A sharp, witty and ultimately moving debut . @what_leah_reads. Written in a Woolf-esque internal monologue from Ava's perspective, we are met with an inner conflict that struggles to reconcile her disapproval of capitalism and a hyper-sensitivity to class structures . So lucky us, really. Naoise Dolan, 2020. I hope youll give her debut a tryit was exceedingly worth it!" Naoise Dolan's debut novel Exciting Times is to be made into a television series in the United States by Black Bear Pictures, whose credits include the 2014 Alan Turing biopic The Imitation Game. Colleen Hoover. Its a story about intimacy, vulnerability, being alone, and being different versions of yourself with different people. 4. The book was first published in April 1st 2020 and the latest edition of the book was published in April 16th . I loved him potentially, she thinks. Sure, her salary is good compared to the locals, but ending things with Julian would mean shed have to, gasp, live like they do, in coffin homes.. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. What listeners say about Exciting Times Average Customer Ratings. , I think it's easy to dislike this and dismiss it; on the surface, it's a young woman who can't make up her mind while living for free in someone's flat. Her sentences are sharp and confident, especially for a debut. In Irish author Dolan's debut novel, 22-year-old narrator Ava relocates from Dublin to Hong Kong to teach grammar at a school for English-language learners. In a theme park designed for terminally ill children, a cynical employee falls in love with a mother desperate to hold on to her infected son. [1] For faster navigation, this Iframe is preloading the Wikiwand page for Naoise Dolan . "When you are craving a loveable story with depth and true character developmentthis should be your next read.". Naoise Dolan is a queer and autistic Irish writer born in Dublin. Ava has left her life in Ireland behind to teach English to rich children in Hong Kong. Reviews: Trustpilot. @bookcrazyblogger. She dissects language and her humor is so deadpan I sometimes read sentences twice. She's a long way from her home in Ireland. The project, based on Irish writer Naoise Dolan's debut novel, hails from U.S. financier-producer Black Bear Pictures, which optioned rights to the book ahead of its June 2020 U.S. release to . I also think the teaching English abroad aspect was well-researched and spot on. Everyone should read it right now. It felt authentic, less an added 'interesting' point, but a way of being that felt effortless. That, or I wanted to be him., Ava is hyper-verbal and exacting, and Dolans writing excels when Ava turns her analytical eye on the intersections between English syntax, zeitgeist technology and interpersonal relationships: Because I lacked warmth, I was mainly assigned grammar classes, where children not liking you was a positive performance indicator. Ava, the narrator, is an Irish ex-pat living in Hong Kong. Naoise's debut novel EXCITING TIMES was published by W&N in the UK and by Ecco in the US in 2020, and became a Sunday Times bestseller, widely translated and optioned for TV. Most recently, she was the Managing Editor at Coveteur, where she oversaw the sites day-to-day editorial operations. All Rights Reserved. I definitely feltand enjoyedthat similar sparseness of language employed by both authors to cut to the crux of an emotion. "This debut novel about an Irish expat millennial teaching English and finding romance in Hong Kong is half Sally Rooney love triangle, half glitzy Crazy Rich Asians high livingand guaranteed to please." Very . This is the kind of book that people are going to have vastly different opinions on. Heavily influenced by Sally Rooneys Normal People in terms of the tiresome indecisiveness of committing to a relationship, its as if Exciting Times is just Normal People set in China with some extra LGBT content packed in. She spends so much time telling us how lacking she is that I started to believe her. Available in used condition with free delivery in the UK. I love books about disaster women and unlike many of my bookish friends do not seem to tire of them at all. Dolan skilfully reveals to us how Avas choices are all made with self-protection in mind: her constant irony, her low expectations, her chilly relationship with Julian. Queer romance. Oh . She studied English literature at Trinity College Dublin and Oxford University. HarperCollins. I am not in my twenties although still full of angst. This can be really interesting territory for a novel, but it didn't completely work for me here. influencers in the know since 1933. by Dolan encapsulates this in a perfect image near the end of Exciting Times, when Ava is tensely watching the three little dots on her messaging app: Edith is typing reads her screen. "[A] wry, tender debutDolan's smart, brisk debut works as charming comedy of manners, though it packs less of a punch when it comes to class consciousness." Regardless, I encourage you to seek outExciting Timesfor yourself because I know so many of you are