Ethan Hawke

I had no idea Ethan Hawke was a novelist. I was acquainted with his acting, his terrific small screen adaptation of James McBride’s The Good Lord Bird, and his brilliant narration of Jack Kerouac’s The Dharma Bums, which I listened to last year, but when I was searching for a book a related to the word “dark” I stumbled on this gem. What a treat. His writing evokes the best of Tom Wolfe, Hunter S. Thompson, and David Foster Wallace, with snappy dialogue, grossly flawed characters, and a protagonist who seems likely to be drawn largely from Mr. Hawke’s own experiences in acting. Heck, I even became invested in the extensive Shakespearean scenes of the Broadway play in which he was cast (Henry IV), and I am not a huge fan of Shakespeare (gasp!), and which is at the center of the novel, the action spanning the duration of the play's well-received limited run. I was surprised to learn this was Mr. Hawke’s fourth novel, and that the earlier ones were not so well receive. Perhaps he was honing his craft in this genre. Whatever the explanation, the novel was a Halloween treat and a nice way for me to end a month of excellent reads. If I had any nit at all, it is that some of the characters’ soliloquies (off the stage) were a tad long, but hardly ever dull.… (mer)

On apprend l’histoire par la bouche des vainqueurs et longtemps la parole des peuples premiers est restée invisible derrière les westerns hollywoodiens. Choqué, Ethan Hawke souhaitait faire un film de cette histoire et tenter de rétablir une part de vérité… Le film n’a jamais vu le jour mais, grâce à la rencontre avec Greg Ruth, il est devenu cette bande dessinée. L’histoire de Geronimo.

Mais si l’idée est belle et séduisante, et si le rendu et les dessins monochromes sont magnifiques, l’histoire m’a semblé confuse.

Une bande dessinée avec des très belles planches et partant d’une belle intention, pour un rendu hélas un peu brouillon. Mais était-ce possible de raconter tout ça sur un seul album ?… (mer)