about what happened next. So it wasn't a HEA but more of a "let's hope everything works out well for them" - and that's much more preferable to someone like me, whose own Gen-X heart rarely skips a beat at the sight, sound or storytelling of anything too twee or romantic.
I'm really doing my best to not give any spoilers here, so I know this might all sound wildly batshit, but this isn't a long book. Nor is it difficult to read. In fact it has some genuinely unique insights and perspectives peppered throughout all of the other "slacker-nihilist" schtick. But whereas the first part of the book left me feeling nothing but the desperate need to get it all over with, I'm glad I did stick with it, because both of our characters seem to go on a kind of redemption arc towards the end of the book. And at one point something akin to emotion sorta kicked me in the guts. I floated through those final chapters, misty eyed by the end felt as though I'd been on an emotional rollercoaster throughout the whole book...I just hadn't realised the effect that the earlier chapters had been having on my subconscious.
Is it the greatest piece of fiction every written? Hell no. Was I expecting this to be a weak celebrity offering? Hmm....yeah, kind of. Was I wrong to write it off so soon? Absolutely. Should you give this book a try? Yes.
I'm a sucker for any scenes in a book set in Louisiana anyway to be honest, but it had a greater meaning by the end of the book than I expected to find at the beginning. Yes that Ethan Hawke way of being almost artificially articulate and effortlessly erudite, despite his character not being someone whom we are expected to believe would communicate with such deftly clever, obviously choreographed arguments, is little jarring at first. But you get used to it. And you also start to warm to both of our main characters as the story progresses...to the point where by the end you can't help but find yourself rooting for them.
So, not earth-shattering or mind-blowing, but a pleasant enough read that gets better the longer you stay with it.
(FYI: Yes I know we're supposed to be in 'Nonfiction November' right now, but I was feeling all grumpy and sore when I woke up today, and the task of sorting out a pile of 'maybes' for my NFN TBR pile was getting really exhausting, so I just grabbed this slim volume that I'd read before, and allowed myself a little bit of fiction just once. #WhateverGetsYouThroughTheNight)
I think I picked this book up in a bargain-bin in a book-store, purely because I saw Ethan Hawkes' name on it and was curious to see if the guy was as good a writer as he was an actor. (I'd always found him kinda cute: quirky and intelligent; interesting to watch on screen. And of course, having seen him playing a writer in 'Sinister' I could sort of imagine him sitting down at a typewriter to bleed as he knocked out this book.)
If you've seen Hawke in any of the 'Before Sunrise' or 'Before Sunset' films, you'll know pretty much how the banter between our main characters plays out. Both parties are somehow super-ironic, post-modern, quickly-cynical, and yet incredibly romantic at heart. In 'Ash Wednesday' it was as if I was reading a book set back in New Jersey in the 1980s. It's Tommy and Gina all over again (if Tommy was actually AWOL from the military and Gina was Uma Thurman - sorry Ethan, but the comparisons were too frequent and too immediately recognisable for her not to have been loosely drawn around your wife at the time of this book going to publish; never mind that she would have been pregnant with your son Levon whilst you were writing 'Ash Wednesday'. Heck, knowing how long some authors take to write a book, you could even have been observing her pregnant with Maya a few years earlier too. But I guess it doesn't matter exactly when and what instance was giving you inspiration: the fact is, you're not just writing about what you know here, but who you know. Can't say I'd want to try to try an immortalise any snapshot of my family life, like insects trapped forever in amber. But if you and your ex-missus are okay with it, who am I to judge?
Everything in this book feels dusty. Like the air is so arid it might just cause your lungs to burn, until we get to Louisiana and then it's all humidity and uncomfortable heat, to aggravate all the impossibly happy people celebrating in the carnival. It's really only at this point that things start to ramp up a little after a really slow-burn, and we finally get to see who each of the characters are as fully fledged people. I can see what it is that scares them, excites them and upsets them. Before this point it's a lot of back and forth, with two rather unlikeable characters expressing themselves with the intellectual insouciance and dark cynicism that many of the late boomer / early Gen-X-ers would often vacillate between. The dialogue isn't the most realistic, but it's sometimes fun to read on a page, where all the punctuation shows the reader exactly where all the emphasis lies within each character's outburst.
