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Ash
Wednesday
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The
reviewer:
Katie is 30 years old and works in sales and marketing for
a large professional services company.
Reading
habits:
I am a voracious reader and will read anything and everything
except science fiction and horror. The authors I have read
most recently include: Reginald Walker, Mary Wesley, Philip
Pullman, Anita Shreve, John Masefield, Freya North, Dick Francis,
Maeve Binchy, Meera Syal, Kate Atkinson and PG Wodehouse.
The
author:
Ethan Hawke
Previous
books:
His first book The Hottest State was published in 1995 and
received widespread critical acclaim in both the US and the
UK.
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Ethan
Hawke is well known for his roles in films such as Reality Bites
and Dead Poets Society, but I was unaware of him as an writer. Ash
Wednedsay, his second novel, is a surprisingly good read.
The
story follows Jimmy Heartsock and Christy Walker on a journey from
New York to New Orleans. Jimmy has gone AWOL from the army to propose
to Christy, who was in turn running away home after Jimmy dumped
her. He proposes, she accepts and they travel down America together
to get married.
| Ash
Wednesday |
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Introducing
James Heartsock, a soldier who’s done his best to lose
his girl; and Christy Ann Walker, his dumped and pregnant
lover, heading west on an Adirondack Trailways bus.
Armed
with only a ring and a prayer, Jimmy takes his Chevy Nova
and goes AWOL, determined to win back the only good thing
he’s ever had. But Christy is as scared at the prospect
of a life with him as one without.
Just
because something’s your destiny, does that make it the
right thing to do?
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The
trip is also a voyage of discovery as their relationship develops
and they learn more about each other and themselves.
On
their way to marriage and all that it entails they question their
willingness, ability and capacity to commit to each other, and the
effect that their different childhoods had on them. This might sound
heavy going, but Hawke has a nice light touch and the book is often
extremely funny.
The
story is narrated in turn by the two characters which immediately
draws the reader closer to the action. They are both by turns endearing,
irritating, pompous and childish, but ultimately likeable. Although
the narrative is essentially navel-gazing it never becomes so profound
or dull that it distracts the reader from the story.
Hawke's
style is superb, punchy and strong, but at the same time acutely
observational. The peripheral characters - the duo's parents, the
priest, people they encounter along the way - are well-drawn and
defined in a few pithy well-chosen words.
He
is a perceptive writer, his understanding of the complexities of
the mother/father husband/wife son/daughter realtionships that form
the core of the book is thought-provoking and fascinating. The story
moves along at a good pace and the reader is sucked into the world
of the two of them, the cat and the car.
At
the end of the book we reach the beginning of another chapter in
their lives and leave them there. Despite the fact that it leaves
a lot of questions unasnwered it is a satisfying ending. A tiny
cynical part of me wonders whether Hawke wrote it with the idea
that it might become a film, but on balance I think he wrote it
purely as an observation on how two people grow and develop within
a relationship. It's a great road trip book, for boys as well as
girls. Buy it and enjoy it - and then wait for the movie...
Katie
Richards
Child
of My Heart is published in May 2003.
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