Exciting Times is a clever domestic romp, chronicling the life of a depressive Irish woman who moved to Hong Kong and quickly took up with a rich British banker, despite her best efforts. 

It starts off fairly reminiscent of Elif Batuman's The Idiot, another charming story where a lot of time goes by, but not a lot seems to happen. In part one, we are introduced to a lot of side characters, but none as substantial as Julian, the posh, emotionally distant subject of the narrator's overwhelming attention. In part two, roughly a third of the way through the story, the shift is dramatic. Edith is introduced, and everything changes for our narrator. 

She begins to fall for Edith, while lying by omission to ... well, everyone. She's not sure who she is to anyone, or what she wants, exactly. That goes on for most of the book. It's charming, in its way, and the writing is really fun despite the plot being pretty uneventful. I recommend this book for people who like messy characters -- there are plenty!

I don't typically love reading stories about love triangles - so I wasn't sure what to expect upon starting this. Its wittiness and exemplary use of sarcasm made me laugh out loud repeatedly, and I think we could all use a little of that right now. Strongly recommend!

This novel about Ava, an unmoored Irish 22-year-old teaching English in Hong Kong, taps into some deeply millennial/gen Z ideas of modern life, and does so very well. For the first quarter of the book, I was enthralled by the voice of the novel, of Ava's quick and incisive insights into herself and the very relatable conflict between what we know to be the best thing to do and how we have been socialized. Ultimately, the star rating came down a bit because the story dragged on long enough that the voice couldn't keep me in thrall for the whole thing.

PLOT: EXCITING TIMES by Naoise Dolan follows the story of Ava, an Irish 20-something expat living in Hong Kong teaching English language classes to wealthy local children. Ava herself is not wealthy, and though she's seeking some sort of better life of excitement out of living away from home, she aimlessly accepts experiences as they come, with little autonomy in her choices. Decisions are less of a process of pros/cons, more of an inevitability that Ava does not exercise much agency in making. When Ava befriends a fellow expat from England, Julian--a well-off banker who offers Ava his credit card and his extra bedroom in a high-rise apartment--Ava attempts to convince herself that she has the emotional upper-hand in their no-strings-attached sexual relationship, while Julian is aloof and utterly detached. As Ava tries to reconcile her feminist ideals with her new unnamed relationship, she finds a separate attraction in Hong Kong born lawyer Edith.

HIGHLIGHTS: I heard this book summarized as a queer Sally Rooney-esque story. I can see where the comparisons come from. Most of our characters (aside from Edith) are unlikable messes and the exploration of selfishness between characters and their supposed self-awareness (or lack thereof), truly make the characters relatable and lifelike. I would also draw comparison to Ottessa Moshfegh's My Year of Rest and Relaxation, for Ava is equally apathetic as that book's protagonist.

TAKEAWAYS: If you like Sally Rooney, I think you will appreciate the writing--it is sharp as a knife. The plot itself left something wanting. Not enough happened, either between the relationships or between the first and last page, to warrant this story be more than a novella. That being said, I absolutely look forward to more from this author, she writes beautifully.

Armed with her freshly minted degree, Ava has left Dublin for Hong Kong in order to "find herself" discovers she is unemployable for anything other than teaching English in a posh school to rich kids. What follows is an examination of a life in transition, of a young woman not totally sure of her place or potential, her sexual identity, or even her ability to be attractive to her peers. Naoise Dolan is a writer of wit and talent with an ear for sparkling dialogue, and an ability to create characters that a reader can laugh with even when they are breaking one's heart.

This book is straight out of Sally Rooney land, in which millennials explain themselves to those of us who struggle to understand their culture. Well done.

I really enjoyed Dolan's writing style, and the close reading of the main character's relationships put me in mind of other novels I have loved, like Rooney's Normal People, but I just could not warm up to the narrator. I don't think that was a failing of the book--it seemed intentional---I was reacting to her as others had, but I started to be very eager for the book to wrap up.

Ava moves to Hong Kong to start a new life, but things aren’t working as planned. But then she meets Julian and going against her gut, she moves in with him. When Julian leaves to take a job in London, Ava is left adrift. Until she meets Edith.
The story of an unusual love triangle, “Exciting Times” is the cusp of 21st century romance.

Fascinating character study on relationships, self-image, and sexuality. I loved meeting a new Irish author as well!

This was a decent read, but I honestly didn´t care that much about the main character. She was a bit vapid and it made it hard to truly commit. The writing and storyline were well developed, but I would have liked to have more description of Hong Kong and the overall feel.

I really enjoyed Naoise Dolan's writing style! I would recommend Exciting Times.. It's a good read for readers of all genres!

