Ethan Hawke Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Graphic Novels

Publication Order of Anthologies

Ethan Hawke is an American film director Academy Award nominated actor and author. He was born in Austin Texas and then studied theatre at Carnegie Mellon University. He got a Best Supporting Actor nomination for the Academy Award for his role in the critically acclaimed film “Training Day. He has also been nominated for an Oscar award for his role as co-writer of “Before Sunset” the 2004 film. He has also acted in plays and got a Tony Award nomination for his performance as Mikhail Bakunin in “The Coast of Utopia.” As an author, he has several novels to his named having started with “The Hottest State” which he published in 1996. He wrote several other novels but it was with “A Bright Ray of Darkness” which he published in 2021 that he announced himself as one of the most promising authors.

Ethan Hawke was brought up in New Jersey and from a very young age showed an interest in acting. He got started as a high schooler and by the time he was 15 he had a role in the 1985 film Explorers where he acted as a teen that constructs a spaceship. Three years later, he had graduated high school and was admitted to study drama at Carnegie Mellon University. A few months after he was admitted, he got a role on the 1989 film “Dead Poets Society.” He acted alongside Robin Williams one of the greats of the industry who was playing charismatic English teacher and mentor. He then went on to get regular acting jobs and by the time he turned twenty five, he had been in fifteen films that included the Jack London adaptation “White Fang.” He also got a role in “Alive” the drama that reconstructs the events of the Uruguayan football team’s struggle for survival after their plane crashed in the Andes.

Hawke published “The Hottest State” in 1996. He followed it up with “Ash Wednesday” in 2002. It was with “A Bright Ray of Darkness” that was something of a stage production of Henry IV that he reintroduced himself strongly into the public consciousness. When he first wrote “Ash Wednesday,” he wanted to show everyone that he was not a dabbler. But he found the reaction very different from what he expected. Critics were always trying to lift the scaffolding to find the actor in him. Things changed when he went on tour and met a German publisher who told him to run towards acting rather than away from it if he wanted to have a great work of fiction. What was holding him back was that he was a famous person that tried their hand at writing rather than a famous writer. He took the advice seriously but then acting got in the way and it was not until two decades later that he applied it in his blockbuster novel “A Bright Ray of Darkness.”

“The Hottest State” by Ethan Hawke tells the story of William Harding. He is a twenty year old actor that fell in love with upcoming singer from New York named Sarah. He met Sarah at a bar where he had seen her perform and was immediately taken by her. But he will be going away to take up his role in a movie and is a few months from turning twenty one. He has always got what he wanted in life but loving another person deeply is not an experience he is familiar with. However everything changes when he meets Sarah and it soon enough they are talking of moving in together. William and Sarah go from living in a rundown building in Manhattan to a hotel room in Paris. The novel is an exploration of the decision making, heart break, obsession and ultimately the uncontrollable breakdown of William after Sarah rejects his advances. Harding questions his masculinity and leans back on his high school sweetheart, divorced parents and friends for support.

Ethan Hawke’s “Ash Wednesday” tells the story of an immature 30 year old American soldier. Jimmy had gotten into the military since his father had died and he did not know how to deal with what had happened. His life is full of chaos as he has no motivation, no perspectives and no direction. The only thing he has in his life is Christy. She has led a difficult life estranged from her politician father that was a politician that never seemed to care for her needs. At sixteen years old, she fled home to go live with an alcoholic boyfriend. She would divorce the man by the age of twenty two and is now a hardened woman that knows what exactly life has in store. But when Jimmy and Christy meet, they have a mutual attraction they cannot explain. It seems they have a connection that goes deeper than their sexual relationship. Most of the time they love each other thought hate is also one of the things they also experience. Then Christy gets pregnant just at a time when Jimmy gets afraid of his feelings and has left without knowing that she is expectant.

“A Bright Ray of Darkness” by Ethan Hawke tells the complex story of a man that comes to term with who he is. The pieces of who he is often contradict and they are often daggers that he uses to stab himself. William Harding is a playboy, actor, husband, father and aspiring artiste whose first venture in Hollywood is an ambitious and momentous Henry IV Shakespearean production. He needs to prove that he is a good thespian that can hold his own among practiced actors. Furthermore, he needs to try to better his predecessors that have excellently portrayed the part that would not mind taking on the role again. He is struggling to leave behind a life of Hollywood glamour and tabloid gossip and show himself a serious and worthy actor. But he is constantly getting pulled back into the past as he had unresolved issues with his beloved but estranged rock star wife who had left him because of infidelity. He also has to deal with his children and religious father who remind him of the present, past and future responsibilities. Fatherhood is the only thing he hangs on to as an anchor as it provides hints of the tender, thoughtful and endearing man he is inside.