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A review by tdem122
A Bright Ray of Darkness by Ethan Hawke
3.0
[1st read from 16/8/2022 to 20/8/2022] — 3.5⭐️
— i should’ve expected hawke being a fantastic writer.
after all he did co-write most of the scripts for the ‘before’ trilogy, which i adore with my entire heart.
he’s also an incredible speaker, always managing to explain complex subjects (usually film terminology) in terms everyone will understand. and yet i was still surprised at how good this was!
however, i do have to say that only he could get away with writing about the suffering of such a privileged character with seemingly everything. our main character is a cis male, white and willingly cheated on his wife… and yet hawke makes us feel just the tiniest bit of sympathy for him. no one else could make me feel that way.
the prose was, once again, extremely good and my only complaints are 1) the descriptions of women within the book (quite frankly reduced to their bodies, and it clearly doesn’t pass the bechdel test) & 2) the incredibly deem and philosophical conversations about space & supernovas that the mc was having with his kids… literally aged 3 & 5.
other than i must say i’m very much impressed and quite look forward to reading some of his older work!
— i should’ve expected hawke being a fantastic writer.
after all he did co-write most of the scripts for the ‘before’ trilogy, which i adore with my entire heart.
he’s also an incredible speaker, always managing to explain complex subjects (usually film terminology) in terms everyone will understand. and yet i was still surprised at how good this was!
however, i do have to say that only he could get away with writing about the suffering of such a privileged character with seemingly everything. our main character is a cis male, white and willingly cheated on his wife… and yet hawke makes us feel just the tiniest bit of sympathy for him. no one else could make me feel that way.
the prose was, once again, extremely good and my only complaints are 1) the descriptions of women within the book (quite frankly reduced to their bodies, and it clearly doesn’t pass the bechdel test) & 2) the incredibly deem and philosophical conversations about space & supernovas that the mc was having with his kids… literally aged 3 & 5.
other than i must say i’m very much impressed and quite look forward to reading some of his older work!