Ava is Irish. She's teaching in Honk Long in a TEFL program, and she might be falling in love. Or maybe not? This book explores Ava's unique perspective on life and love as she tries to figure out what she ants in the world.

Exciting Times finds protagonist Ava in a bind. Upon her arrival in Hong Kong to be an English teacher, Ava finds herself involved with an aloof older man, Julian. Despite the fact that their relationship is mainly defined by attempts to grab power through emotional withholding, Ava soon moves in with Julian. However, when Julian leaves unexpectedly for a business trip, Ava discovers the companionship of a Hong Kong native, Edith. Ava is happier than she has been in years, but cannot extract herself fully from Julian, even as the situation sows conflict between Ava and her two lovers.

You will not read a review of this book that doesn't reference Sally Rooney. I would say that Exciting Times does not have a sympathetic narrator, but does capture something about millennial malaise. More like Sally Rooney meets Ottessa Moshfegh. Ava is deeply unhappy in her life, caught in her own internal monologue, and cannot get herself to accept love. She is constantly caustic towards people she cares about and wants to impress, pushing the world away at every turn as if to simultaneously say "don't look at me" and "love me desperately." And, of course, it wouldn't be a millennial novel without an ironic title.

The book is divided into three sections: Julian; Edith; and Julian and Edith. I infinitely preferred the later two sections to the first one. The book can read as very cold as Ava tries to shun emotional attachment to gain power in her relationship with Julian. It's far more compelling when she is able to love Edith fully, to commit in a way she wasn't able to with her relationship with Julian. I've read reviews that people were convinced by Ava's character arc, but I do think she grew and in a way that was both believable and compelling, especially in the third section.

Ultimately, the book is really not about plot, so whether someone enjoys this book or not will come down to the writing and the characters. I found the writing to be very flat at some points but very clever and funny at other points. It is all down to personal preference. As for the characters, I liked both Edith and Julian, but wished I had gotten more from Ava. She certainly grows and it would be antithetical to the point of the book to know too much about her, but I do think this is one point in which this book diverges from Rooney's work. In Rooney's books, the characters feel almost too much. In Exciting Times, Ava feels but cuts herself off from other people, and really from the reader as well. I would say it works almost as often as it doesn't for me.

Actually, not exciting times. A very slow paced story of 2 ex-pats living in Hong Kong who kind of find each other.

The novel explores sexuality and commitment in a way that I found very hard to relate to. I liked Ava, the young Irish woman seeking career and identity.

I did not relate to the characters or situation.

Thanks Netgalley.

This book follows protagonist Ava, an Irish expat teaching English in Hong Kong, as she subsidizes her life by entering some semblance of a romantic relationship with a British expat, Julian, who seems to not care for her at all, but does allow her to live with him rent-free. The two seem so obsessed with proving that they're not vulnerable or susceptible to Feelings that one has to assume they're both quietly suffering, but at least they're smug and funny.

Mercifully, when Julian leaves the country on a business trip of an undetermined length, Edith comes along and sweeps Ava off her feet. Edith is the only character who seems to acknowledge Ava's insane relationship with human connection, which is the only emotional reprieve we get from how Ava appears to be, insufferably, just not like the other girls. Ava doesn't exactly explain to Edith the extremely weird circumstances of her living situation, so she ends up in a love triangle that only she knows about.

This book felt so cold and unemotional I wasn't actually sure what to do with it. I didn't start to connect to it until about halfway through, after which I could start to find it entertaining. The characters are surface-level for a reason; the book feels like a meditation on being closed-off, on wanting money, on being a millennial in these really weird times. It's funny - but ultimately pretty unrewarding, if I'm being honest. It seems like the main character just wants to be told about herself (who doesn't?) and makes terrible decisions and undergoes very little growth. I've seen a lot of people compare it to Normal People, and I have to disagree - the protagonists are both of a similar (early 20s) age, but I felt too old for this book while I didn't feel too old for Normal People.

It's nicely written, though, and deliciously quotable. It's fun to read if you have a sense of humor. I'd give it 3.5/5 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

I found this book amusing but not necessarily compelling. It wasn’t so much that I was invested in the relationship with Edith as it was that I hated Julian and was eager to see him written out of the picture. The author should be her in mind that the reader is not necessarily as drunk as the protagonist when we are forced to endure these “chinless wonders “. 3.5 rounded up because it’s really clever.

Sally Rooney fans rejoice! This book is so dry and humorless. I loved it! This book covers some complex topics in a climate that adds to the complexity. My only lack of one star would be because I was really looking forward to the setting in Hong Kong, but the descriptions were lacking and replaced by heavy narrative.