Two People, Three Lives, One Love Is there anything more terrifying than being in love? Jimmy Heartsock is so afraid of losing his love Christy, he is going A Wol from the army and chasing after her in order to propose marriage - in a frozen car park. Christy is terrified, not so much that she's going to have a baby, but because if she takes on Jimmy Heartsock, she may end up with two. How does anyone, ever, make it down the aisle? Can Jimmy stop looking vainly into mirrors, taking recreational drugs, or blaming his father for committing suicide - will he ver grow up? Can Christy stop feeling that their destiny together is to break each other's hearts, that there is a glass wall between her and the world and that her Texan politician father could avert any calamity - if only she deserved it? Are they a couple so afraid of falling, it would be easier to jump? Will they, won't they mess this thing up? As the unforgettable lovers drive across America, confronting family history, personal hangups and questions they've never even asked each other before - about faith, death and learning how to live - the reader is caught up in a sensationally moving, funny and nail-biting drama of love in our time.
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Amazon Review
The second book from the multi-talented actor Ethan Hawke, Ash Wednesday is a sparsely written "road" novel that explores with some tenderness those perennially thorny issues of modern life: love and commitment. Staff Sergeant Jimmy Heartsock is a typical, if admittedly irresponsible and drug-addled, GI Joe. He's a regular guy, obsessed with his souped-up Cherry Nova car, fond of "drinking and talking about ass, bowling, driving fast and basketball" with his numbnut army buddies. He is however, hopelessly in love with Christy Ann Walker, his beautiful, if slightly mixed-up, and now pregnant girlfriend.
Unable to cope with imminent fatherhood, he breaks up with Christy and embarks on a crystal meth frenzy that culminates in him hideously botching an assignment to inform a woman of her son's death. He resolves to change, get his girl back and grow up (although he begins his odyssey by maturely opting to go AWOL from the Army). Christy has made a few decisions of her own, she's had enough of Jimmy and she's off home to Texas. Luckily Jimmy, armed with Christy's cat Grace, catches up with his love at the New York bus station and getting down on his knees in the middle of an ice-encrusted car park proposes marriage. After a bout of car window-steaming lovemaking, they agree to visit Jimmy's mother in Ohio, tie the knot and start a new life in Texas.
The physical, emotional and spiritual realities of this journey, of course, prove more arduous than either first expects. Along the way the protagonists meet an odd array of well-meaning religious seers--including a sunglass-wearing Muslim drunk, the Heartsock's family priest and a tramp with a Jesus complex--and, more convincingly, are forced to come to terms the scars from their past. Both had troubled home lives--Jimmy's father was a mentally unstable Vietnam vet who committed suicide and Christy never really knew her mother. Hawke sensitively examines the difficulty of planning a family and a future when you still haven't come to turns with your own upbringing. --Travis Elborough
Review
" An engrossing story of men and women, parents and children, love and loneliness" -- She, September 2002
"He tells a warm, engaging and often very funny tale" -- Independent on Sunday, 20th October 2002
"If you liked 'The Hottest State', then 'Ash Wednesday' is a must read" -- Latest Homes, 4th September 2002
"The actor swaps script for manuscript well, result being a novel not without sentiment, but very low on mawkishness." -- I-D Magazine September 2002
"This kid can write" -- The Guardian, 19th October 2002
"it is a marvellous novel" -- Daily Telegraph, 22nd September 2002
"read tot he end, you won’t be disappointed" -- Glamour, September 2002
"He tells a warm, engaging and often very funny tale" -- Independent on Sunday, 20th October 2002
"If you liked 'The Hottest State', then 'Ash Wednesday' is a must read" -- Latest Homes, 4th September 2002
"The actor swaps script for manuscript well, result being a novel not without sentiment, but very low on mawkishness." -- I-D Magazine September 2002
"This kid can write" -- The Guardian, 19th October 2002
"it is a marvellous novel" -- Daily Telegraph, 22nd September 2002
"read tot he end, you won’t be disappointed" -- Glamour, September 2002
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The Hottest State was decent stab at a good novel but despite some good passages fell short of the mark overall. Not so Ash Wednesday. Hawke hits the ground running with a cracking first chapter and seldom puts a foot wrong from there. Jimmy Heartsock is strung out on speed, fed up with his life in the US Army and realises he's turned his back on the only good thing in his life: Christy. We spend most of the book following the two of them down the road; each taking turns to narrate. Hawke has given them distinctive voices and the contrast in their perception of their relationship & the events around them is spot on. I was completely absorbed by what was going on and found it hard to do anything but read after picking the book up. The action is described beautifully and Hawke has a good ear for dialogue. Jimmy's options as a man are spelled out a little too obviously towards the end, but that's a minor gripe. What precedes it is a serious, honest, funny, spiritually searching love story about two people trying to make sense of themselves, each other and the world around them. Overall a seriously good read and one that marks Ethan Hawke out as a writer to watch.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
It has been a long time since a book has smashed my preconceptions to pieces, however, Ethan Hawk`s Ash Wednesday did just that. From the first chapter to the last page, this book demands to be read. Hawk`s achievement rests on the involving narrative structure, the exploration of the books themes and motifs and Hawk`s uncanny ability to write a moving, but honest novel.
The book centers on the story of two lovers, Jimmy Heartsock and Christy Ann Walker, over the course of the couples troubled pregnancy. By dividing the narrative structure, Hawk allows the story to unfold through the view point of both characters. The results are that Hawk has not only constructed an amusing book, but also a very moving story as well.
Ash Wednesday is a story about love, however, Hawk is not afraid of examining socities prevailing notions of masculinity, the book confronts how the past forever haunts the future whilst highlighting Human kinds need for companionship and community over the excesses of the individual hedonism.
The book has its short falls, as Hawk uses the tired formula of the damaged Vietnam vet as a basis for madness, however ths is a fine piece of work that highlights that Hawk may yet have the potential to write a classic piece of literature.
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
This is brilliant.If you thought "The Hottest State" was good, you are in for an even bigger treat (if that's possible?!!)Ethan's writing is magnificent, and he really knows how to get to grips with thew thorny issues of sex and romance, and all the problems that go with them. If you're anything like me, you will swallow this up in one sitting and then wish it could have gone on forever. If you want to read a really good book with a fantastic strory, you should buy "Ash "Wednesday".
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