Ash Wednesday [Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

Ethan Hawke (Author, Performer)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2002

Ash Wednesday is a piercing new novel from multi-talented actor and writer (The Hottest State) Ethan Hawke about love, marriage, and renewal. Jimmy has gone AWOL from the Army, but he's about to embark on the biggest commitment of his life. Christy is pregnant with Jimmy's first child, and she's heading home, with or without Jimmy, to confront her past and prepare for her future. Barreling across America in a souped-up Chevy Nova, Christy and Jimmy are transformed from passionate but conflicted lovers into a young family on a magnificent journey.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Hawke's protagonist, Jimmy Heartsick, is a bit like Holden Caulfield, except he sports a mustache ("Most guys with mustaches look like fags, but I don't. I touch mine too much, though. I touch it all the time"), drives a '69 Chevy Nova ("I took the muffle out so it sounds like a Harley. People love it") and is an AWOL soldier from Albany, N.Y. Jimmy can be a jerk, but he knows it. He's immature, idealistic, intelligent, honest and painfully self-examining, and is trying to wrap his head around the fact that his girlfriend, Christy, is pregnant with his child. The plot revolves around Jimmy's decision and tumultuous journey to follow Christy home to Texas. Any listeners wondering about the actor's second foray into the world of novel writing (his first, The Hottest State, got mixed reviews) will be pleasantly surprised by the spirited fullness of this tale of love, passion, disillusionment and self-discovery. Hawke's acting prowess is a great asset to his reading of the book. He delivers the book's dual first person narration, which alternates with each chapter, as if it were his own life story, with palpable immediacy and emotion. The result resonates with integrity and soul.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Hawke again departs from the silver screen to bring us this story of AWOL Jimmy and his pregnant girlfriend, who are heading home in a souped-up Chevy Nova to try to straighten out their lives.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: New Millennium Press; Unabridged edition (July 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590072502
• ISBN-13: 978-1590072509
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 4.3 x 2.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (64 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,945,910 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Food for thought and thinking, September 20, 2002

By 

Uncle Elmer "tod3" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ash Wednesday (Hardcover)

Ethan Hawke takes the time to wonder aloud those thoughts we all ponder at one time or another in our lives. Insecure thoughts. Angry thoughts. Proud thoughts. Thoughts of love and desire. He takes all of these sentiments and ties them together into Ash Wednesday which is a ode to human growth and the joys and pains of it. This book is about a man and a woman growing together yet wondering if they should be elsewhere but in the end they feel their time together is worthwhile and stick it out.

This is not a great book but it is a good book and one written by a man of depth and substance brave enough to speak his mind about the wackiness of the human condition.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Read--Do Not Miss This One!!, December 27, 2002

By 

Adam Carter - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ash Wednesday (Hardcover)

I do not deem it necessary to re-hash the plot--since many of the other reviewers have already done so--but also because the plot is not what makes this book great. What worked in this story is mainly the characters. They were real and they were interesting, but what really made the characters work was the point of view. With two main characters, most authors would have gone with an omnicient point of view. Hawke chose to alternate between the two character's first-person points of view, which allows the reader to know the private thoughts and feelings of both characters. When other authors try this technique it usually doesn't work because the reader cannot tell the difference between the speakers, but in this book both characters are so distinct in their personal "voices" that you can always tell which one is speaking. I didn't exactly fall in love with the characters from the beginning, but they kind of grew on me and I found myself wanting to know--even CARING--about what happened to them. In the end, I was satisfied with this book and glad that I had read it. I also enjoyed Hawke's first novel, The Hottest State, and if and when there is a third, I will be sure not to miss that one either.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A REALISTIC, POIGNANT STORY, August 4, 2002

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ash Wednesday (Hardcover)

What happened to actor/director/author Ethan Hawke between "The Hottest State" (1996) and his second novel "Ash Wednesday"? He became a writer of note.

Hawke has fashioned a realistic, poignant story of two lovers, young lovers who must, of necessity, find themselves or lose each other.

Staff Sergeant Jimmy Heartsock, a rather capricious Kent State dropout, has gone AWOL. He's also gone AWOL from Christy, his pregnant girlfriend, who issued him an either or - either come home with me to Texas or we're over. When Jimmy opted for the "or" she boarded a bus for the Lone Star state, after whispering, "You make me sick....People have always told me about this feeling, but I've never had it. It's awful." She spoke these words with "empty eyes, as if it were already two years later."

While he is impulsive and immature, with drugs as "the most invigorating thing" in his life, Jimmy is given to introspection. After some mental reassessment he decides to go after Christy. He catches up with her, and they begin the cross country trip in his `69 Chevy Nova.

It is during this journey that the pair reveal themselves to each other and to the reader through an interesting strategy - the use of dual first person narrators. It is very effective. As Hawke said in an interview he thought this was simply the natural way to tell his story of two lovers.

"I think there's a value to having a dual perspective on a story," he added.

There is value, indeed, as readers are privy to both the thoughts and words of Jimmy and Christy as they come to realize what is important in life and love.

- Gail Cooke