I also became obsessed with Ethan Hawke this year and I had it so bad for him that I even read his debut novel.

I think Ethan Hawke is the least talented published author I have ever come across.

The Hottest State was all about a guy named William that never really cared too much about anyone. Things kind of just came easy to him & he got whatever he wanted until he meets a girl named Sarah and all that changes. Williams relationship with Sarah takes him on this very unexpected journey of emotions he had never felt before. He starts to fall deeply in love without even knowing it and these feelings for Sarah cause him to do very unnecessary things. William then begins to lose himself over this experience.

Ethan Hawke is an actor, author, and director. He is from New York, which is where I am from as well. The fact that Hawke is an actor and director helps with his writing because he knows what type of movies or books people would be entertained by and will enjoy. He mostly shows his skills in directing in this novel because of all the action and detail involved in the novel.

Overall this book is a 4. I would read more books like these. This novel really showed me how strong and powerful love really is and how much it can control a person the do things they wouldn’t normally do. I would recommend this book to teenagers because it can show them how even adults go through all this pain. The fact that adults don’t know everything and have all their lives figured out can really open a teenagers eyes into realizing that they have time and they are not alone.

I like Ethan Hawke as an actor. He’s quite understated, yet intense. Sensitive and self-aware. And he surely has playing the broody, conflicted man/boy down. Those character-centric qualities are ever-present in his first novel, The Hottest State, though they certainly don’t translate as well through his words as they do through his performances.

I must admit I was intrigued to read this because I had read most negative reviews of it. Why that piques my interest, I couldn’t say. I don’t typically seek out reading novels written by celebrities. In fact, I don’t think I ever have read one written by anyone else. But I just sort of stumbled on it while perusing the bookshelves at the library and thought, why not give it a go?

It’s not bad. It’s just…forgettable. The protagonist is needy and pathetic. He latches on to a plain-Jane girl, Sarah, and becomes instantly enamored with her and grows increasingly frustrated when he can’t quite figure her out, or why she doesn’t reciprocate his feelings in the some comparable manner. She is guarded and cautious, scared and self-conscious. And because it told in first person from William’s perspective, as readers, we aren’t privy to the inner workings of Sarah. But William speculates and obsesses. And he has strange urges, such as hoping she will get pregnant or spontaneously proposing marriage. He recognizes his oddities and attributes them to a childhood of being raised without a father. He laments on the memories he has of his father, how he wishes he could have been there. How he wouldn’t be so fucked up of he were.

It’s isn’t some psychological examination, this novel. It takes place in a rather short span of time. A few weeks, really. That’s how long it takes for this relationship to begin and blossom and then deteriorate and end. More than anything it is a coming-of-age story about a man in his early twenties trying to figure out a way to exist in a world he doesn’t quite like or understand.

As for the creative merits of the book, there are few. The prose is pedestrian and plain, lacking any sense of whimsy or flow. It could almost be a diary for William. Likewise, the dialogue is sort of odd an unnatural in many instances, often times taking you out of the story.

I can’t say I recommend it. Again, it’s not bad. It’s just missing something, I think. And I suppose it didn’t help that I found the protagonist kind of unlikable. He even creeped me out a bit. In the end, I just didn’t understand how he formed such intense emotions and pursued this romantic relationship. At times, he didn’t even seem to like Sarah. SO why bother?

I guess the same could be said for The Hottest State.

OMG YOU GUYS did you know that Ethan Hawke wrote a novel? Two novels, actually. And now you know all that you need to know about this book.

I don’t even fully understand why in giving this book a 5 stars. I don’t know how to describe this book. I don’t know how to summarize this book. To be honest i don’t even know how to give a review on this book. Not because it was bad, but because it was so captivating. the entire time i’m reading this book, i scratch my head on what the characters are experiencing or doing. For some odd reason, i loved the story. It was so raw, vivid and real. Because of that, i couldn’t put it down, i read it in a day. As i’m writing this, i’m still confused why i’m giving it 5 stars. Maybe ill never know why, maybe its a mystery.

a must read if you want a raw and not so happy romance.

If you are running out of reasons to find Ethan Hawke annoying, hunt down a copy of this and try reading the first chapter or two.

Pure literary sewage of the Generation X slacker milieu that one finds depicted in movies like the author's Reality Bites or by limited film director Kevin Smith. It is a simple story that masquerades as a complex, insightful, and pretentious one depicting the pathetic romance between a temper tantrum throwing Texan with mommy and daddy troubles and his girlfriend who won't sleep with him. The book does deserve at least one star for the complaints that it got for its depiction of women.

This is one of my favorite books. Just read it. Don't judge it by it's author's name.

I can't explain why I love this book, I've read it several times over the years and although I get older and hopefully change some of my viewpoints, this book hits me every time... Maybe because it's simple, sincere, straightforward, but at the same time one of the warmest books I've ever read.

I read this such a long time ago, when it first came out. It's a novella, not a novel, per se. The characters felt familiar and the angst of William loving someone who didn't even know if she "liked" him half the time much less "loved" him gave the piece an honest vibe.

However, the lack of details throughout left me frustrated. Sarah is a nanny yet never seems to work, though she still manages to afford a New York apartment. William is an actor. He's successful enough to make a living at it, yet never mentions rehearsing, auditioning, directors, other actors, or the hassles of trying to get ahead in what is surely a difficult industry.

Sketchy details continue when William gets a part in an "independent movie" which is shooting in Europe. He never mentions what the part is, and for whatever baffling reason, Sarah doesn't bother asking. When he trades in his first-class ticket for two coach tickets so Sarah can go with him, I was ready to finally bond with them, and believe in their relationship. I was thinking of them tackling Europe together, across an ocean with only each other to cling to. They aren't well-traveled characters but for some reason meet the rush of their new and exciting surroundings with ho-hum attitudes. Shouldn't at least one of them want to have fun? Go sightseeing? Get swept away? It's as if nothing but the back and forth of maybe-I-like-you-or-maybe-I-don't mattered to either of them. I know it was a catalyst for William coming to terms with his father later on, but Sarah comes off as a manipulative child rather than sympathetic.

I did like William's relationship with his mother. That twinge of loneliness and spending Thanksgiving in "another" house, with "another" of his mother's boyfriends, when there had been so many of them sort of broke my heart. Kudos for that.

Took a long break after the first third of the book, and then read the rest on one day. I love the way he writes dialogue, it seems as though you’re standing right next to the people talking. The story itself was a bit weird, but somehow still very enjoyable.