A Bright Ray of Darkness

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Hawke spends a lot of time delving into the scenes of the protagonist on stage and the rest of the time ruminating over his broken marriage and how to handle his two children. So much of this story sounds autobiographical. What I read online, he takes parts of his life and implants it into the book. I couldn't shake the feeing of what was real and what wasn't.. One hopes all the bad behavior of Harding is NOT based on fact, but most probably SOME of it is. But not everything seems based on real life - the Falstaff in the book is a blowhard actor named Virgil who is immensely fat ... and bears few traces of Kevin Kline, who played it in Hawke's own 2003 production. Likewise, his Lady Percy was the estimable Audra McDonald, and she doesn't seem to fit her fictional counterpart here also. Ethan Hawke. If that's his real name, it's a cool one. As for his movies, looking over the bio, I think I've seen only one: Dead Poets Society. And I only remember two actors from that movie -- Robin Williams as the teacher standing on the desk and the kid who ultimately offs himself at the end (tall, thin, dark haired, and most certainly not Ethan Hawke). This novel was a difficult read. Brutally honest, dark, chaotic experiences that felt uncomfortable. This speaks to the skill of the author. Hawke writes clean, crisp prose, and doesn't shy away from sharing the characters inner revelations, often aggressive. I'd forgotten what a kiss was like; I'd forgotten what it wwas like to hold someone who wanted to be held; who wanted you to launch your hnd up under her skirt; who was hpoing you would reach a little bit further; push a little harder; someone who made little noises. Now, I'm smart enough to know that blind pursuit of these kinds of shenanigans doesn't lead you to any kind of authentic, substantive, enlightened existence. I guess I know that. I mean, maybe I know that. Or I should say I had long held that to be true, but in that moment, I would have rather died--had a bullet zip right through my cerebral cortex and my blood splash out onto the asphalt--thn let go of that girl's hand. She felt like an instrument of the Divine."

Oh. And the amount of advice on life and love and acting. Really. This guy has more Yoda-figures in his life than most of us have Chewbacca-figures on our hardwood floors (rug burn joke). Where do you find stories like THAT? Right. National Enquirer and on the cameras of the nearest paparazzi. Since "Reality Bites," as a young teen, I've been a fan of Ethan Hawke. His angsty 90's vibe was swoon-worthy. Hawke's first book, "The Hottest State" solidified his talent. Not only was he a brilliant actor, but a talented writer. It's about an actor (well, duh) performing Shakespeare ( Henry IV) on Broadway as he is coming off a divorce to a big-time pop singer. He drinks, does drugs, feels sorry for himself, has two kids he loves, feels insecure about his stagework (he's a movie guy), and cheats on his soon-to-be ex-wife. Eppure, come scrive il poeta: “preferiremmo andare in rovina piuttosto/ che mutare/ morire piuttosto nella nostra paura/ che salire sulla croce di ogni giorno/ e lasciar morire le nostre illusioni”.Es gibt Bücher, selten aber es gibt diese, wo man sich denkt, dass es als Hörspiel, Fernsehserie oder Film besser rüberkommen würde. Diese Geschichte war an sich sehr spannend und das Ende hat mich auch berührt, auch wenn es etwas kitschig war. Ich konnte mir jede Szene vor Augen vorstellen, also hat Ethan Hawke echt einen guten Job geleistet. Aber trotzdem kann ich mir das Ganze doch besser als einen Film vorstellen. Ethan Hawke is an author. Yes, yes, yes, I know he's actually an actor. A very fine actor. A twice Oscar-nominated actor (he has two Oscar nominations for writing, too). But he is also, without doubt, an author. That's about as good a compliment as you can pay to anyone switching crafts like this. He's an artist, if you will. This is no vanity project; it's a proper, high-quality novel. Oh lord, can Ethan Hawke write. I kind of wish he weren’t a well-known actor because that gets in the way of him receiving the well-deserved literary admiration people have for, say, Jess Walter and Steve Toltz, whose books I would put on the same shelf next to this one. The actor and director, who made his screen debut at 15, has published several books during his acclaimed Hollywood career, and he recently produced and starred in a spectacular TV adaptation of James McBride’s “The Good Lord Bird.” The first novel in nearly twenty years from the acclaimed actor/writer/director is a book about art and love, fame and heartbreak--a blistering story of a young man making his Broadway debut in Henry IV just as his marriage implodes.

The way Hawke writes William's performances, the way he engages with the text and depicts so cannily how it feels to be onstage and have the world in your hand -- the way that the world, in fact, recedes as you step fully into the character, the way that your scene partners can respond to you and change what it is you are doing for the better... gosh, it is something spectacular. Hawke isn’t just funny. He is wildly hilarious and literate. He tells a great story that ripples with all that human intestinal squishy stuff we don’t want anybody else to see. In questo senso il romanzo autobiografico di Ethan Hawke è anche un percorso di formazione perché non si smette mai di crescere e di imparare dai propri fallimenti. “Sta buiando” dice il figlioletto di tre anni quando arriva la sera. E col buio, in effetti, avremo a che fare sempre. Der Hauptcharakter ist ein Filmstar, der mit Anfang 30 alles zu verlieren scheint: Seine Frau (ein Mega-Star) droht mit Scheidung, er wirkt verloren in einer Theaterproduktion und verliert sich fast selbst in der Dunkelheit. Ich finde die Geschichte lebt vor allem durch die Kulisse und die unzähligen Nebencharakteren, die so lebhaft und menschlich dargestellt wurden. Es gibt keinen Charakter, der in der Geschichte verschwendet wird, und jeder hat seine Zeilen in der Geschichte verdient. Dass die Theaterproduktion und die Proben so detailliert in der Geschichte erfasst wurden, fand ich fantastisch und hat geholfen die Mentalität eines Schauspielers zu verstehen. Ich denke es zeigt sich hier deutlich, dass Ethan Hawke selbst Schauspieler ist. When you finish a movie, they always forget to call you a car. When you are starting a movie, everything runs perfectly--town cars, hotel rooms, per diem--but once the film ends they couldn't give a shit."Was für ein tolles Cover. Was für ein wunderschöner Titel! Und was für eine unterhaltsame, verblüffend gute Geschichte. Ich war sehr überrascht, dass Ethan Hawke so gut schreiben kann und eine Geschichte über einen weißen Mann doch überzeugend und passend herausgearbeitet hat. And what's not so much to like? Mostly the clichés of an actor's life. And a few writer clichés to boot. Like guy is ridiculously famous, guy gets girl(s) -- all of them -- guy feels sorry for himself while he struggles with fortune's whims (love-hate relationship with fame, struggles with domestic life, mostly), and guy talks about how rough it is to be roguishly handsome and 180 pounds of muscle.

Now, some 15 years after all that cosmic embarrassment, Hawke has published a novel called “A Bright Ray of Darkness.” It’s about a young movie star who got caught cheating on his stunningly gorgeous wife. This recycled gossip is tiresome, but what’s most irritating about “A Bright Ray of Darkness” is that it’s really good. If you can ignore the author’s motive for creating such a sensitive and endearing cad, you’ll find here a novel that explores the demands of acting and the delusions of manhood with tremendous verve and insight. . . . A final plaint: The wheels come off a bit 3/4s through when random characters (e.g. Dad) who've barely been mentioned suddenly get dropped into the narrative so they can eat up 20-30 pp. Why bother?I heard a great radio interview with Ethan Hawke last year around the time this book was published and made a mental note at the time to give the book a go.