A Bright Ray of Darkness
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Ethan Hawke
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By:
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Ethan Hawke
About this listen
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.
A bracing meditation on fame and celebrity, and the redemptive, healing power of art; a portrait of the ravages of disappointment and divorce; a poignant consideration of the rites of fatherhood and manhood; a novel soaked in rage and sex, longing and despair; and a passionate love letter to the world of theater, A Bright Ray of Darkness showcases Ethan Hawke's gifts as a novelist as never before.
Hawke's narrator is a young man in torment, disgusted with himself after the collapse of his marriage, still half hoping for a reconciliation that would allow him to forgive himself and move on as he clumsily, and sometimes hilariously, tries to manage the wreckage of his personal life with whiskey and sex. What saves him is theater: in particular, the challenge of performing the role of Hotspur in a production of Henry IV under the leadership of a brilliant director, helmed by one of the most electrifying - and narcissistic - Falstaff's of all time. Searing, raw, and utterly transfixing, A Bright Ray of Darkness is a novel about shame and beauty and faith, and the moral power of art.
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Critic reviews
"Explores the demands of acting and the delusions of manhood with tremendous verve and insight...the work of an author who knows every aspect of the profession from the inside.... Hawke is a genius at conjuring the hush of the auditorium, the thrill of live actors, the magical sense of a performance moving through time. He’s written a witty, wise, and heartfelt novel...a deeply hopeful story.... Bravo.” (Ron Charles, The Washington Post)
"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." (The Austin Chronicle)
"[Hawke's] writing evokes both the beauty and tawdriness of New York. And he teaches the reader a lot about theater...an engaging book for those who love theater and Shakespeare." (The Christian Science Monitor)
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Don’t pass this one up.
- By Lauren on 03-10-20
By: Maddie Dawson
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I'm the One That I Want
- By: Margaret Cho
- Narrated by: Margaret Cho
- Length: 4 hrs and 57 mins
- Abridged
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I'm the One That I Want, based on her show of the same name, is filled with dead-on insights about the experience of being a woman with attitude, of flowing with the highs and lows of life, and of creating one's own identity and acceptance. It is every bit as hilarious, shocking, and irreverent as she is.
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Hilarious and deeply engrossing
- By Ling on 04-10-03
By: Margaret Cho
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With or Without You
- By: Caroline Leavitt
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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After almost 20 years together, Stella and Simon are starting to run into problems. An up-and-coming rock musician when they first met, Simon has been clinging to dreams of fame even as the possibility of it has grown dimmer, and now that his band might finally be on the brink again, he wants to go on the road, leaving Stella behind.
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not my cup of tea
- By Grekis on 12-23-20
By: Caroline Leavitt
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Passion Marks
- By: Lee Hayes
- Narrated by: Vance Goodwin
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Everything that looks good isn't good for you. From the outside, Kevin Davis' world leaves nothing to be desired. It is a life of luxury, comfort, and money, but never judge a book by its cover. His pretend world hides the verbal, physical, and sexual abuse he endures at the hands of his perfect man. Passion Marks finds Kevin entangled in a dark web of love, violence, depravity, and torment at the hands of his lover, James Lancaster, the ambitious CEO of a rising Houston software firm. In order to free himself from the cycle of violence, Kevin must overcome his personal demons.
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The Reality that was entirely too close to home
- By Anonymous User on 08-27-24
By: Lee Hayes
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The Last Post
- By: Renée Carlino
- Narrated by: Avery Caris, Stephen Dexter
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Laya Marston’s husband, Cameron, a daredevil enthusiast, was the complete opposite of her, ready and willing to dive off a cliff-face or parachute across a canyon - and Laya loved him for it. But she was different: pragmatic, regimented, devoted to her career and to supporting Cameron from the sidelines of his death-defying feats. Opposites attract, right? But when Cameron dies tragically, Laya becomes lost in denial, living in the delusion that Cameron will come back to her.
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I really wanted to like this
- By Amazon Customer on 12-21-21
By: Renée Carlino
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The Other Woman
- By: Eric Jerome Dickey
- Narrated by: Machelle Williams
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Eric Jerome Dickey strides boldly over the minefield that is modern marriage. The central couple's biggest challenge is timing: He works days; she works nights. Instead of growing together, they're rapidly drifting apart, coexisting on stolen phone calls from work, punctuated by occasional bedroom encounters that leave them both feeling even emptier and more alone. When she finds out about his affair - and starts her own - the delicate fabric of their marriage is torn irrevocably asunder. Or is it?
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Boring narrator
- By Nea Igess on 07-21-19
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Miss Fortune
- Fresh Perspectives on Having It All from Someone Who Is Not Okay
- By: Lauren Weedman
- Narrated by: Lauren Weedman
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Lauren Weedman is not okay. She's living what should be the good life in sunny Los Angeles. After a gig as a correspondent with The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, she scored parts in blockbuster movies, which led to memorable recurring roles on HBO's Hung and Looking. She had a loving husband and an adorable baby boy. In these comedic essays, she turns a piercingly observant, darkly funny lens on the ways her life is actually not okay.
