Ash Wednesday

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Summary: Jimmy & Christy's Story
Review: Jimmy and Christy are in their early twenties. They love each other, but are unable to allow themselves to be loved. She's pregnant and running home to Texas to try to deal with her confused life. Jimmy goes AWOL and their trip to Ohio and Texas begins. They've got a lot of junk to deal with from their childhood and the soul searching begins. At times I loved the two main characters and other times I hated them. Sometimes the story seems like a love story and other times it's a pitty party. The story kept my interest, not as a classic novel, but just as a simple tale of two kids trying to grow up.

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Summary: A story of disorder and early sorrow.
Review: The story, Ash Wednesday, written by Ethan Hawke, revolves around two young adults, Jimmy and Christy, who are very much in love with eachother, but not able to love themselves. Over the journey to marriage, Jimmy and Christy learn many things about eachother and their own lives that they never knew. I really liked this book because it dealt with many real life situations. It shows growth between a couple and not just the good sides. This book awakens people to the reality of a marriage and pregnancy at a young age. It also brings in to play the risk of losing something so precious to you. I could relate to this book in more ways than one because I, myself have experienced terrible loses more than once. Although having read another book of Ethan Hawke's, The Hottest State, I'd have to say I did not enjoy this book as much. I am looking forward to more books from this author and I hope that he only grows as a writer.

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Summary: Unlikeable Characters
Review: This is the story of two unlikeable characters who profess to be in love with each other. Not only did I not like them, but it is obvious that neither likes him/herself and during much of the book each other. The characters are girl and boyfriend. She gets pregnant, they break up, he insists he wants to marry her, she insists on going home (why is never clear to her or to a reader) and he insists on taking her. On the way they get married and talk and talk and think and think.

There are many books that are enhanced by characters who are not likeable. This, however, is not one. The author goes back and forth from one to the other telling the story. They do not only tell the story, however. The reader is treated to their inner-most thoughts and dime store psychoanalysis of themselves, the other one and any other person who happens into the book.

This constant analysis gets tedious to say the least. Not only is it tedious, it does not fit the characters. The male, for instance can hardly string a sentence together - at one point he uses the word "perturbed" hoping he used it correctly - yet his thoughts are filled with what we are to believe are intellectual insights and deep analysis. Frankly, the characters were too dumb for the thoughts the author was putting into their heads.

I always shudder when I hear someone say: "I'm the type of person who..." because most of the time they are the furthest thing from that type of person. This book was page after page of that same type of high-brow psycho-analysis. Mr. Hawke may be a great actor and may have been jilted out of an Oscar, but as an author I put him in the so-so range and would not recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Quite satisfying
Review: Ethan Hawke has delved into the very core of life in this engaging portrayal of a young man's owning up to the responsibiities that go with love. The story of James and Christy rang true in its honesty and caught my attention so avidly that I read the book in one afternoon. I'd highly recommend it for anyone interested in learning more about the complexities of love. Through his characters and their family relationships, Hawke shows us why people come together. By his clever mingling of heartfelt conversations and glimpses into the lives of his minor characters, Hawke manages to make his point that staying together isn't a given. Successful marriages do not just happen. In this story, understanding, empathy and honesty are shown to be as important as love.

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Summary: Ethan Hawke Strikes Gold
Review: Ethan Hawke writes another wonderful tale of Human emotion and its effects in Ash Wednesday. He presents us with Jimmy and Christy, two people who still have no idea what it is all about, and Hawke exploits their every emotion within his words. The plot is simple but amazing at the same. A simple road trip, the discover each other even though, their inner monlogues say other wise. Hawke has the great talent of weaving human emotions together and allowing the reader to enter the character's mind at a deep level. If you love The Hottest State, you'll fall deeper with Ash Wednesday.

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Summary: The multi-talented Ethan Hawke
Review: Well, I will be honest: I wasn't expecting to be impressed by this book, and it did exceed my expectations. Although, I have to say that Jimmy and Christy were difficult to like, especially with Jimmy telling her things like "I am going to have affairs" and her just accepting that with a smile on her face. I'm no feminist-but come on!! Any woman who can listen to a man tell her that and accept it, well, that is hard for me to swallow. Other than that, I think you have to give Ethan Hawke some credit. Not only is he a good actor but he seems to be a halfway decent author as well. This isn't a great book, but it's ok, and it is hard to put down once you get started.

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Summary: the best book i have ever read
Review: this was the best book that i have read ever, it is a story of 2 down and out lovers who find that they have no one else but each other and their unborn child. The detail to setting and feelings is amazing this cross country search for their future will leave you wanting more. BUT-The story can get boring and drawn out during a basketball scene and the ending leaves you wondering, BUT AGAIN it truly makes you think about that one love that you had way back when and what if the two of you's made it last? A good read, I love it and seach for books to come close to the work displayed in this novel.

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Summary: Story of "real" youthful self-discovery
Review: At 29, Jimmy Heartsock doesn't think too much of himself. He longs to be someone he can admire. He had joined the Army on a whim after his father's suicide and hates it. But he didn't know what else to do at the time, looking for some order in his life. Christy, his 26-year-old girlfriend, is pregnant with his child. All she wants is to get to her hometown of Houston, a home she left behind 10 years ago. Together they embark on a rocky journey of self-discovery, an emotional road-trip from Albany to New Orleans to Texas in a souped-up '69 Chevy Nova. Although Jimmy thinks he's on official leave, the Army list him as AWOL. Jimmy and Christy contemplate their feelings and beliefs about love, marriage, parenthood and life. They're both still trying to figure out who they really are. Together they'll find out.

"Truly loving somebody else should never be confused with a good time. Loving somebody is just as painful and disappointing as it is getting to know yourself. It's probably the only thing worth doing, but that doesn't mean it's gonna be a picnic." - Jimmy Heartsock.

Actor, now writer, Ethan Hawke, shows us how many young people deal with self-worth and discovery of themselves, how the world is seen through their eyes. Very well-written in a dual first-person narration, Hawke's raw and honest writing style truly defines his characters' personas. I felt I knew them well and understood the uncertainties of their world and themselves. It was obvious to me which character was speaking, being so different from each other. The written dialogue was great: honest and real.

Rating:
Summary: Good to read from a good actor!
Review: The relation of a woman and a man during the premarital status and afterwards: it could have not been told in a better way. The conversation type of writing makes the story exciting. In some chapters, I couldn't just stop reading. The story contains peak points, and clues about "American way of life" but I was quite disappointed in Ethan Hawke's lack of knowledge about Istanbul.

Rating:
Summary: Getting better all the time
Review: Maybe Ethan Hawke has a truly grand novel inside him somewhere. _Ash Wednesday_ shows a considerable leap in quality from _The Hottest State_ (more complex characters, more cohesive plot). This novel is a little dialogue-heavy, circling over and over the same arguments and thought patterns until it becomes slightly hypnotic. I also found a particular plot point amusing (and jarring at the time)--Mr. Hawke may have once been like these characters but he certainly isn't now, or else he would have spotted this discrepancy. From everything I've been told, a totally broke couple who planned their honeymoon on the spur of the moment could never get a hotel room anywhere near Bourbon Street the day before Mardi Gras.