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.

Powerful Gen X Road Trip Love Story

Ash Wednesday is one of my favorite books! I read it when it was originally published in 2002 and have picked it back up many times over the years. The story is fast-paced, engaging, and moving.

This is a beautiful and transformative Gen X love story that takes place during a very unexpected road trip that runs parallel to intense changes occurring for both our main characters. It's a story of growth, failure, faith, vulnerability, fear, healing, love, trust, renewal, hope, and above all, humanity. Our characters are flawed and entirely loveable.

These scenes in this book pop so much that you feel as if you are right there with the characters. The surprisingly honest, tender, and sometimes painful dialogue is unforgettable.

Ethan Hawke did an incredible job of portraying the broad spectrum of mental health during a time when these issues were not represented with compassion or understanding.

If you are looking for a love story that feels as if you are in the passenger seat next to the love of your life, rolling down the highway at sunset, listening to Wild Horses on the radio while holding your hand out the window to feel the wind, this is the book for you.

Libro stupendo.

Much like Hawke’s 2021 novel A Bright Ray of Darkness, Ash Wednesday reads like a series of monologues. However unlike ABROD, Ash Wednesday is unoriginal and uninspiring. I would’ve quit if his audiobook performance hadn’t been so enthusiastic.

If you’re curious about Hawke’s writing, skip this and go straight for the 2021 novel - or better yet, the audiobook.

I do like his acting, but also his writing style

I read the beginning, but got tired of the swagger, and so skipped to the end. I want to like your books, Ethan Hawke, but I wasn't feeling this one today.

very sincere and committed. quite clear that Hawke infused Jimmy with a great deal of his own meandering philosophical and religious musings, which really is a joy to read. some of the book has aged hilariously bad, but overall, it’s a solid read and quite the story. and of course, love the Thomas Merton shout in the acknowledgments (his influence is all over several characters). would recommend

Not bad! Guess Hawke does it better this time !

This was one of those books that grabs your attention from the very first page and keeps it to the very last line.
I look forward to reading more from Ethan Hawke.

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.

Was this written by Ethan Hawke or Jesse? Is there a difference?

I actually ddin't even finish this, but got halfway through and realized that I didn't care one way or the other about it's characters, at which point i figured it would be a waste of good reading time to force myself through it.