About Ash Wednesday

In brief

Faced with the prospect of commitment Jimmy Heartsock turns tail leaving his girlfriend bereft. As she heads for home, a place she hasn’t visited for eight years, Jimmy intercepts her, full of regret and desperate to marry her. This is the story of their journey from New York State to Texas, and from uncertainty to the tentative hope of a life together.


In detail

Ash Wednesday is a tale of modern love. Taking the form of a road novel, it follows Jimmy Heartsock and Christy Walker as they travel from New York State to Texas, exploring the thorny ground of commitment and wary love through Jimmy and Christy’s alternating voices.

Jimmy is a US Army sergeant, nearly thirty and still with an eye on the nearest exit despite his passion for Christy. Faced with the terrifying prospect of commitment, Jimmy has ended their relationship, leaving Christy lost and desperate. Yet to tell him she is pregnant, Christy buys a bus ticket for Texas and the home she left eight years ago.

When Jimmy catches up with her he begs her to marry him, redoubling his pleas when he learns of her pregnancy. Wary and unsure, Christy agrees to let him drive her to Texas. Along the way, they tell their stories: Jimmy’s memories of his father’s manic depression and suicide; Christy’s first marriage to an alcoholic; her memories of the mother who deserted her and the father who never listens to her. When Christy finally agrees to marry Jimmy, they take a detour through Ohio where Jimmy’s old priest conducts the ceremony, arriving for their New Orleans honeymoon in the midst of Mardi Gras. As Christy walks out into the new dawn she at last feels at peace until she finds she is bleeding. Distraught, she insists that they drive to Houston where Jimmy’s AWOL status catches up with him, landing him first in jail and then dishonourably discharged from the army. Desperate to find Christy, he heads for the hospital. As they both arrive on the hospital steps, hopes of a shared future seem possible. Despite the multitude of difficulties each has faced it seems they may now be able to face them together.


About the author

Ethan Hawke was born in 1970 in Austin, Texas. Best known as a film actor, Hawke made his debut with River Phoenix in the science-fiction movie Explorers, when he was fourteen years old. His film career took off in 1988 with a starring role alongside Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society. Since then he has appeared in Reality Bites, Snow Falling on Cedars, Hamlet, Before Sunrise and Training Day. He is cofounder and artistic director of the Malaparte Theatre Company based in New York, and has also directed a film, Chelsea Walls, starring his wife, Uma Thurman. Hawke’s first novel, The Hottest State, was published in 1996.


For discussion

  • How well do you think Christy and Jimmy know each other based on the descriptions in their narratives? To what extent does Christy fit Jimmy’s description and vice versa? On page 42 Jimmy says to Christy as she walks away from him ‘I still know myself better than you do’? Does that seem to be the case? How well does Christy seem to know herself?

  • Jimmy and Christy’s narratives alternate throughout the book. How does Hawke use this technique to develop their characters? How does he convey their characters to the reader? Writing from the point of view of the opposite gender is not an easy task. Were you as convinced by Christy as you were by Jimmy?

  • Neither Jimmy nor Christy’s parents appear to have been the perfect guardians. How important is Jimmy’s father to him? What part has his mania played in shaping Jimmy’s character? How are her father’s Seven Rules for a Princess (page 113) reflected in Christy’s life and in her attitude towards herself? What role has each of their mothers played in influencing her child’s life? What does parenthood mean to Jimmy and Christy?

  • Both Christy and Jimmy comment on how difficult it is for them to communicate with each other. Why do you think this is so? Christy is afraid that when passion wears thin they will have nothing left. Do you think this is likely to be the case? What can each offer the other in terms of a future together?

  • What do you make of Steve McNally’s tirade in the police cell? To what extent does it reflect Jimmy’s own views at various points in the novel? How does it fit with the views Jimmy has reached by the time he lands in jail?

  • There are many references to religion throughout the novel, some fleeting and dismissive, others intense and confused. What part does religion play in both Jimmy and Christy’s lives? How important is it to each of them?

  • Grace is also a recurring word in the novel. Gordon, Christy’s blind companion on her journey from Albany to Kingston, tells her that ‘Grace will come as you acknowledge how much of every instant is beyond your control’ (page 58). Jimmy remembers Chaplain Sheppard telling him that ‘grace is the ability to accept change’ (page 44). To what extent has either Jimmy or Christy managed to attain a state of grace by the end of the novel?

  • What does the novel say about love? To what extent do you think it presents a realistic portrayal of modern love? Does Jimmy’s role in the relationship embody attitudes that might be considered typical of a young man in his circumstances. If so, what are those attitudes? Can the same be said of Christy as a young woman?

  • How different are the Jimmy and Christy who set off from the bus station from the couple who meet on the steps of the Houston hospital?

  • What is the significance of the novel’s title?


    Suggested further reading

    Whatever Love Means by David Baddiel (1999)
    The Crow Road by Iain Banks (1992)
    Love Invents Us by Amy Bloom (1997)
    A Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham (1990)
    Now You See Me by Lesley Glaister (2002)
    Last Things by Jenny Offill (1999)


    Other books by Ethan Hawke

    The Hottest State (1996)