Exciting Times - by Naoise Dolan (Paperback)

About the Book

A "debut novel about a millennial Irish expat who becomes milleentangled in a love triangle with a male banker and a femaleith a male lawyer"--

Book Synopsis

"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
living--and guaranteed to please." --Vogue

A RECOMMENDED BOOK FROM:
The New York Times Book Review * Vogue * TIME * Marie Claire * Elle * O, the Oprah Magazine * The Washington Post * Esquire * Harper's Bazaar * Bustle * PopSugar * Refinery 29 * LitHub * Debutiful
An intimate, bracingly intelligent debut novel about a millennial Irish expat who becomes entangled in a love triangle with a male banker and a female lawyer
Ava, newly arrived in Hong Kong from Dublin, spends her days teaching English to rich children.
Julian is a banker. A banker who likes to spend money on Ava, to have sex and discuss fluctuating currencies with her. But when she asks whether he loves her, he cannot say more than "I like you a great deal."
Enter Edith. A Hong Kong-born lawyer, striking and ambitious, Edith takes Ava to the theater and leaves her tulips in the hallway. Ava wants to be her--and wants her.
And then Julian writes to tell Ava he is coming back to Hong Kong... Should Ava return to the easy compatibility of her life with Julian or take a leap into the unknown with Edith?
Politically alert, heartbreakingly raw, and dryly funny, Exciting Times is thrillingly attuned to the great freedoms and greater uncertainties of modern love. In stylish, uncluttered prose, Naoise Dolan dissects the personal and financial transactions that make up a life--and announces herself as a singular new voice.

Review Quotes

"Half Sally Rooney love triangle, half glitzy Crazy Rich Asians high living--and guaranteed to please."
- Vogue
"A love story packed with irony and introspection." - Elle
"Dolan's preoccupation with power is often couched in humor but always expertly observed. Her elegantly simple writing allows her ideas and musings to shine. A refreshingly wry and insightful debut." - Kirkus Reviews
"Fiercely intelligent, brutally funny and written with such heart, Exciting Times announces an impressive new voice in literature." - Nathan Filer, author of The Shock of the Fall
"Hands down one of the most anticipated debuts of the year ... A piercingly provocative look at modern love and power games." - Book Riot
"Dolan has an ear for the mixture of insinuation, implication, silent scolding, deep concern and unbending love in the mother's Irish voice. It's flawless. As is Ava's way of listening to Julian, her upper-class English boyfriend. Dolan analyzes how the English language and the Irish ear try to make sense of each other." - Colm Tóibín, WSJ Magazine
"[A] wry, tender debut.... Dolan's smart, brisk debut works as a charming comedy of manners." - Publishers Weekly
"Wonderfully intuitive and fluid.... An examination of sex, queerness, self-sabotage, power, and privilege." - The New Yorker
"Edna O'Brien. Tana French. Sally Rooney. Enter fellow Irishwoman Dolan, whose knowing, superbly observed debut novel marks the young author as a major force. This sardonic rom-com chronicles the escapades of 22-year-old Ava, a desultory millennial teaching abroad inHong Kong, where she meets Julian, an aloof British banker, and Edith, a wealthy Chinese lawyer. What ensues is an enchantingly neurotic love triangle in a time of economic and existential tumult." - O, the Oprah Magazine
"Whipsmart... A modern love story... Exciting Times is an impressive, cerebral debut written with brio and humour... The observations are keen, heartfelt and delivered in a brutally nonchalant style... Heralding for sure a new star in Irish writing." - Irish Times
"Dazzling... With Exciting Times comes a rare and indeed exciting talent, a cacophony of our times, a treat for the socially distanced." - Irish Independent
"Very funny... Extremely sharp - both cutting and tart... A bracing, refreshing first novel." - Observer
"Wry, stylish.... In this witty satire of the haves and have nots, Dolan explores tender, insightful truths about the vagaries of modern love."
- Esquire
"Volleying dialogue, rich interiority, and perceptive writing on money, politics, and class. . . A clever and deep novel of sex, connection, and the complexities of self expression." - Booklist (starred review)
"That dive into human consciousness . . . separates Dolan from the countrywoman to whom she is often compared, novelist Sally Rooney ("Normal People"). While both writers deal with class -- offering cutting observations -- Dolan pushes further to confront why we put up with it in the first place." - Washington Post
"A love triangle like you've never seen it before.... Wry and sardonic, Dolan relentlessly examines untold truths about love, classicism, and ambition." - Marie Claire
"Droll, shrewd and unafraid--a winning debut." - Hilary Mantel
"A funny, smart, contemporary love story." - Sunday Times (London)
"Exciting Times is constant fun." - Telegraph (UK)