hungry for reading experiences that capture the complexities of love, personal politics, and the precariousness that comes with being young and lost and in love. ROMANCE | Ava is positioned for a quarter life crisis. The characters are refreshing, I think particularly for me because they are not American, thus allowing for some exploration of how differing cultures analyze and observe class, race, and politics. While there, Ava meets Julian, a rich banker from London, who invites her to move into his home. in part two, we watch her coming into the light. Here, she grapples with her feelings towards Julian, a rich, witty but largely emotionless banker, and Edith, an ambitious and striking lawyer. As for the ending, given the character development up to that point, it just felt really implausible. Naoise Dolan'sExciting Times (opens in new tab)drew instant comparisons to Sally Rooney'sConversations with Friends (opens in new tab)(2017) andNormal People (opens in new tab)(2019)perhaps because Dolan and Rooney are both brilliant Irish writers who instill a dry sense of humor in their characters. evenings that often end in drunken blackouts or in bed with her sort-of boyfriend Julian, who . When Naoise Dolan 's debut novel Exciting Times was released last year, she was swiftly earmarked as the " next Sally Rooney ". Stories that focus on social issues such as class and LGBTQ+ are of interest to you. . I know everyone says this, but there are so many similarities I saw between this andNormal People. Ava is a 21-year-old who leaves Ireland, where shes convinced everyone hates her, to become a teacher of English as a foreign language in Hong Kong. It was as if someone else ironed everything for her her whole life, Ava thinks, and her role was to make new creases. Dolan is also funny about Irishness, pointing out the irony of Ava having to teach her young ESL students how to aspirate the th in things when, as a Dubliner, she has gone 22 years without once pronouncing it herself. However, they did enjoy the political and historical references throughout the novel, albeit having to do a bit of research on the topics themselves. Publisher: Ecco, 256 pages, $27.99. Its something I appreciate in memoirs and also in literary fiction. This debut novel tells the story of a millennial Irish expat who becomes entangled in a love triangle with a male banker and a female lawyer The dark and light sides of friendship breathlessly explored in a novel best saved for summer beachside reading. Like Rooney, Dolan writes in a deadpan style. Theres a certain dry, almost deadpan quality in her observation of the lives of her twentysomething characters the complications of attraction, and the gap between whats felt and whats spoken; calmly articulated self-loathing, and precise capturing of class differences that both authors nail down dead. Every time she typed out a note in her phone to send to the other characters, only to delete it, my soul died a little. Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. Its free and takes less than 10 seconds! Though the novel had mixed reviews, one thing readers did agree on is that Dolan is a unique and smart writer who they'll continue to support throughout her career. Ava feels safer, more shielded from harm with Julian, but happier with Edith. With a similar rhythm of detachment and sparsity found in Rooney and Ottessas writing, I can see why comparisons are being drawn, and I dont think this comparison does Dolan any disservice. By this I mean that Naise Dolan also focuses on love from a millennial point of view. I really am. The story of how this casual invitation turns the two girls into what they call "Summer sisters" is prefaced with a prologue in which Vix is asked by Caitlin to be her matron of honor. 1. Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. Emotions are dealt with baldly, dryly: Anyway, I hated her, says Ava about Victoria, a moneyed friend of Julians. m sorry. This information about Exciting Times was first featured Dolan is an Irish writer born in Dublin. Join BookBrowse today to start discovering exceptional books! In my opinion,Exciting Timesreads very similar. Omnipresent yet subtle, Hong Kong doesn't overshadow the characters and their struggles in trying to figure out life. this book is insane because not only does the protagonist have the same birthday as me but also the male love interest has the same birthday as the man i didn't shut up about all of last year. She is highly attuned both to the power dynamics at play (do you want me to depend on you? she asks him) and to her moral predicament, as she adds up how much money she is saving on rent, as well as on the clothes and meals Julian pays for with the funds he doesnt know what to do with. Copyright 2023 Kirkus Media LLC. Figures such as Victoria serve to generate much of the books caustic wit. . It would definitely have been helpful to have a general idea of the geopolitics between Ireland/Britain/Hong Kong. - Exciting Times [ Book Description ] When you leave Ireland aged 22 to spend your parents' money, it's called a gap year. Founded in 2009, The Rumpus is one of the longest running independent online literary and culture magazines.Our mostly volunteer-run magazine strives to be a platform for risk-taking voices and writing that might not find a home elsewhere. Sentences are short. You have to understand that this is the kind of story I have very high standards for because the plot is an evergreen plot: young person at loose ends making her way in the world and deciding who to love. Naoise Dolan's Exciting Times is shortlisted for the 2020 Young Writer of the Year Award. 