A Bright Ray of Darkness

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I figured I'd hit some plateau that was adulthood---where I believed things would just stay level for about forty years while I would do great work and have interesting experiences---then rather uneventfully I would begin to decay and die. But this was just not the case. I was not on a plateau. I was descending, tripping, stumbling, and burning. My whole being, or personality or self or whatever is supposed to be the seat of me, or the soul behind my eyes, was being boiled away in a giant iron cauldron like the flavor leaving a carrot 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 admit that I’m fascinated by Ethan Hawke: he acts, directs, writes and whenever I’ve seen him interviewed he’s come across as an engaging raconteur, articulate and thoughtful and with some interesting views on life. He hadn’t written a book in twenty years but in this new novel he documents the plight of a screen actor who is simultaneously dealing with the breakdown of his marriage whilst making his Broadway debut in Shakespeare’s Henry IV. Searing and raw, A Bright Ray of Darkness is a novel about shame and beauty and faith, and the moral power of art. ABOUT ETHAN HAWKE. A four-time Academy The first novel in nearly twenty years from the acclaimed actor/writer/director, A BRIGHT RAY OF DARKNESS is a book about art and love, fame and heartbreak -- a blistering story of a young man making his Broadway debut just as his marriage implodes. Delightfully, Hawke goes full throttle, conjuring a world of thespian grandiosity, engorged egos, brittle self-doubt and callow celebrity with a bravura performance. Financial Times In addition to possessing a lively, convivial atmosphere, and a full-service bar, Kramers stages hundreds of book-related events each year, both in the store and elsewhere. From tourists to neighbors, college students to the political elite, there is something for everyone at Kramers! Learn more at kramers.com.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”. The blistering story of a young man making his Broadway debut in Henry IV just as his marriage implodes--a witty, wise, and heartfelt novel ( Washington Post) about art and love, fame and heartbreak from the acclaimed actor/writer/director. William Harding is a successful film star whose life is in turmoil. Outed by the press as an adulterer, he is now holed up in a New York hotel, divorcing his popstar wife while preparing to make his Broadway debut in Henry IV. In his first novel for 20 years, Hawke has obeyed the adage 'write what you know', bringing the theatrical world, from first rehearsal to final performance, thrillingly to life. * Mail on Sunday * out of 5, I was almost ready to give it a 6 and call it one of my all-time faves except for a few really truly glaring moments of mediocre prose.

His books include The Hottest State, Rules for a Knight, Ash Wednesday, Indeh: A Story of the Apache Wars, and A Bright Ray of Darkness. Ethan Hawke, whose acting career has combined celebrity wattage with indie integrity, brings hard-won experience to his latest literary endeavour ... [A] wild ride of a book ... Written with real fire & originality. Not many novels combine scenes of lying semi-conscious by a motel toilet with thoughts on the perfection of the iambic pentameter. Metro Ethan Hawke, whose acting career has combined celebrity wattage with indie integrity, brings hard-won experience to his latest literary endeavour ... [A] wild ride of a book ... Written with real fire & originality. Not many novels combine scenes of lying semi-conscious by a motel toilet with thoughts on the perfection of the iambic pentameter.' Metro

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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.

Ethan Hawke pens a Valentine to theatre in A Bright Ray of Darkness.His new novel is also a prayer for the stage and a reminder of the healing power of performance.” Film star William Harding is fed up with having his personal life examined in public. The protagonist of this novel, the first in five years from Hawke (best known for his acting role in Richard Linklater's Before trilogy), is also disgusted at the ways in which he has allowed his marriage to collapse around him. His debut Broadway role offers him a chance at redemption and turns this bracing book into a considered meditation on the evil of celebrity and the demanding yet restorative power of theatre. * New Statesman *Delightfully, Hawke goes full throttle, conjuring a world of thespian grandiosity, engorged egos, brittle self-doubt and callow celebrity with a bravura performance. * Financial Times * The blistering story of a young man making his Broadway debut in Henry IV just as his marriage implodes—a “witty, wise, and heartfelt novel” ( Washington Post) about art and love, fame and heartbreak from the acclaimed actor/writer/director. 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.. Hawke blurs the boundaries between past roles and autobiography and brings a world of fame, longing and oblivion into sharp focus. * BuzzMag * But Hawke is also known as the man who cheated on Uma Thurman and offered loutish excuses about the sexual needs of great men like Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy and him.

a fine book, full of narrative drive, illuminating information about the power of the stage, and a storyline that goes at quite a pace, but still has much room for humanity, showing that however big the mistakes people make, and however many people know about those mistakes, there is still the chance of redemption, if you look for it. NB 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. A brilliant insider’s account of the joys and terrors of acting, the trials of celebrity, and the secrets of Henry IV.”An emotional ode to theatre as medicine for heartbreak, and an interesting meditation on fame. Radio Times 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. Hawke's first novel in nearly twenty years is a bracing meditation on fame and celebrity, and the redemptive, healing power of art; a portrait of the