I enjoyed every minutes spent reading this book. I often feel hard to empathise with Jimmy and Christy sometimes but they're how real people are. That's the strength of this book; it describes each character so well and make it reasonable to understand their course of actions. Also, Hawke didn't leave any detail forgotten, like Grace the cat and the road trip views.

Also, I kinda see Christy in Gwyneth Paltrow's image for her classy gesture and beauty.

I only read this because I couldn't believe it was THE Ethan Hawke as author. It wasn't the worst book I've ever read, but it wasn't far off. It just really seemed to me that Ethan was trying his best to write about scumbags whilst envisioning what they were like when viewed from his ivory tower. The characters are bizarre to say the least and not very interesting fundamentally. There's barely any repercussions to any of their actions and they behave cartoonish the majority of the time. Safe to say that this book will be slotted into the penny dreadful section of my family library.

TLDR, would not recommend. Pretty shite.

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 had heard that actor Ethan Hawke was a decent writer, so I paid the end-of-the-day League of Women Voters $5 a bag price and threw in Hawke’s Ash Wednesday (2002, 221 pages). I wouldn’t call Hawke a great stylist, but like many actors he does his homework. In 2022, he was a young whelp of 32 and something of a Generation X icon. Ash Wednesday could be seen as a dressed-down version of the role he played in the 1995 film, Before Sunrise, though no one would necessarily confuse the novel’s Christy with Julie Delpy. Both Before Sunrise and Ash Wednesday, though, are about the heat of romantic passion and the desperation felt by the realization that the respective relationships are inherently doomed. Jimmy is a working class kid who falls hard for Christy, messes things up, gets her pregnant, and gets her back by going AWOL from the Army. Theirs is a high-speed road trip romance in a souped-up Chevy Nova that begins in Albany and ends up in Texas via New Orleans. Jimmy’s inexperienced and perhaps not all that bright and Christy is a wild child who might be bipolar. Neither is ready for adulthood. The language is rough in places, but Hawke had an ear for Gen X ‘Tude-speak. Not fine literature but a breeze of a read. ★★★ ½
--Rob Weir

Reminiscent of Before Midnight.

So, Ethan Hawke's a pretty good writer. I didn't know he had written several novels until recently, and with "Ash Wednesday" now behind me, I'll likely check out his others. The story is nothing groundbreaking, a young man goes AWOL from the army and has a serious of tense conversations with his pregnant girlfriend as they plan to get married and drive from New York to Texas, but the characters are well drawn and the dialogue pops fairly well off the page. Hawke sets himself up for a challenge early on, having his lead character deliver the news of an army man's death to the dead man's family, all while hopped up on cocaine. He comes off like a real P.O.S., and in some ways he is one of those, but the guy opens up to you as you continue, and Hawke conjures up some honest sympathy for the man.

The book switches between POV's, the guy's and his girlfriend's, and I do think the guy is written a little better than the girl, but she's got more than one dimension, and her character becomes more interesting as the story progresses.

"Ash Wednesday" is funny, too, this isn't some dreary slog through a couple days in the lives of two bums. I'm always impressed when rich, famous people branch out from their fields. Sometimes it works, but usually you're more like, Well, he's an actor not a writer . . . I'm not suggesting Hawke should depart from his day job duties any time soon, but he's definitely got some talent with a pen.

I'm thrilled to have finally read one of Ethan's novels. 'Ash Wednesday' is a great read, with a raw dialogue, and a realistic conversation between a non-conventional duo with Jimmy and Christy. The story carried well and story was easy to follow. Reads a lot like Ethan's voice. Enjoyable read!

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).

Preso in mano per curiosità: vediamo se il bravo attore sa anche scrivere? Dopo il primo terzo del libro è sorto il dubbio: vale la pena andare avanti? Ho deciso di andare fino in fondo ma dopo la conclusione mi è rimasta poco più che questa domanda: perché scrivere se non hai niente da raccontare? La storia della ragazza incinta e del suo fidanzato che si lasciano, litigano ma poi si sposano perché si amano potrebbe anche essere di interesse se raccontasse i processi psichici dei protagonisti, il loro sviluppo interiore. Purtroppo però gran parte del libro consiste in infiniti monologhi noiosi, sconclusionati e confusionali, dialoghi spesso pieni di banalità e luoghi comuni che non aiutano a conoscere o approfondire i caratteri. Ci sono scene inverosimili, i ricordi dei protagonisti non contribuiscono a capire meglio il loro presente. I personaggi non suscitano simpatia, interesse, emozione e alla fine del libro rimangono allo stesso punto di stato confusionale e livello infantile al quale erano all'inizio.
Salvo solo l'episodio dell'incontro tra il futuro marito e il vecchio sacerdote, dove nel dialogo l'autore è riuscito a infilare un pò di humor.

The book really only starts getting into gear around the halfway mark. It's not badly written but a little too self-indulgent at the start. However, the second half is nice, plot evolves more fluently, observations are held in line. The characters develop a little sluggish for their plain background. They managed to hit their tone for me only in the last quarter really, which is where the book comes to its cinematic development. It's a road trip after all.

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.

Dies war mein zweites Buch von Ethan Hawke, den ich als Schauspieler sehr bewundere, und ich hatte mich sehr auf seinen nachdenklichen Schreibstil gefreut.
Die beiden Protagonisten Christy und Jimmy sind auch ziemlich gut gezeichnet. Besonders Jimmy hat seine Fehler, aber auch sehr liebevolle Charakterzüge.
Mit Christy hatte ich aber auch meine Probleme, die das Buch für mich sehr anstrengend gemacht haben.
Denn im Grunde geht es in dem Buch darum, wer man eigentlich selbst ist, wie man seine eigene Zukunft sieht, wie man liebt und ob man den Partner an seiner Seite auch wirklich liebt.
Und Christy war in dieser Hinsicht ein einziges Hin und Her. Das Schlimme war, dass sich ihre Ansichten innerhalb weniger Sätze geändert haben, einfach nach Lust und Laune, sodass ich sie schon nach wenigen Kapiteln nicht mehr ernst nehmen konnte.
Dazu kam noch, dass Hawke hier einige Textpassagen hatte, die ich nur als Geschwafel abtun kann. Sie taten kaum was für die Story oder die Charakterentwicklung und waren wohl einfach Dinge, über die er gerne mal schreiben wollte.
Ich finde es schade, dass mir diese Geschichte nicht viel gegeben hat, würde aber jederzeit ein weiteres Buch von Hawke lesen.