I started this book and immediately felt the comparison between Normal People. I enjoy character driven novels but unfortunately the characters in this novel did not feel fleshed out enough for me. There were many side characters introduced that made the story confusing while I was still trying to learn about our three main characters. I sadly ended up not finishing the book due to this lack of connection.

It was an enjoyable read but it’s not one that I want to reread. There were some issues of misrepresentation in the book (being deliberately vague to avoid spoilers) that disturbed the flow of the book and did not add the the story.

Exciting times is kind of a misleading title since it is quite slow. Sally Rooney fans will likely enjoy this one. it's well-written but didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped I would.

Ava recently arrived in Hong Kong from Ireland to teach English from a year, hoping to find more excitement there than what she feels is a humdrum existence in Dublin. She falls into a relationship with an older banker, Julian, and ends up moving into his apartment. While he is away on an extended business trip, Ava meets Edith, a lawyer, and strikes up a friendship. Edith introduces her to more of the city and, as they spend more time together, they grow closer and their relationships blossoms into something more. When after several months, Julian lets Ava know he is returning to Hong Kong, Ava is forced to confront what type of life she wants -- the comfort and easy compatibility with Julian or the more exciting connection with Edith.

This was an engaging story, exploring interesting and timely themes, from a distinctive new voice. I'm eager to see what comes next from this author.

Highly recommended!

Exciting times they were not. I have no many issues with this book, I'm not even going to allow myself to get angry again as I review it.

If you are thinking of picking it up because you like Sally Rooney: Avoid it.

If you are triggered by people with colonialist mindsets: Avoid it. Especially if you cannot fathom why someone from a former colony and who considers herself communist can be such a capitalistic, colonialist, self-centered... person. Ugh! Such a whiny, frustrating character.

I enjoyed this. Not sure the Rooney comparisons are helping as, other than fine writing by Irish women rooted in millennial sensibilities, the books differ. Witty and pitch-perfect, I appreciated the exploration of language vs class through the lens of an imbalanced relationship. Keen to see what Dolan writes next.

Exciting Times these were not.

And that’s all I have to say about it. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Still working my way through the @womensprize long list (10/16).

⭐️⭐️💫
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#adublinmillenealsnotexcitingtimesinhertravailsinhongkong

Being that I am on the spectrum, I thought I would be able to relate to this. But it fell short for me. There was some misrepresentation in the book and it just did not hold my attention.

Was looking forward to reading a book like "Normal People" with a queer twist, but unfortunately this one fell totally flat for me. Definitely see the parallels drawn between Dolan and Rooney's work, but I just couldn't find a hook here.

A lot of my distaste stemmed from watching the narrator, Ava, both string along and be strung along by a man that treated her, frankly, like trash - and then seeing her turn around and repeat the pattern with a woman in the back half of the book. C'est la vie for a 22-year-old, I suppose, but this book left me bored and kinda bummed.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3. I was hoping to enjoy this book. I was assuming I would love it and it would be a five star read. However, that's not the case. The synopsis had some qualities I was looking forward to, but personally I don't think the plot had anything substantial to offer after reading. I do think it was well written, but I just think it missed the mark. The plot was written as to be very clever and witty, but ended up being tedious to read.

Ava, as a character had almost no development and she seemed almost unrealistic as a character? Become an expat teaching English grammar in Hong Kong, make friends that have ambitious careers, but make no moves to improve your own career? Have a millennial existential crisis over power dynamics and sexual orientation? Sounds about right and realistic for our generation, but making that plot made it hard for the plot to develop.

Edith and Julian served as vessels for some "awakenings" in Ava's life. Julian constantly told Ava she wasn't doing anything with her life and Edith was her awakening that she might like women which became an existential crisis.

Ava teaches English in Hong Kong, Julian is a banker, Edith is a lawyer. Somehow they all find themselves entwined in each other’s lives – although none of them are really willing to be open about their feelings.

