Read more. 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. Not so much. Naoise Dolan is in her late 20s and has often been compared to Sally Rooney. Exciting Times Naoise Dolan $27.99 $26.03 in cart add to cart I Might Regret This: Essays, Drawings, Vulnerabilities, and. This month we are discussing. How to Join Marie Claire's Online Book Club. RELEASE DATE: Oct. 18, 2022. She talks to Ava about Ava, and delivers the odd riff on her mother or Judy Garland, but we never delve deep into her own feelings or get to see her vulnerabilities exposed. Review: 'Exciting Times,' by Naoise Dolan - Star Tribune The most insightful and raw of these are the caustic observations about Irelands repressive attitudes to homosexuality and abortionand how they damage individual lives. The title of Naoise Dolan's debut novel, "Exciting Times," is a clever trick an ambivalent phrase that reads one way in millennial deadpan, an additional way as an . 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. ), She and Edith are a love story, but also a fear story. Regardless of whether this will be a standout favorite for you, I believe we can all appreciate the hype it has whipped up and the skill of Dolans writing." Categories: Previously, she was an editor at Marie Claire, where she wrote and edited culture, politics, and lifestyle stories ranging from op-eds to profiles to ambitious packages. 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. This model of relationship-as-power-struggle is hardly new, but Dolan brings a fresh 21st-century sensibility to it. In Naoise Dolan's 'Exciting Times,' an Irish ex-pat in Hong Kong lands in a love triangle. (How can you tell whether you like someone? - Publishers Weekly Ava, newly arrived in Hong Kong from Dublin, spends her days teaching English to rich children. I need to have a protagonist I can rally behindand Avas self-pitying rants just made me irritated and wanting her to find a good therapist. I found this an invigorating respite from how people usually assessed women.. GENERAL ROMANCE | Anyone can read what you share. 256 pages 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. Politically alert, heartbreakingly raw, and dryly funny, Exciting Times is thrillingly attuned to the great freedoms and greater uncertainties of modern love. Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. Some will find Ava absolutely intolerable and insufferable and won't be able to finish the first 25 pages. - Hilary Mantel. Oh my goodness. Naoise Dolan, 2020. [epub] Download Exciting Times BY Naoise Dolan on Audible Full Version "I have to say I really liked this debut novel by Naoise Dolan. NOTE: I am coming in here a little over a year after writing this because I have changed a bit as a reader and reviewer, and want this, which is still getting eyes on it pretty constantly, to reflect that. Categories: Family News, a short story by Naoise Dolan - The Irish Times I have no love for a novel which only uses my home town as a colorful backdrop and doesn't give a shit about what is happening to the local people. Soon they are sleeping together, and Ava moves into Julians flat. (I mean, I love them both and what good company to be in! I could see it forever, for us: walking through cities, laughing at things that werent that funny. When Julian tells her hes returning to Hong Kong, she must navigate the precarious situation shes inadvertently created. Most recently, she was the Managing Editor at Coveteur, where she oversaw the sites day-to-day editorial operations. 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. Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan - 9781474613460 - Book Depository But the intellectual aura inserted across the novel felt taut and occasionally reaching. Its good to know thats how I behave in this situation.. Its a brilliantly concise summation of her take on relationships, which she sees as a power game, an ultimately shallow emotional transaction in which the greatest potential benefit might be that you get to move into an apartment better than anything you can afford on your own. When Julian plans to return to Hong Kong, Ava must come clean to Edith and decide for herself which life she wants to live: one with romance and adventure or money and comfort. "Exciting Timesfollows 22-year-old Ava as she leaves Ireland to teach in Hong Kong. I wasnt good at most things but I was good at men, Ava confides in the reader, and Julian was the richest man Id ever been good at.. by But Julians impending return means Ava must decide not so much between her lovers as between Edith and the expensive flat that she doesnt pay for. His privilege is the invisible third party in the relationship. 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. DAS APASIONANTES es una novela social (casi generacional) disfrazada de historia de amor. Aperus are . Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published. Youre not easily pleased with how other people put sentences together, Julian accuses, but when it comes to money, youve got no taste. Marie Claire is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. A young Dubliner in Hong Kong struggles to connect in this fresh and funny debut about love and self-knowledge. Exciting Times Naoise Dolan. Deadline reports that the actress will star in and produce Exciting Times, a "contemporary romance with a twist" adapted from Irish author Naoise Dolan's novel of the same name. She is also obsessive and over-analytical in her thoughts about both Julian and Edith. Buy Exciting Times: THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER and shortlisted for the An Post Irish Book Awards 2020 By Naoise Dolan. Condition - Like New. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. And others will find that not much happens and it's just meh. As I started reading this novel, I realized I had to take my time with it. Her debut novel, Exciting Times, was a Sunday Times bestseller, widely translated, and optioned for television. Edith is a local, sophisticated, and enthusiastic lawyer who falls in love with Ava and isnt afraid to say so. Heres how it works. Colleen Hoover. The Problem with Naoise Dolan's Exciting Times *a rant* All Rights Reserved. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. But Caitlin, whose own demons have been hinted at, will not be so lucky. Results for "Exciting Times" "Naoise Dolan" 12,128 results. 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 Article Dolan is an Irish writer born in Dublin. ISBN-10: 1474613446 . Unfortunately, Dolans superficial evocation of the island is conjured mostly through Instagram latte art geotagged on fashionable streets. It read as slow-paced indecisiveness. Politically alert, heartbreakingly raw, and dryly funny, Exciting Times is thrillingly attuned to the great freedoms and greater uncertainties of modern love. Shortly after, she meets native Hong Kong-turned-boarding-school-broad, Edith. . The literary rumor mill portrays Naoise Dolan as the new Sally Rooney, and that suggestion alone might push a writer onto the bestseller list these days. (Image credit: Design By Morgan McMullen), (Image credit: Design by Morgan McMullen), We're InspiredCrisp Suiting and Bold Beauty is All We Can Currently Think About, Revolve Is Having a Huge One-Day-Only Saleand You Can Get $100 Off These Legendary Gucci Sunglasses, Jo Piazza and Christine Pride Tackle the Complicated Topic of Motherhood in 'You Were Always Mine', 'Token Black Girl' Is Our October Book Club Pick, 25 Books by Latinx Authors You Should Read Immediately, Join #ReadWithMC: Marie Claire's Virtual Monthly Book Club, 'Mika In Real Life' Is Our September Book Club Pick. Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan | Waterstones Exciting Times Literary Hub I love books about disaster women and unlike many of my bookish friends do not seem to tire of them at all. 23 year old Ava moves to Hong Kong to escape Ireland. If you, like me, answered yes to all three of those questions, then you're in for a treat. Both are well-educated and earning a good living. Click here and be the first to review this book! It all adds up to a bracing, refreshing first novel, with hints of greater things to come. Very . Omnipresent yet subtle, Hong Kong doesn't overshadow the characters and their struggles in trying to figure out life. The dialog is brilliant throughout. It reads fairly quickly and isnt long, so would make a great summer poolside story!" A young millennial finds herself in a love triangle with a man and woman. When Julian leaves for London on an extended work project, Ava meets Edith, a Hong Kong local and ambitious lawyer. I like cool detached styling, I like complex unlikeable protagonists, I like dissections of class, I like explorations of sexuality. Debut novelist Naoise Dolan is no Sally Rooney, for - Los Angeles Times Stories so good, you won't need a bookmark. A variety of explanations for this have been proposed; The Lancet's "Commission on the future of care and clinical research in autism" commented that it "might be part of a different concept of self, less reliance on or reference to social norms, or part of a . 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 . Though this model of relationship-as-power-struggle is hardly new, Dolan brings a fresh 21st-century sensibility to it. I know its frustrating that any new young female writer must find themselves compared to Sally Rooney. She has been short-listed and long-listed for several prizes, including the Women's Prize for Fiction, the Dylan Thomas Prize, and the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. Ava wants to be herand wants her. Exciting Times By: Naoise Dolan. While there, Ava meets Julian, a rich banker from London, who invites her to move into his home. RELEASE DATE: May 8, 1998. Search: This book also brought back so many memories from my trip to Hong Kong with my friends after college graduation (swipe!). Exciting Times Naoise Dolan. FREE Exciting Times PDF Book by Naoise Dolan (2020) Download or Read Naoise Dolan - Exciting Times - The Bobsphere 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. Naoise Dolan on the joy of literary threesomes 2019 Naoise Dolan (P)2019 Orion Publishing Group. 40+ in stock. Visit our corporate site. Membership Advantages. Her debut novel, Exciting Times, was a Sunday Times bestseller, widely translated, and optioned for television. Get help and learn more about the design. Politics, class, and race anxiously hover over the entire novel. She dissects language and her humor is so deadpan I sometimes read sentences twice. Emotions are dealt with baldly, dryly: Anyway, I hated her, says Ava about Victoria, a moneyed friend of Julians. . Rooney writes more stream of consciousness and this is more tightly bound, but the emotions and ways of being felt so similar." Now 45% Off. New RRP 14.99. The protagonist, Ava, is an intelligent, 22-year-old loner who moves from her native Dublin to Hong Kong to teach English, with no discernible qualifications other than being white. If in part one, Ava feels held at a frustrating distance why is she so hard on herself? Exciting Times on the way with Bridgerton's Phoebe Dynevor set for new I related to it immensely. "[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." If youre looking for likable and well-rounded characters, a happy love story, and everything packaged up in a neat box, this isnt it. I don't do that often. Let the BookTokking Begin, New Colleen Hoover Book Sells 800K Copies, Colleen Hoover Dominated Book Sales in 2022. An entire novel in this vein might become wearing, but Dolan takes her narrative to a new level when she brings in a character Ava actually likes: Edith, a local who went to boarding school in England. Absent the textures of a real city that is sharply divided along generational, ideological and class lines, Dolans novel could have taken place in any other major Asian metropolis. Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan is published by W&N (14.99), Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. Summary. Naoise Dolan: seasons the novel with insights about class, gender, race and language. The comparison was mentioned repeatedly in the book's marketing materials, in reviews, in interviews, and in the 28-year-old's author biographies. Dolan was born in Dublin, Ireland. Naoise Dolan has been compared to Sally Rooney, and I definitely think fans ofConversations With Friendsmay like this one more than I did!" @bookish_molly. 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. Like Rooney, Dolan writes in a deadpan style. Exciting Times Book Rating. It also turned into a really beautiful queer love story, taking turns I hadnt anticipated at the outset of the novel. Caitlin, on the other hand, lives part of the year with her wealthy mother Phoebe, whos just moved to Albuquerque, and summers with her father Lamb, equally affluent, on the Vineyard. About the author (2020) Naoise Dolan is an Irish writer born in Dublin. The novel is shot through with moments of such startling self-awareness as this. Autism and LGBT identities - Wikipedia @kelseylovesbooks. Exciting Times By Naoise Dolan | Used | 9781474613460 | World of Books But on this occasion, its more than just a question of biography: Dolans writing does genuinely occupy similar territory. BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfictionbooks that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us. , RIYL: Sally Rooney. If you love prose sprinkled with sarcasm, characters who could use some serious self-improvement, and complicated love stories, thenExciting Timeswill likely appeal to you. Often when I read a queer novel some of it feels forced; this was seamless. Naoise Dolan - Exciting Times Audiobook - Free Audiobooks This novel is a tedious account of one girls romantic flings during a year of living abroad in Hong Kong. Sentences are short. Categories: Ill update in the comments if I ever figure it out. ROMANCE | 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. Book Club | Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan | April 2021 At some point, the millennial-ness of it all became too much for me and I felt my eyes glaze over a bit. Shrove Tuesday meaning explained: What the name means, when Pancake Day Secrets, shame, and adoption in the 1960sa poignant tale of a mother's enduring love. 1. exciting times naoise dolan ending explained Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE | But now theyre co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. The middle section was slightly better than the beginning, there was an ounce of truth to it, but then it nosedived again. Her sentences are sharp and confident, especially for a debut. HarperCollins. Identity Politics and the English Language: Naoise Dolan's Exciting Times Already drawing comparisons to Sally Rooney's work, "Exciting Times," by Naoise Dolan, has many of the familiar tropes of the "millennial . 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. And also coming out: Ava slowly falls for Edith, a Hong Kong lawyer. I was more interested in her thoughts and experiences with class than her relationships, to be honest, even as they played proxy for amplifying her feelings around status. I often had to re-read passages, as subtext also plays a huge part in the book. Exciting Times is her first novel, an excerpt from which was published in The Stinging Fly by Sally Rooney. "Exciting Times" by Naoise Dolan - asianreviewofbooks.com In her first months as an expat, she meets Juliana 28-year-old English bankerwho seems aloof about everything except his job. "Telling Time to Minute" contains high-end 3D animations that explain abstract topics visually in detail to understand it more easily. This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers. An upcoming glossy series based on the debut novel of the same name by 29-year-old Irish author Naoise Dolan - and streaming giant Amazon will be behind it. Genre: Literary Fiction Naoise Dolan - Wikipedia The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother. Naoise Dolan. I liked Exciting Times a lot more than the average GR reviewer. Edith is curious and enthusiastic, and Ava can no longer maintain her detached, ironical approach to life feelings flower all over the place. Throughout the book, Ava makes incisive observations about the legacy of colonialism in both HK and Ireland, in addition to funny musings about the rules of English grammar she teaches her students, but can hardly explain, let alone justify, herself. The story is told through Avas eyes and she often diverges on topics, which are not always explained. Julian is a banker who likes spending time with Ava, but incapable (or simply unwilling) to express his feelings for her. 