'There was something Shakespearean about imperious men going down on you: the mighty have fallen.'. She's lost as well as lonely. "Exciting Timesby Naoise Dolan follows a young 20-something as she flees Dublin for Hong Kong in search of a life that matches her desires. It all adds up to a bracing, refreshing first novel, with hints of greater things to come. This years Womens Prize for Fiction longlist includes quite a few of these disaster women books and I for one am really pleased with that. Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan, review: a wily, caustic debut novel about young love Soon Ava falls for sternly witty British banker Julian - for his mind in a way, and certainly for his wallet. They were playful, charged, strained. Only 2 left. In fact, Exciting Times (talk about a misleading title) reads like a dry, emotionless version of Conversations with Friends without the subtle characterization and psychological realism that made Rooney a household name. Ava makes it her mission to get him to admit some feelings for her, purely because it would give her the upper hand. I know its frustrating that any new young female writer must find themselves compared to Sally Rooney. East and West collide in a timely and bittersweet novel of loyalty, love, and the siren call of freedom. Trouble signing in? Those whove spent time in Hong Kong cant help wondering what its like to be among the Anglophone transplants who work and party there. "I have to say I really liked this debut novel by Naoise Dolan. The prose is interesting; the way Dolan writes the dialogue is natural; the conversations back home with family felt real in a way that many writing about calling home don't. But there are nuances that made me literally stop reading and think about what Dolan had wrote. Do you re-read witty comebacks to try and bake them into your mind should you ever need them? Millennials floundering in the realms of the heart. She's a young Irish woman, after all, and she'd written a . When you not only stalk her on subreddits, but worry about whether the algorithm will reveal to her the true extent of your stalking. It seemed farcical that I even needed to explain to Edith . You didnt likeNormal Peopleor are not a fan of Sally Roonys writing style (like, I readNormal Peoplea year ago and still am unsure how I feel), 2. white authors writing books that are set in asia, but have a set of characters that are 98% white with only a few token, stereotypical asian characters . Exciting Times is published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Politics, grammar, and morality are explored with quick jabs and sharp wording. Exciting Times is a sad, yet hopeful coming of age story set in a Hong Kong immediately recognizable to the many expats like Julian, Ava and globalized locals like Edith who end up there. Membership Advantages. A young Dubliner in Hong Kong struggles to connect in this fresh and funny debut about love and self-knowledge. The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother. [3] A college debater, she co-convened the Irish Mace competition in 2015/16. Its a Euro-centric story, despite its Asian setting." The fact that Naoise Dolan is being touted as the new Sally Rooney is nothing short of an insult to Rooneys work. Her first novel. Every complaint you've ever read about "millenial fiction"? Ava is constantly trying to make sense of her situation by framing it in terms of identity: does sleeping with Julian make her a bad feminist? Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published. Unfortunately, I cant give this book the raving review I want to because not only is Ava aimless, but shes SO passive-aggressive within her relationships." Enter Edith. @thefamilybookshelf, "Exciting Timesis a sharp, character-driven story about the complicated relationships of three 20-somethings.. None of the English-speaking characters seek to venture beyond their established social circles, where even brief references to elections or the conditions of domestic workers are dismissed as white savior-ish. They barely notice the Chinese characters on street signs, let alone try to understand them. She is known for her debut novel Exciting Times . But now theyre co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. "Okay wow, what a great book! Its unusual and contemplative and just very different. Welcome to Hong Kong, where Julian (English) is a banker and Ava (Irish) is a leech.
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