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Good
- By Ajules29 on 04-02-16
By: Lauren Weedman
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Fault Lines
- A Novel
- By: Emily Itami
- Narrated by: Lydia Wilson
- Length: 5 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Mizuki is a Japanese housewife. She has a hardworking husband, two adorable children, and a beautiful Tokyo apartment. It’s everything a woman could want, yet sometimes she wonders whether she would rather throw herself off the high-rise balcony than spend another evening not talking to her husband and hanging up laundry.
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Confused by the choice of narrator
- By Bri T. on 02-13-22
By: Emily Itami
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Will
- By: Will Smith, Mark Manson
- Narrated by: Will Smith
- Length: 16 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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One of the most dynamic and globally recognized entertainment forces of our time opens up fully about his life, in a brave and inspiring book that traces his learning curve to a place where outer success, inner happiness, and human connection are aligned. Along the way, Will tells the story in full of one of the most amazing rides through the worlds of music and film that anyone has ever had.
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Will sure loves Will
- By Kejeco on 11-18-21
By: Will Smith, and others
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Scars and Stilettos - 2nd Edition
- By: Harmony Dust
- Narrated by: Harmony Dust
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
Scars and Stilettos: At 13, after being abandoned by her mother one summer and left to take care of her younger brother, Harmony becomes susceptible to a relationship that turns out to be toxic, abusive, and ultimately exploitative. She eventually finds herself working in a strip club at the age of 19, and her boyfriend becomes her pimp, controlling her every move and taking all of her money. Ultimately, she discovers a path to freedom and a whole new life.
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A religious book
- By Amazonbuyer on 10-12-21
By: Harmony Dust
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Reprieve
- A Novel
- By: James Han Mattson
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 12 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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On April 27, 1997, four contestants make it to the final cell of the Quigley House, a full-contact haunted escape room in Lincoln, Nebraska, made famous for its monstrosities, booby-traps, and ghoulishly costumed actors. If the group can endure these horrors without shouting the safe word, “reprieve,” they’ll win a substantial cash prize - a startling feat accomplished only by one other group in the house’s long history. But before they can complete the challenge, a man breaks into the cell and kills one of the contestants.
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creepy escape room story
- By Barbara S on 11-18-21
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City of Girls
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Gilbert
- Narrated by: Blair Brown
- Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Beloved author Elizabeth Gilbert returns to fiction with a unique love story set in the New York City theater world during the 1940s. Told from the perspective of an older woman as she looks back on her youth with both pleasure and regret (but mostly pleasure), City of Girls explores themes of female sexuality and promiscuity, as well as the idiosyncrasies of true love. In 1940, nineteen-year-old Vivian Morris has just been kicked out of Vassar College, owing to her lackluster freshman-year performance.
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A strong story
- By Anita Kristensen on 06-08-19
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Act Cool
- By: Tobly McSmith
- Narrated by: Shaan Dasani
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Aspiring actor August Greene just landed a coveted spot at the prestigious School of Performing Arts in New York. There’s only one problem: His conservative parents won’t accept that he’s transgender. And to stay with his aunt in the city, August must promise them he won’t transition.
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Would recommend
- By LindsayPrower on 05-04-22
By: Tobly McSmith
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The Lonely Lady
- By: Harold Robbins
- Narrated by: Maria Debonair
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
Meet JeriLee Randall, aspiring actress, ambitious writer, and sexual powerhouse. It is this ambition that takes her away from her tiny hometown of Port Clare and sets her on a collision course with her future. Surviving on determination and seduction, she makes her way to Broadway and then on to Hollywood. The bright lights mask a deeper darkness, and JeriLee is quickly drawn into a world of greed, drugs, casting couches, and smooth-talking power players.
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The Lonely Lady
- By Shelly-Ann Brown on 02-25-21
By: Harold Robbins
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What listeners say about A Bright Ray of Darkness
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- John Beahan
- 02-11-21
Great insight into acting Shakespeare on stage
I wanted to read this hoping to get a glimpse of what it would be like acting in Shakespeare production on Broadway. To that end the book fulfilled my expectations. Also Ethan Hawke was a joy to listen to and I image hearing him read is a different experience than reading the novel but I felt the book had real life with his reading. The story left me longing a little and the second half just felt like a bunch of people giving an anonymous actor advice which I found annoying. I wanted more understanding of the protagonist and I didn't really get that like his relationship with his father at the end felt lacking in detail and I wish I had more detail about the marriage itself, which was sparse and left me with more questions. Overall I would recommend it to anyone interested in the experience of acting on stage and the story critic feels minor to the real insight the book offers to art of acting itself.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Yasmin
- 02-14-21
Mesmerizing!
This was an amazing book. If you have a love for Shakespeare, acting, NYC, The catcher in the Rye or even problematic marriage stories this book is for you. It unbelievably satisfying listening to it being read by Ethan Hawke himself. In one word, just mesmerizing.