It often feels more as if Jimmy & Christy are performing monologues - only they end up talking over one another - than speaking, listening and engaging in any real conversation. They both know what they want to do, but aren't exactly convinced that the other has made a definite decision, so we often end up veering off a little from what ought to have been a very well planned itinerary, for a very important trip. It doesn't bode well for one potential outcome when the "flying-by-the-seat-of-one's-pants" approach leaves them stranded in New Orleans during Mardis Gras, with no hotel rooms booked, no idea where they're going to go or what they're going to do. This is typical of Jimmy, who has yet to step up and embrace the maturity and masculinity required to be a man...much to Christy's increasing chagrin
But it's in Louisiana that with Jimmy's vulnerability, combined with his determination to be a better guy for Christy, there seems to be something of a heavy blanket lifted off of this story. All at once I found myself thinking back to certain sentences or paragraphs that I'd read earlier in the book, and I was able to see that on top of there being some deeply woven threads of foreshadowing in there, there was an earnestness that I think I'd missed in Jimmy's thoughts / speech; I'd written him off as a dumb young guy who was flaky and irritating. But he'd been filled with more and more emotions as this trip began. And being a young man he'd simply been trying to couch the sincerity of his feelings in a hard outer shell of sarcasm, cynicism, and nihilism.
I really loved the way everything came together at the exact right time, without actually telling us too much about what happened next. So it wasn't a HEA but more of a "let's hope everything works out well for them" - and that's much more preferable to someone like me, whose own Gen-X heart rarely skips a beat at the sight, sound or storytelling of anything too twee or romantic.
I'm really doing my best to not give any spoilers here, so I know this might all sound wildly batshit, but this isn't a long book. Nor is it difficult to read. In fact it has some genuinely unique insights and perspectives peppered throughout all of the other "slacker-nihilist" schtick. But whereas the first part of the book left me feeling nothing but the desperate need to get it all over with, I'm glad I did stick with it, because both of our characters seem to go on a kind of redemption arc towards the end of the book. And at one point something akin to emotion sorta kicked me in the guts. I floated through those final chapters, misty eyed by the end felt as though I'd been on an emotional rollercoaster throughout the whole book...I just hadn't realised the effect that the earlier chapters had been having on my subconscious.
Is it the greatest piece of fiction every written? Hell no. Was I expecting this to be a weak celebrity offering? Hmm....yeah, kind of. Was I wrong to write it off so soon? Absolutely. Should you give this book a try? Yes.
I'm a sucker for any scenes in a book set in Louisiana anyway to be honest, but it had a greater meaning by the end of the book than I expected to find at the beginning. Yes that Ethan Hawke way of being almost artificially articulate and effortlessly erudite, despite his character not being someone whom we are expected to believe would communicate with such deftly clever, obviously choreographed arguments, is little jarring at first. But you get used to it. And you also start to warm to both of our main characters as the story progresses...to the point where by the end you can't help but find yourself rooting for them.
So, not earth-shattering or mind-blowing, but a pleasant enough read that gets better the longer you stay with it.
January 5, 2026
Rounded up from 3.5 stars
Another book written by an actor. This one, however, was actually good. A little wordy/tedious in spots to where I began to skim a bit, but I enjoyed how the story moved between the two main characters' points of view.
I thought it was a fairly realistic portrayal of a relationship between 20-somethings in the late 1990s, with both of them having occasional misgivings about being together and sometimes feeling as if they hate the other during intense disagreements. (Or perhaps it was realistic just for ME - I remember being like that in my "serious" relationship in my 20s!) They are immature but are coming to realize some hard truths about life and themselves as they navigate an unplanned pregnancy and move toward their 30s. I'm positive that if these characters were real people, they would be getting divorced in 5-7 years. But it was fun to read and remember the pure passion, ambivalence, confusion, drama, and amped up big feelings of a first real love.
Another book written by an actor. This one, however, was actually good. A little wordy/tedious in spots to where I began to skim a bit, but I enjoyed how the story moved between the two main characters' points of view.
I thought it was a fairly realistic portrayal of a relationship between 20-somethings in the late 1990s, with both of them having occasional misgivings about being together and sometimes feeling as if they hate the other during intense disagreements. (Or perhaps it was realistic just for ME - I remember being like that in my "serious" relationship in my 20s!) They are immature but are coming to realize some hard truths about life and themselves as they navigate an unplanned pregnancy and move toward their 30s. I'm positive that if these characters were real people, they would be getting divorced in 5-7 years. But it was fun to read and remember the pure passion, ambivalence, confusion, drama, and amped up big feelings of a first real love.
November 18, 2025
I liked it, but I think my expectations were shooting too high. I really like the writing style though
May 30, 2022
Great writing, but the characters were not likable. I was curious about their life, but I wasn't deeply moved by them.
July 18, 2011
A riveting read that's fresh and vital and funny. Jimmy Heartsock is a young soldier who breaks up with girlfriend Christy Walker only to propose marriage to her eight days later. The story alternates between the narratives of ambivalent and haunted Christy and the rambunctious but earnest Jimmy. The two drive across America via New Orleans and the craziness of Mardi Gras stopping for an express wedding and some pregnancy woes.
I have no idea whether the story is autobiographical or not (and I don't particularly care) but it's very hard not to picture Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman in the leading roles. Somehow my brain put that image in place and it kept chiming with every chapter.
