An incredibly visceral, raw wound of a book, perfectly detailing everyone's experience of obsessive, passionate love that ends badly.

'I loved that stupid girl so much', he says. If you can't identify with that statement on some level, you have no heart...

A great debut from a promising author, who has far surpassed expectations as an actor/writer/artist.

A quick read that's very easy to pick up again, even if it has the effect of giving you an ear to ear grin at the start and ending with you feeling like you've been gutted.

An incredible, emotional experience.

A lot of people wouldn’t pick up this book after reading who the author is, and with great confidence, they would say that actors should just leave literature to writers. But this is no Paris-Hilton-esque novel of egotism. American actor Ethan Hawke is best known for his lead roles in “Reality Bites,” “Before Sunrise,” its sequel “Before Sunset,” and “Hamlet,” but he decided to make room for one more skill in his biography, and that is writing.

In his debut novel, he sketches the story of William Harding, a young man who had just moved to New York trying to make it as an actor. He then meets Sarah, a songwriter and a singer, in a bar called The Bitter End, and soon the two began a relationship. It might be any other kind of love story, with Hawke portraying scenes from a reality-checked relationship: the obsessive, unhealthy kind of love; the anguish of loss; and the ins and outs of a relationship.

He pens with wit and a poetic, cliche-free style the complicated ways and behaviors of women and how they twist an average man’s mind. He effortlessly but dramatically drags the story of William and Sarah from New York to Paris where they unofficially got married, for after which, William would have to leave for a month’s acting. But when he returns to NYC, Sarah wasn’t the same, confused, and was ready to leave him.

The last chapters evoke how William struggles to deny and then accept this bitter truth, emerge from the downfall, and know his best self in the worst times. While Hawke has written a second novel entitled Ash Wednesday, I think that nothing of his work in the future would ever compare to how personal The Hottest State has made readers feel, with its vividly real characters and heartbreaking yet moving twists.

Reread on January 6, 1998
Reread on April 21, 1999
Reread on April 30, 2006

One of my faves.

Apparently this book doesn't actually exist in print...anywhere. But if it happens to show up, I might read it.

Quanto è difficile innamorarsi e capire la persona che si ama? Quanto è difficile distinguere i sentimenti presenti da quelli che ci hanno segnato nell'infanzia? Si inizia a leggere e si fa fatica a smettere. Si ama e si odia Sarah, ci si innamora delle fragilità di William. Ci si dimentica che l'autore è un blasonato attore. Merita la lettura.

Meh. I don't dislike Ethan Hawke...but the thing is that Ethan Hawke is, clearly, very fond of Ethan Hawke. So fond he's essentially written a book about what it's like to be Ethan Hawke and what people think of Ethan Hawke...sort of a novella sized "Enough about me...what do you think of me?" Except that by fictionalizing the character, the author becomes both narrator and subject. And Ethan Hawke is not interesting or talented enough to pull that off.

I think Hawke was my first movie star crush growing up. Read this book in high school.
He manifests so many great projects, that he makes me proud to say such a thing.

I just loved this. Gen X love.

What a putz.

revisitei esse livro quase 15 anos depois da primeira leitura.
não lembrava da história com detalhes e o fato de ter visto o filme logo em seguida da primeira vez, fez com que as coisas se confundissem na memória.
mas lembro da sensação de que pensar que o amor, a paixão era algo parecido àquilo que estava escrito.
num ímpeto de bebedeira procurei o livro na internet à um mês atrás. achei e comprei.
li em dois dias e posso dizer que fez jus a minha lembrança.
agora sou mais velha que os personagens, mas Etha Hawke consegue capturar o que é a intensidade da paixão. Esse cliché do impulso jovem do que é gostar de alguém.
fiquei com vontade de sentir isso de novo, essa irracionalidade da paixão.
William é um jovem cheios de clichés da masculinidade, que justifica seus erros e sua intensidade no amor, que idealiza Sarah ao ponto de não vê-la de verdade. Mas a personagem da Sarah está escrita como alguém que se posiciona, que existe para além do olhar de William.
ansiosa pra me reencontrar com esse livro daqui 15 anos.

It's been probably 10 years since I read this. I remember it being good then. I love Ethan as an actor and wanted to see what his writing was like. I didn't see the movie version they put out. They're usually never as good.

I think it's fucked up how characters like William in The Hottest State will sometimes be considered passionate or tortured when really, when you look at all of the information laid before you, you can see that they are just manipulative, neglectful and abusive.

This book is basically about a boy, who thinks he's a man, whine and complain as the girl he likes dares not to like him back. How dare she, right? How can she even think it? He's all charm and swagger, is he not? So how can he overcome this? Call her a bitch for not wanting to hang out with him. Make her feel small for not wanting to have sex with him. Think, multiple times, about raping her for his own sordid pleasure. Actually attempt to rape her. Succeed in raping her. Smash, break, throw and destroy things in a fit of childish rage when she finally frees herself from him. Stalk and harass her to show her what she's lost. Then finally he believes he's better than she is and can continue his life. Brilliant, Mr. Hawke. Brilliant. You deserve a Pulitzer. 1/5

Worst. Book. Ever.