The comparison to Sally Rooney is definitely not far-reaching. Unfortunately, imitation isn’t always the sincerest form of flattery when it comes off as pretty much a blatant knockoff of Rooney’s trademark style.

The comparison to Crazy Rich Asians???? Because one of the characters happens to be Asian????? Yeah, notsamuch. There was no opulent lifestyle or mansions or bigger-than-life characters. Hell, Ava didn’t even get to meet Edith’s family. This name-top appears to simply be a hot ticket item that the blurbist threw out there in a pretty pathetic attempt to sell more books.

Although this was all about coming to embrace the “true you” and owning your sexuality, unfortunately the chemistry was between Ava and Julian rather than Ava and Edith. Edith existed merely to propel Ava to acceptance of herself and was little more than a cardboard cutout who happily squatted in someone else’s flat and left someone she knew was not well off financially to cover tabs despite supposedly coming from money. At least Julian had some semblance of a personality (however dysfunctional when it came to his feelings it may have been) and their banter was enjoyable to read . . . .

“I remember the first time I saw you. You were walking so carefully in your heels. I was wondering what this shy person was doing having so much hair.”

“That’s a good line. Did you prepare it in advance?”

“There were several drafts. I struck out a few commas on the flight back.”

All in all this wasn’t a terrible story, but not one I’d really recommend either.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Reading this book made me feel like an uptight Puritan. I could not get past my old-fashioned, staid views of what a committed, monogamous relationship looks like. I quite shocked myself with the disapproval I felt for the characters in this novel and could not continue to read it past 25%.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

2.5/3 stars

Although I am close to the age target audience of this novel, I found myself not caring enough for what was going on with the relationships between the characters. I did relate to the character's love problems but at the same time, I felt really disconnected from them and their rich-life-issues. Maybe if I read the book sometime in the future my opinion may change, but for now, my lack of connection didn't let me enjoy Exciting Times thoroughly.

I had such a difficult time investing in these incredibly entitled characters and generally found the story boring. I am not sure if the title was meant to be ironic, but that is certainly how it landed for me as a reader.

This is between a 3 and 4 star rating. I saw many comparisons in Dolan's writing to Sally Rooney's writing, and after having finished the book, I can see the similarities in their writing styles. I did find Dolan's writing a bit pretentious given some of the verbiage used; however, since this is her debut novel, that could be implemented strategically to portray the main character's personality. The "Julian" section of the book was very slow, since it was essentially describing Ava while she is waiting around for Julian's love and approval. I found myself questioning if a 22 y/o would actually act the way Ava does in the book, and sure, one could, but it was frustrating to read about and it would unlikely happen. The book picked up the pace during the "Edith" section as her character brought out some redeeming qualities in Ava, and I kept wanting to see how Edith and Ava's relationship would progress. I'd recommend this to Rooney fans and fans of novels with LGBTQ themes.

I decided to DNF this book because I just couldn’t get into it. The prose felt off for me and I just couldn’t connect to any of the characters.

This was an interesting read. It reminded me of the book Normal People. Not a lot happened but it was well written. Sometimes I like to read these kinds of stories where they are just normal people.

Exciting Times was a dark horse favorite of mine this year. Though Ava is outwardly floundering in direction and desire, I found her to be so human and confident in an understated way. Dolan's dialogue is some of the sharpest I've read, and I couldn't stop highlighting Ava's inward and outward reactions.

This book actually wasn't that exciting for me. I kept waiting for something to exciting to happen but it never did. It felt like there were 2 different stories in the book and I might have liked it more if it would have left the first half out.

Not A Book; A Dartboard

Or maybe a box of razor blades. Or a bag of broken glass. Everything about this was sharp, edgy, and pointed. Almost literally every phrase stung and crackled. I've gotten really, really tired of whiny, navel gazing, neurotic, affectless main characters, but by gosh I loved every dysfunctional moment of this story. Our heroine Ava takes no prisoners, starting with herself. She is brutally funny, and yet the reader responds to her fragility and self loathing. And I even liked the ending.

(Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)