Ash Wednesday
by Ethan Hawke
288pp, Bloomsbury, £14.99
Ethan Hawke (bright young Hollywood star married to Uma Thurman) has followed his well-received debut novel, The Hottest State, with a second in which he tackles the thorny question of ego and the modern American male.
Talking of which, surely film stardom and marriage to the world's most delectable vamp is enough to keep any young man's ego shiny: does Hawke really have to shoot for literary fame as well? And, tempting as it is to take a pot shot at any golden boy who thrusts his head so far above the parapet, it is my duty to inform you that Hawke is a cracking writer. My guess is that he's read Catcher in the Rye about a zillion times, because his style brings Salinger so much to mind, but there's no escaping the fact that he does it extremely well.
Jimmy Heartsock is about to be a dad, though he doesn't know it yet; all he knows is he's about to go down on his knees in a freezing bus station to propose to Christy, the girl he ditched a few days back. Because Jimmy wants to let love into his life; he wants to make a commitment; he wants to get married in church and all that jazz. Above all - and that's what this book is all about - Jimmy wants to be a man.
While the quarrelsome lovers drive from place to place down endless ad-lined highways, the real journey happens in their conversation. Half the script belongs to Christy, but she already knows what it means to grow up female (you fall pregnant and get landed with a demanding foot-stamping infant - in short, the baby's father). No, Jimmy's issues are the central theme - how does he hush the screaming of his own ego long enough to hear another speak?
Whether you find Ash Wednesday depressing or uplifting may depend on how little you're prepared to settle for in a man, but this book is sharply and poignantly written, and makes for an intense one-sitting read.
· Helen Falconer's novel Primrose Hill is published by Faber.