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List Price: $12.95 | | Publisher: Vintage
Salesrank: 400228
Released: June 10, 2003 |
| Our Price: $2.94 |
| Used Price: $0.01 |
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| Media: Paperback |
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Editorial Review:
From the actor, director, and writer Ethan Hawke: a piercing novel of love, marriage, and renewal.
Jimmy is AWOL from the army, but—with characteristic fierceness and terror—he’s about to embark on the biggest commitment of his life. Christy is pregnant with Jimmy’s child, and she’s determined to head home, with or without Jimmy, to face up to her past and prepare for the future. Somehow, barreling across America from Albany to New Orleans to Ohio and Texas in a souped-up Chevy Nova, Christy and Jimmy are transformed from passionate but conflicted lovers into a young family on a magnificent journey.
Ash Wednesday is a novel of blazing emotion and remarkable grace, a tale that captures the intensity—the excitement, fear, and joy—of being on the threshold of the mysterious country of marriage and parenthood. Powerful, assured, large of heart, and punctuated by moments of tremendous humor, it represents, for Hawke the novelist, a major leap forward.
Ash Wednesday Reviews:
I made it through the entire book 
2008-11-28 - This is not an easy task with Hawke's book b/c the characters are narcissistic and stifling. The writing is not revelatory, but there is a heart to the book and that is offered quite sincerely. Neither character is one you'd necessarily like to sit down with for dinner (well maybe Christy, b/c she is depicted as being very sexually-attractive and her mood changes are interesting).But this is a book I felt like putting down a couple of times b/c it doesn't have a real strong narrative drive, but I stayed with it, found the male character endearing and honest, and ended up enjoying it pretty much.
You've got to deliver the goods if yer gonna write a "road" novel 
2008-02-05 - This novel is what would happen if a jazz-less, dyslexic Jack Kerouac collided head on with an adolescent version of Tom Wolfe. Hawke's prose hustles along in a cute, jingly-jangley sort of way stuck somewhere between immature versions of the above mentioned authors. This novel isn't bad, but it isn't good either. We see genuine flashes of exceptional writing, but a lack of consistency. The story is occasionally graceful, but the characters often present themselves as clichés. Hawke manages to tell his story but at no point does a definitive, individualized style present itself. Ethan never puts his stamp on this one and we're reminded that good writing simply has to move beyond what we've read and experienced before.
Sexy and cool as expected but no soaring heights
2007-04-29 - Ethan Hawke's novel is sexy, dry and cool, as two likeable characters road trip through America, the inner workings of their relationship and self-knowedge. It is a little too trying to be Catcher in the R for me at times, and although both characters are reasonably strong and real, it eventuated for me as merely an insight into the developing self-understanding (with sometimes-inspired philosophical revelations attached) of two young people and how they relate to each other, and not much else. I need my novels to soar higher than that, Hawke. Three stars.
Because love ain't always perfect... 
2006-06-12 - Jimmy is far from perfect, but he now knows that Christy, who he'd recently split up with, is perfect for him and that he's ready to commit to her.
What he doesn't know is that Christy is carrying Jimmy's baby, and that she's not going to let him back into her life that easily.
As they travel across America, Jimmy tries to show Christy that he loves her and how far he's willing to go for them to be a family.
Hawke seems to really care for his characters: he represents them honestly, but without being critical or judgmental of them, and that made the characters really come alive for me. All in all, a touching read.
Utter Waste of Time! 
2006-02-01 - I was extremely disappointed with this novel. After reading Hawke's, The Hottest State, and loving it...I was expecting to have a similar experience with Ash Wednesday. Boy, was I ever wrong! I didn't even want to finish the drawn out book that seemed like 200+ pages made up entirely of pointless dialogue. I found myself skimming the exaggerated, neverending chapters. Please, don't waste your time on this one.