However it's the thoroughly original and distinct voices of the two characters that kept me reading. Christy is cool and dispassionate but at the same time neurotic. Jimmy is rash but a ball of energy. Somehow the chemistry between these two work and somehow Hawke makes the detail and humour intensely joyful. Totally recommended.
I have no idea whether the story is autobiographical or not (and I don't particularly care) but it's very hard not to picture Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman in the leading roles. Somehow my brain put that image in place and it kept chiming with every chapter.
However it's the thoroughly original and distinct voices of the two characters that kept me reading. Christy is cool and dispassionate but at the same time neurotic. Jimmy is rash but a ball of energy. Somehow the chemistry between these two work and somehow Hawke makes the detail and humour intensely joyful. Totally recommended.
July 17, 2015
Mercoledì delle ceneri può essere riassunto così: Jimmy e Christy (o Christy e Jimmy) si amano, punto. Si potrebbe dire solo questo del romanzo di Ethan Hawke o forse si potrebbe aggiungere che oltre all’amore viene raccontata la scelta di un ragazzo e di una ragazza di sposarsi e diventare una famiglia. Perché non è che la famiglia “la si fa”, come spesso orribilmente si dice, ma la famiglia la si deve far diventare e diventare è un verbo Bello ma terribilmente spaventoso perché include un mutamento che non si può prevedere e chi lo può sapere se il dopo sarà altrettanto Bello come il presente che in quel momento successivo sarà ormai il passato.
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March 12, 2018
I'm giving this book four stars because it has believable characters and a fun, obnoxious writing style that successfully reflects the honest passion this book so naturally exudes. The only trouble I had with this book is that the main two characters were clearly based off Ethan Hawke himself and of course his then-wife Uma Thurman. To some this might be an added bonus, but to me it just distracted from the story as I kept trying to ask myself which parts of the fictional relationship were a realistic portrayal of their own marital issues that led to their divorce, etc. Ultimately the story felt too personal/autobiographical for me to find it enjoyable, but it was some great writing.
May 23, 2019
I thoroughly enjoyed this tale of young love. While his characters and their story are not me or mine, Hawke’s writing brought them to life quite vividly. I could empathize with their doubts and fears, their pleasures and discouragements. At heart, their story is everyone’s. And so, it made me care.
Ash Wednesday’s about a love story, but it’s also about two people coming of age. Coming of age at the beginning of Lent, a time of fasting, reflection and self-denial but a time of expectation and hope as well. We’re giving up candy for Lent but Easter’s coming with Chocolate Bunnies and Jelly Beans. The lovers’ story is beginning and maybe their Easter will come. Stay tuned.
Ash Wednesday’s about a love story, but it’s also about two people coming of age. Coming of age at the beginning of Lent, a time of fasting, reflection and self-denial but a time of expectation and hope as well. We’re giving up candy for Lent but Easter’s coming with Chocolate Bunnies and Jelly Beans. The lovers’ story is beginning and maybe their Easter will come. Stay tuned.
February 28, 2008
Again I received this book as a birthday present. It's on par with the first book. At it's heart it is a simple tale, but told in such a way that it keeps your interest. The only reason I gave it 3 stars instead of 4 is because there's a part where he descibes a character as wearing a blue and gold Michigan State sweatshirt. As someone who went to Michigan State I took offence - our colors are green & white - University of Michigan (our main rival) are blue & gold. This mistake is unforgivable so he loses one star.
August 13, 2023
It’s been some time since I read this but I absolutely loved it when I did. I’ve always been an Ethan Hawke fan but his writing felt like his writing. Maybe it was a ghost writer but this was well before the days of every celebrity needing to be in every medium. It was just a road trip book about lost Gen X-ers so it was a great read for me. I think I was in college or just out of when it came out, which helped. I do want to read his other books. We will have to see if it’s still something I like.
August 6, 2007
I wanted the book for a while without knowing much about it, other than Ethan Hawke was the author. My then-boyfriend bought it for me. I was unable to like or even mildly stand any of the characters. The part that most bothered me is early on in the book, when the protagonist's future girlfriend lifts up her skirt and shows him "her pussy" because he said "I'm not afraid of you." I couldn't help but feel this was unrealistic (not to mention irritatingly stupid).
July 14, 2016
Took about 90% of the book for me to have a clue as to what the title meant, but it's meaning turned out to be beautiful and poetically propagated.
I'm excited to read The Hottest State now, for I've gazed into the creative mind of Hawke, and am pleased with what I saw and felt. A little vulgar at times, but at other times heart-breakingly vivid and beautiful. A fine novel by an amazing actor and promising writer.
I'm excited to read The Hottest State now, for I've gazed into the creative mind of Hawke, and am pleased with what I saw and felt. A little vulgar at times, but at other times heart-breakingly vivid and beautiful. A fine novel by an amazing actor and promising writer.
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