Bookseller Reviews
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Exciting Times
Naoise Dolan's debut novel puts modern love under the microscope. The protagonist, Ava, is a particularly good lens for this task, cursed as she is with th... READ MORE
Intriguing plot
Contemporary love triangle. Explores many modern issues. The protagonist is a confused character exploring relationships and making a living in an uncert... READ MORE
Modern Love
Sharp, insightful and dryly funny. I really enjoyed this quirky novel.
For fans of Normal People
Exciting Times offers a fresh perspective to the grass-is-always-greener scenario, showing how power, privilege and doubt effect modern relationships. Ava ... READ MORE
Clever and uncompromising
I received this advance reading copy ahead of publication and was really looking forward to starting it. The reviews are great and it has been likened to b... READ MORE
Synopsis
Waterstones Fiction Book of the Month for March 2021
Longlisted for the Comedy Women in Print Prize 2021
Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2021
Longlisted for the Swansea University International Dylan Thomas Prize 2021
Shortlisted for the Sunday Times / University of Warwick Young Writer of the Year Award 2020
When you leave Ireland aged 22 to spend your parents' money, it's called a gap year. When Ava leaves Ireland aged 22 to make her own money, she's not sure what to call it, but it involves:
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A badly-paid job in Hong Kong, teaching English grammar to rich children;
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Julian, who likes to spend money on Ava and lets her move into his guest room;
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Edith, who Ava meets while Julian is out of town and actually listens to her when she talks;
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Money, love, cynicism, unspoken feelings and unlikely connections.
Exciting times ensue.
Publisher information
- Publisher: Orion Publishing Co
- ISBN: 9781474613460
- Number of pages: 288
- Dimensions: 124 x 194 x 22 mm
- Weight: 262g
- Languages: English
Customer Reviews
View allExciting debut...
This is a modern , intelligent novel about a love triangle. Ava is young Irish living in Hong Kong teaching English and having an affair with a rich banker... READ MORE
Friends could mean anything...
This story is of Ava, recently moving to Hong Kong. She finds herself caught between the financial security of banker Julian and the earnest lawyer Edith. ... READ MORE
Marks the arrival of a major new talent
Naoise Dolan will surely be compared to Sally Rooney, but really she's in a league of her own.
Fiercely intelligent, bitingly witty, and razor sharp, Exc... READ MORE
A rather insubstantial novel
★★★✰✰ 3.25 stars
As with many hyped new releases Exciting Times wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. With so many professional reviewers hailing Exciting T... READ MORE
Great exploration of a young woman finding her place - funny too
This book has been getting compared to Sally Rooney all over the place and, while I can see why, I think it is actually more my kind of book than Normal Pe... READ MORE
Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan
A great original read. Naoise Dolan has such an unusual angle in to describing human situations. She has a talent to watch.
Scene setting perfection
Having spent time in Hong Kong I was excited to see how this compared with my own experiences and I was not disappointed. Nolan has created a near perfect ... READ MORE
Sharp, witty and truly 'exciting!'
Hilarious in parts and painfully relatable in others, Naoise Dolan's debut is an excellent exposition of thoroughly modern relationships. With droll, deadp... READ MORE
A wonderful book about terrible people
Ava left Dublin for Hong Kong to find something new, and finds Julian, a wealthy British banker who provides her with the lavish lifestyle she seeks. But J... READ MORE
Verified Purchase
Quirky
This story is a modern day love triangle story of Ava, set in Hong Kong.
She finds herself with both Julian and Edith, each relationship very different fro... READ MORE
The ambiguities of modern relationships
I can see why this has been compared to Sally Rooney, as they do broadly cover similar emotional territories - the complicated nature of modern relationshi... READ MORE
Disappointing
What starts out as whip smart and funny dribbles off into a tedious tale of a working class girl stringing two rich people along. In a clear case of the wr... READ MORE
Underwhelming
This book wasn’t for me. Uneventful, underwhelming, uninspired.
I was left a little underwhelmed
I had high expectations for Exciting Times based on reviews I’ve read. It started off well but I quickly started losing interest in Ava as a character. It ... READ MORE
Unfortunately I did not "get it"
Ava is 22, Irish and living and working in Hong Kong as a TEFL teacher. She meets a successful British man called Julian whom she embarks on a casual relat... READ MORE
Debut from young Irish Author
Sent as a read copy by the publishers:Debut author,having seen the TV show Normal People this debut authors story has been likened to it:OK the central cha... READ MORE
LOVED THIS BOOK
I absolutely LOVED this novel! Naoise Dolan is such a similar writer to Sally Rooney, so for all the Normal People and Conversations With Friends fans, thi... READ MORE
Not such an exciting read
It is a well written book, however for me the book became slightly predictable and quite dull.
Disappointed!
I was super excited to purchase Exciting Times by Dolan. Unfortunately, I found it very longwinded and arduous to get into; overall a very complex read. Th... READ MORE
Disappointing and dull
Very little evolves or develops in the story and it was a struggle to read to the end. I was hoping to be immersed in Hong Kong’s culture but descriptive w... READ MORE
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