Exciting Times

Exciting Times

US 1st edition
Author	Naoise Dolan
Language	English
Set in	Hong Kong
Publisher	W&N (UK) HarperCollins (US)
Publication date	12 April 2020 (UK) 2 June 2020 (US)
Publication place	United Kingdom United States
Pages	240 pp
ISBN	9781474613446 (1st ed. hardcover)
OCLC	1150786914
Dewey Decimal	823.92
LC Class	PR6104.O49 E93 2020
Preceded by	The Happy Couple

Exciting Times is a novel by Irish author Naoise Dolan. It was released in the United Kingdom on 12 April 2020 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, and later that summer in the United States.^[1] The book is Dolan's debut novel, an intimate exploration of a millennial teacher in Hong Kong who becomes entangled in a love triangle with a male banker and a female lawyer.

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 Northern 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, and since she finds her roommates annoying, moves in with him, and allows him to pay for everything while she teaches, and they engage in sex. Julian's rich high-class friends alienate her, though, making obnoxious comments about her humble upbringing, and Victoria talking about how she wants to sleep with Julian. She then meets Edith, a headstrong local woman, lawyer, and friend of Julian's circle. She is more down-to-earth than Julian's friends. 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.

Julian's ambitions and work life are elements throughout the story. His struggles with his professional identity contribute to the dynamics of his relationship with Ava. His frustration with his career reflects a growing reliance on her as he increasingly seeks validation and support. However, she becomes detached and enters into a less-conventional though meaningful attachment involving Edith.

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. This ends without a neat conclusion. Emphasizes the complexities that can follow from navigating love polygons and multidimensional romantic dynamics.

Fearing to fully commit to either, she realizes that staying in these relationships may hinder her ability to figure out what she truly wants. Ultimately, she decides to leave Hong Kong and return to Ireland, leaving both so that she may self-reflect.

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.^[2][3]

Exciting Times was published in the United Kingdom by Weidenfeld & Nicolson on 12 April 2020.^[4] It was released in the United States on 2 June 2020, by HarperCollins.^[5]

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."^[6] Kirkus Reviews praised it as a "refreshingly wry and insightful debut."^[7] 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."^[3]

Exciting Times was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction,^[8] Dylan Thomas Prize,^[9] and Desmond Elliott Prize, and shortlisted for the An Post Irish Book Award, Dalkey Literary Award for Emerging Writer^[10] and Waterstones Book of the Year.^[11] Dolan was also shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award in 2020.^[12]

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.^[13]