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Exciting Times

Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2021

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Exciting Times

By: Naoise Dolan
Narrated by: Aoife McMahon
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'The book of the summer ... Kept me rapt until the final page' THE TIMES

'A sharp, smart, witty modern love story. I loved it' David Nicholls, author of ONE DAY

'More than lives up to the hype ... Likely to fill the Sally-Rooney-shaped hole in many readers' lives' IRISH TIMES

'Droll, shrewd and unafraid - a winning debut' Hilary Mantel, author of WOLF HALL

'I've been pushing Exciting Times on everyone I know. Some of Dolan's pithy observations of her characters are the best I've read since Edward St Aubyn' OBSERVER

'A frankly sensational book' Pandora Sykes on THE HIGH LOW

'In the tradition of Dorothy Parker, Joan Rivers and Nora Ephron ... I found myself purring with pleasure. ...This is comic writing at the highest level' Craig Brown, DAILY MAIL

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:

- a badly-paid job in Hong Kong, teaching English grammar to rich children;
- Julian, who likes to spend money on Ava and lets her move into his guest room;
- Edith, who Ava meets while Julian is out of town and actually listens to her when she talks;
- money, love, cynicism, unspoken feelings and unlikely connections.

Exciting times ensue. Asia Contemporary Fiction Europe Genre Fiction International China
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Critic Reviews

I had real fun with EXCITING TIMES. It is a very funny, spiky, Marxist, feminist comedy and it's really mean.
Droll, shrewd and unafraid - a winning debut
Fiercely intelligent, brutally funny and written with such heart, EXCITING TIMES announces an impressive new voice in literature.
Witty, compelling and with a razor-sharp social commentary. I guzzled it. (Pandora Sykes)
A modern love story ... astute, sardonic and highly emotionally aware ... Heralding for sure a new star in Irish writing
EXCITING TIMES more than lives up to the hype ... Likely to fill the Sally-Rooney-shaped hole in many readers' lives.
Dazzling ... So brilliantly executed ... Coming-of-age love is told in technicolour ... Banging lines follow banging lines. Your underlining pen destroys the pages ... With EXCITING TIMES comes a rare and indeed exciting talent, a cacophony of our times, a treat for the socially distanced
Lucky us ... EXCITING TIMES will brighten lockdown ... Very funny ... Extremely sharp ... Insightful and raw
A funny, smart, contemporary love story. Perfect for fans of Sally Rooney and Emma Jane Unsworth
The funniest writer you will read this year... Every page crackles ... Very funny ... Ultimately a very moving story, one that occupies a small sliver of time and space, but manages a lasting emotional tinnitus ... Naoise Dolan is not the new anyone. She's entirely herself, and that's plenty
A sharp, funny account of a contemporary relationship, told tenderly and with biting, bright insight.
Hands down one of the most anticipated debuts of the year ... A piercingly provocative look at modern love and power games.
A funny, smart and sensitive exploration of love, privilege and bisexuality that had me gripped from the first page. Dolan's sentences are like a splash of cold water to the face
Devastatingly perceptive and articulate. It's a joy to encounter a book so compulsively readable and painfully funny while simultaneously deeply insightful on love, on sexuality, on social class, on their links as terribly inextricable in the 21st century as they ever were. Dolan is a major talent and this is a formidable debut
This is icily brilliant stuff. A poised and surgical examination of class, sex, language and self-making, with some flat-out enviable jokes
Read if you like ANIMALS by Emma Jane Unsworth, TRICK MIRROR by Jia Tolentino, THE BELL JAR by Sylvia Plath
Brilliantly funny, surgically sharp, furiously political. Expect to hear lots about EXCITING TIMES next year
Forensically brilliant - an elegant and painfully funny portrait of greed and hunger, love and indifference
So wry, witty and insightful
Dolan's debut lives up to the hype, a hypnotic tale (Sarah Hughes)
We're really, um, excited about this sharp, smart debut
All stars
Most relevant
Well written and narrated. Nevertheless I found the story boring in parts and forced myself to finish it. The self reflections of the main character had depth to them

Reflective

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Had high hopes but found it pretentious with three unlikeable characters. Couldn’t wait for it to be over.

Meh

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I thought this debut novel ticked enough boxes for me to give it a try, so I handed over my Audible credit and I was not disappointed. Not unique, but certainly fresh, made all the better for being narrated by Aoife McMahon.

Ava is a young Irish woman, newly arrived in Hong Kong to work as an unqualified TEFL teacher to rich young HK kids. She meets Julian, a young and wealthy London banker, and the two hit it off. Although not enough to be in an 'official' relationship. They are intimate, they have fun together, and even though Ava soon moves into the spare room at Julian's lovely apartment, she will never be his girlfriend. When Julian is on an extended placement back in London, Ava stays on in the apartment ('looking after' it). She doesn't have many of her own friends in Hong Kong apart from Julian so she's getting a little lonely until Edith enters her life.

A couple of things made this book stand out for me. Firstly, I felt like the relationships were very real. It's not a fairytale - things get messy, just like in real life. I think this is why comparisons are made with Sally Rooney (not just the fact that both are young Irish writers). The other thing I looooved was Ava's obsession with language. Having made a late-career change to TEFL myself, I really appreciated her observations about British English, Dublin English and HK English. These were elevated by McMahon's narration, too, as a performer who really understands and can do language and accents.

So, overall this one was a winner for me and I'll be happy to take a look at Dolan's next offering.

For lovers of language

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Challenging not to lose heart and give up early on. Such frustrating characters. It all came together beautifully in the final chapters.

Quite unique

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I really enjoyed this novel and while not every book is for everyone, I don’t think you can doubt the quality of the writing and voice.

The voice acting was also great. I would recommend to people who enjoy character driven literary works that is more light hearted in tone and cheeky.

Really well written

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