Exciting Times

Exciting Times follows Ava, a young Irish woman who moves to Hong Kong to teach English after graduating from college. As she adjusts to the bustling city, she meets and becomes romantically involved with Julian, a wealthy British banker, and her life is complicated when she intimately bonds with Edith, to whom she is also attracted, as she is bisexual. These relationships are marked by a mix of allure, affection, and confusion, leading Ava to question her feelings and identity.

Ava is adjusting to moving to a new country; previously, she felt like everyone she knew in Ireland disliked her. When Ava meets Julian at a bar, this sparks initial flirtation that sets the stage for her to explore new relationships in Hong Kong. While Ava and Julian begin a conventional relationship, she navigates the complexities of being an expatriate and experiencing the culture. She becomes more entangled in Julian's life, moves in with him, and allows him to pay for everything while she teaches, and they engage in sex. Julian's rich friends alienate her, though, making comments about her, and one of them talks about how she wants to sleep with Julian. She then meets Edith, a headstrong local woman, lawyer, and friend of Julian's circle. This new friendship disorients Ava, complicates her self-understanding, and challenges her connection with Julian. Despite developing an intimacy marked by emotional depth with Edith, she still remains conflicted and returns to Julian repeatedly. The tension escalates as Ava's feelings split for Julian and Edith, forcing her to evaluate what she truly desires and inducing fluctuating loyalty towards the two.

Ava's relationship with Edith deepens over the course of the story, highlighting their emotional intimacy. Their friendship involves shared experiences and discussions that influence Ava's understanding of her own feelings, particularly about her sexuality and desires. By attending parties and social events, they bond over shared interests, such as dining, and experience the vibrant nightlife of the city; they explore landmarks, and their friendship offers a space to discuss relationships, love, and identity openly, and express their insecurities or turbulence.

Throughout the book, she struggles to articulate her feelings to them accurately, leading to a sense from Julien that she's ambivalent to him and emotionally-distant, leaving him confused about her reluctance to get vulnerable and closer. Edith is insecure about their relationship, disconcerted by the possibility that it's superficial. The two know about each other, though they don't know the full extent of each other's connection to Ava.

To escape as a temporary reprieve, she travels to Taiwan to attend a wedding; while there, she devotes moments for introspection, and concludes that a full confession when she returns would remove some level of guilt and provide her with clarity. She also thinks that her lack of transparency about her relationships has caused miscommunication that must be rectified.

She invites both to meet with her, and their discussion enables each of them to gain a proper understanding of the situation. Julian expresses frustration over Ava's indecisiveness, while Edith's argument involves the complexities of their friendship and romantic tie. Ava explains the internal conflict that's been raging, forcing Ava to confront it head-on. Ava leaves the conversation without definitively selecting a partner. Julian is angry and feels betrayed. Edith wants some resolution, and is hurt when she doesn't receive it.

Dolan began writing Exciting Times in 2017, when she was living in Hong Kong. She completed writing the novel in five months. An early excerpt was published in The Stinging Fly. The novel received critical acclaim, and was often likened to the work of Sally Rooney, a fellow Trinity College Dublin graduate.{{Cite web |last=Armstrong |first=Maggie |date=11 April 2020 |title=Exciting Times: Naoise Dolan's dazzling debut offers a rare treat in times of isolation |url=https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/book-reviews/exciting-times-naoise-dolans-dazzling-debut-offers-a-rare-treat-in-times-of-isolation-39117620.html |access-date=23 July 2020 |website=Independent.ie |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Gilmartin |first=Sarah |title=Exciting Times review: Whipsmart debut heralds a new star of Irish writing |language=en |newspaper=The Irish Times |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/exciting-times-review-whipsmart-debut-heralds-a-new-star-of-irish-writing-1.4213949 |access-date=23 July 2020}}

Exciting Times was published in the United Kingdom by Weidenfeld & Nicolson on 12 April 2020.{{Cite book |last1=Dolan |first1=Naoise |url=https://www.weidenfeldandnicolson.co.uk/titles/naoise-dolan/exciting-times/9781474613477/ |title=Exciting Times |date=15 October 2019 |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |isbn=9781474613477 |access-date=June 10, 2023}} It was released in the United States on 2 June 2020, by HarperCollins.{{Cite book |last=Doland |first=Naoise |url=https://www.harpercollins.com/products/exciting-times-naoise-dolan?variant=32180876607522 |title=Exciting Times |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=9780062968746 |edition=hardcover 1st |access-date=June 10, 2023}}

The New York Times described it at as a novel where "jealousy and obsession, love and late capitalism, sex and the internet all come whirling together in a wry and bracing tale of class and privilege."{{Cite news |last=Wang |first=Xuan Juliana |date=2 June 2020 |title=In 'Exciting Times,' Echoes of Sally Rooney, but With a Queer Twist |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/02/books/review/exciting-times-naoise-dolan.html |access-date=31 March 2021 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |author-link=Xuan Juliana Wang}} Kirkus Reviews praised it as a "refreshingly wry and insightful debut."{{Cite web |title=Exciting Times |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/naoise-dolan/exciting-times/ |access-date=June 10, 2023 |website=KirkusReviews.com}} The Irish Times declared, "Exciting Times, which was acquired in a seven-way bidding war, more than lives up to the hype … It teems with insight around class, race, language and sexuality. Likely to fill the Sally-Rooney-shaped hole in many readers' lives."

Exciting Times was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction,{{Cite web |last=Anderson |first=Porter |date=2021-03-11 |title=The 2021 Women's Prize for Fiction Names a 16-Title Longlist |url=https://publishingperspectives.com/2021/03/the-uk-womens-prize-for-fiction-names-a-16-title-longlist/ |access-date=2024-07-17 |website=Publishing Perspectives |language=en-US}} Dylan Thomas Prize, and Desmond Elliott Prize, and shortlisted for the Irish Book Award, Dalkey Literary Award for Emerging Writer{{Cite news |title=Maggie O'Farrell and Elaine Feeney win 2021 Dalkey Literary Awards |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/maggie-o-farrell-and-elaine-feeney-win-2021-dalkey-literary-awards-1.4597133 |access-date=2024-07-17 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en}} and Waterstones Book of the Year.{{Cite web |title=Waterstones Book of the Year 2020 |url=https://www.waterstones.com/category/cultural-highlights/book-awards/the-waterstones-book-of-the-year |access-date=21 March 2021 |website=Waterstones |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Sterer |first=Gideon |title=Shelf Awareness for Wednesday, November 4, 2020 |url=https://www.shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?issue=3859 |access-date=2024-07-17 |website=Shelf Awareness}} Dolan was also shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award in 2020.{{Cite web |title=Exciting Times Naoise Dolan |url=https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/deplonglist21/exciting-times/ |access-date=June 10, 2023 |website=National Centre for Writing}}

In May 2020 it was announced that Exciting Times had been optioned for a US television series by Black Bear Pictures, and in August 2021 it was revealed that Cooper Raiff would adapt with Phoebe Dynevor to star in the adaptation and act as executive producer. The series will be produced by Amazon Studios.{{Cite news |last=Andreeva |first=Nellie |date=17 August 2021 |title=Phoebe Dynevor Set To EP & Poised To Star In 'Exciting Times' Series In Works At Amazon Studios |language=en |work=Deadline |url=https://deadline.com/2021/08/phoebe-dynevor-ep-star-exciting-times-series-amazon-studios-1234816651/ |access-date=18 June 2021}}

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Category:2020 Irish novels