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- Shane
- 08-21-22
Brilliant!
I am so happy I discovered this novel! Brilliantly written, gritty in all the right ways, and inspiring, Ethan Hawke’s story is a masterpiece. A sterling example of why fiction matters. This should be a movie!
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- MT
- 12-04-22
Excellent
I read Ethan Hawke’s novel The Hottest State years ago and thought, wow this guy can write too. Glad I read and listened to this one. He’s great at male-female sexual dynamics and the deep feelings of connection, love, loss, searching for meaning. Nice parallels drawn between the effort and exhilaration of a stage production and being in a marriage. I also feel connected because I saw Hawke in all 3 parts of Stoppard’s Coast of Utopia in NYC when I could hear how he was struggling with the damage his stage acting was doing to his voice. You can still hear how acting has taken its toll on his voice and you’ll be glad to hear him soldiering on, damage and all.
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- J Franklin
- 04-29-21
Hawke's performance is phenomenal
Good book. GREAT narration. Feels like a disservice to call it narration. One of the greatest living actors brings his words to life in this one.
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- Richard A. Nathan
- 01-22-23
I listed to this cc almost straight through.
Do not start listening to this late at night if you want to get some sleep. I kept listening to this almost straight through because I wanted to find out what would happen next. Finally at 3AM, Ai fell asleep.
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- Will Cathcart
- 10-28-23
Perfection
He writes about what he knows. And he knows it remarkably well. He always has been more than an actor. I hope he keeps writing novels.
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- Elena @ `a casarella
- 02-06-21
This will be the book I recommend to everyone in 2021...
... okay, perhaps not *everyone*. The appeal might not be universal (people who are easily offended by sexual content should avoid) but if you’re looking for something to sink your teeth into, this is a great listen.
In fact I’ll start with the *listen* part. Hawke is a fantastic narrator. Wow. It makes sense. He’s an actor, and he’s the author, but listening to this book is like getting your own one man show. Truly the best book I’ve ever listened to in terms of the narration.
The story... I’m not even sure how to describe it. On the surface it seems simple, but in truth there’s so much more than meets the eye. A NY based film actor has been unfaithful to his rock star star wife while shooting a movie in South Africa. As they separate and head towards divorce, he returns to NYC to perform Shakespeare on Broadway. The story is set against the backdrop of the play, from the first table read to the closing performance, and the book is divided into acts and scenes as opposed to chapters. Listening gives you the added bonus of hearing music play between each act and during “intermission.”
As William, the main character, who clearly shares a lot in common with Hawke himself, navigates his first Broadway performance, the listener learns about his history, his thoughts, and so much more.
I don’t want to say too much. Honestly, you need to read/listen to it yourself (I highly recommend listening) to see what you get out of it. As I listened I thought of former colleagues (teachers) who I know would enjoy the story. I also thought of actor friends who would definitely relate and probably get more out of it than I did. And then there are other people, like me, members of GenX, who know Ethan Hawke’s work and might be curious about what he has to say. (A lot of people probably don’t realize how incredibly smart and talented he is, not just as an actor, but in a number of other areas as well.)
Okay, if that doesn’t convince you, Just listen to the sample!
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5 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-11-22
For the lover of theater
I’m not sure if I would have loved this book as much had it not been read by the author himself. Ethan Hawke’s skills as a write and actor culminate magnificently in this audiobook. The main character in this novel seems like the main character in a video game, with not a whole lot to say himself, but nearly every person he comes across in his life feels free to bloviate at length on the star’s career, personal life, and situation in general in excruciating detail. This story of an actor suffering the dissolution of his whirlwind marriage with a hyper popular rock star, public scrutiny, existential crisis, gives us all kinds of wisdom and outlooks from everyone from the rude cab driver who rails at him about his infidelity in chapter one, to his acting icon who imparts his wisdom on the younger performer later in the novel, to a coked up contemporary pontificating on the ways and wiles of women.
Hawke’s performance is captivating. His slight changes of intonation for each character are subtle yet utterly distinct. The passion with which he performs had me riveted, titillated, and kind of in love and awe. The sex scenes are as intense and gritty as the main character’s moments of intense self loathing and despair.
Anyone looking for a juicy read (or listen) full of both relationship and on stage dramatics is sure to love this. As a bonus I’m a lover of Shakespeare, so having the main characters experience in a Broadway production of Henry IV to pepper in Shakespeare dialogue and the behind the scenes details of performing it was a wonderful luscious bonus for me.
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3 people found this helpful
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- ArchiKY
- 02-07-21
Deeply introspective. Realization that your art, whatever it may be, is as a journey
Hearing the writer’s voice realizes the journey through his storytelling as alive, emotive and genuine. And that the purpose of the everyday mundane and painful “slog” may just be the seminal details of what is most significant to living. The fact that he recognizes these bits of everyday happenings and anecdotes as pieces of a greater whole, give the reader pause to recognize there is little more significant, than being present in your own life.
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2 people found this helpful