▫️Exciting Times | FICTION
▫️Author: Naoise Dolan @naoisedolan
▫️My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
▫️Pub Date: 12th April 2020
Sweet lordy I LOVED this book! Maybe an unpopular opinion but I actually could not put it down. Soooo up my street, and I devoured it in 48 hours! I have seen lots of people compare it to Sally Rooney and I kind of agree, but to be honest I feel like it doesn’t deserve to be compared to anything because it was so so good in its own right.
Exciting Times follows the story of Ava, who leaves Ireland to work as a teacher in Hong Kong, where she finds herself simultaneously involved in very complicated relationships with both Julian and Edith. She is submersed in a world of money, status and wealth and grapples with her identity and sense of self in an isolated world.
I just found the writing in this so impressive! I really felt involved in the story, and thought it had so much grit. I love the same kind of relationship/family drama that it focussed on too, character driven books are right up my street, and this was most definitely a character driven book. Both Ava and Julian were those unlikable characters that frustrate you but still grip you so you can’t put a book down even while you want to shout at them!
It was a nice easy short read too which always gets a 10/10 from me. I would definitely read ANY of Naoise Dolans work, and I totally understand why it was long listed for the Women’s Prize this year.
Review By: Kate Jenkinson
Instagram: @kates.shelves
Email: katejenkinson17@gmail.com