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. 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. Dolan is particularly good at capturing the way men talk to women whom they mistakenly think are not as smart as they are. Those whove spent time in Hong Kong cant help wondering what its like to be among the Anglophone transplants who work and party there. Naoise Dolan is an Irish writer born in Dublin. Its a brilliantly concise summation of her take on relationships, which she sees as a power game, an ultimately shallow emotional transaction in which the greatest potential benefit might be that you get to move into an apartment better than anything you can afford on your own. EXCITING TIMES. The Irish debut novel everyone is talking about.' - The Gloss. Its not easy to sustain interest in someone so relentlessly floundering for self-knowledge, and the book flags once Ava and Edith are together. Naoise Dolan is an Irish novelist. I know its frustrating that any new young female writer must find themselves compared to Sally Rooney. Yet like many millennials, Ava exhausts the bulk of her mental energy on her bank account. 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. Do you marvel at clever sentence structure when encountered in a book? This gives the novel a strangely solipsistic feel, like a hall of mirrors, where every attempt to gaze outward is met only by your own face. The novel goes on to discuss the history of colonialism by the British of the Irish and Hong Kong. BookBrowse LLC 1997-2023. Dolan seasons the novel with insights about class, gender, race, colonialism, and language, though the result does not always bring depth of flavour. Edith has much in common with Julian: an Oxbridge pedigree and a high-powered, high-paying job. (Ecco, 256 pp., $16.99.) [2] She experienced homophobic bullying in school. She obtained an English degree from Trinity College Dublin in 2016 and later a Master's Degree in Victorian Literature from Oxford University. Aleksandar Hemon's characters are romantics. What listeners say about Exciting Times Average Customer Ratings. Missed out on our June book club pick? I hope youll give her debut a tryit was exceedingly worth it!" I wasn't immediately sucked inI think when Edith entered the picture, I became a lot more engaged. I wanted her life, Ava thinks. - Library Journal When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. In July, we'll be reading Brit Bennett's bestselling novel,The Vanishing Half (opens in new tab). I personally found that to be utterly fascinating. Its unusual and contemplative and just very different. Read an Excerpt from Naoise Dolan New Novel Exciting Times - Oprah Daily Overall, the #ReadWithMC community had trouble relating to Ava, mainly due to her passive aggressiveness and inability to speak the truth to fellow characters in the book. I loved Exciting Times and could see within the first few chapters why it's on lots of best books 2020 lists. With Naoise Dolan on the literary scene, there are Exciting Times ahead.' - i-D. @book_gal. In sixth grade, when Victoria Weaver is asked by new girl Caitlin Somers to spend the summer with her on Marthas Vineyard, her life changes forever. They form a digital counterbalance to Avas aloof and guarded in-person presence, and through this duality Dolan captures perfectly the nauseating insecurity of growing up today. In November we went for brunch on Aberdeen Street with Ralph, pronounced 'Rafe', who'd gone to Balliol with Julian, now worked at . Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan, review: a wily, caustic debut novel Politically alert, heartbreakingly raw, and dryly funny, Exciting Times is thrillingly attuned to the great freedoms and greater uncertainties of modern love. "Jealousy and obsession, love and late capitalism, sex and the internet all come whirling together in a wry and bracing tale of class . Queer romance. Still, Naoise Dolan deserves her own praise. But real life is messy and people are messy, and this book dramatizes that in a way that rings profoundly true. She has been short-listed and long-listed for several prizes, including the Women's Prize for Fiction, the Dylan Thomas Prize, and the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. Were glad you found a book that interests you! Our parents had divorced when I was a baby, and now lived in different counties in the west of Ireland. [PDF] Exciting Times : A Novel - Download Book Online I know everyone says this, but there are so many similarities I saw between this andNormal People. After confiding that she called her college savings account her abortion fund, she says: I knew some women who saved with their friends, and they all helped whoever was unlucky. "The angst of your twentiestrying to figure out who you are can be exhaustingyoure trying on identities like outfits. Your ultimate guide to the (arguably) best film genre: the romantic comedy. NY 10036. Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan - Goodreads Don't get me wrong, it's not the story itself, the story as a concept it totally up my alley (it has to be, because it sounds like a Sally Rooney novel): A 22 year old Irish expat living in Hong Kong who finds herself in a love triangle with a cold English banker who doesn't want to be her partner but will let her live in his expensive appartment for free, and a young woman from Hong Kong. She studied English literature at Trinity College Dublin and Oxford University.