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Exciting Times

Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2021

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Exciting Times

By: Naoise Dolan
Narrated by: Aoife McMahon
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Summary

 'The book of the summer ... Kept me rapt until the final page' THE TIMES

'A sharp, smart, witty modern love story. I loved it' David Nicholls, author of ONE DAY

'More than lives up to the hype ... Likely to fill the Sally-Rooney-shaped hole in many readers' lives' IRISH TIMES

'Droll, shrewd and unafraid - a winning debut' Hilary Mantel, author of WOLF HALL

'I've been pushing Exciting Times on everyone I know. Some of Dolan's pithy observations of her characters are the best I've read since Edward St Aubyn' OBSERVER

'A frankly sensational book' Pandora Sykes on THE HIGH LOW

'In the tradition of Dorothy Parker, Joan Rivers and Nora Ephron ... I found myself purring with pleasure. ...This is comic writing at the highest level' Craig Brown, DAILY MAIL

When you leave Ireland aged 22 to spend your parents' money, it's called a gap year. When Ava leaves Ireland aged 22 to make her own money, she's not sure what to call it, but it involves:

- a badly-paid job in Hong Kong, teaching English grammar to rich children;
- Julian, who likes to spend money on Ava and lets her move into his guest room;
- Edith, who Ava meets while Julian is out of town and actually listens to her when she talks;
- money, love, cynicism, unspoken feelings and unlikely connections.

Exciting times ensue. Contemporary Fiction Genre Fiction Literature & Fiction Women's Fiction Witty Funny China
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Critic reviews

I had real fun with EXCITING TIMES. It is a very funny, spiky, Marxist, feminist comedy and it's really mean.
Droll, shrewd and unafraid - a winning debut
Fiercely intelligent, brutally funny and written with such heart, EXCITING TIMES announces an impressive new voice in literature.
Witty, compelling and with a razor-sharp social commentary. I guzzled it. (Pandora Sykes)
A modern love story ... astute, sardonic and highly emotionally aware ... Heralding for sure a new star in Irish writing
EXCITING TIMES more than lives up to the hype ... Likely to fill the Sally-Rooney-shaped hole in many readers' lives.
Dazzling ... So brilliantly executed ... Coming-of-age love is told in technicolour ... Banging lines follow banging lines. Your underlining pen destroys the pages ... With EXCITING TIMES comes a rare and indeed exciting talent, a cacophony of our times, a treat for the socially distanced
Lucky us ... EXCITING TIMES will brighten lockdown ... Very funny ... Extremely sharp ... Insightful and raw
A funny, smart, contemporary love story. Perfect for fans of Sally Rooney and Emma Jane Unsworth
The funniest writer you will read this year... Every page crackles ... Very funny ... Ultimately a very moving story, one that occupies a small sliver of time and space, but manages a lasting emotional tinnitus ... Naoise Dolan is not the new anyone. She's entirely herself, and that's plenty
A sharp, funny account of a contemporary relationship, told tenderly and with biting, bright insight.
Hands down one of the most anticipated debuts of the year ... A piercingly provocative look at modern love and power games.
A funny, smart and sensitive exploration of love, privilege and bisexuality that had me gripped from the first page. Dolan's sentences are like a splash of cold water to the face
Devastatingly perceptive and articulate. It's a joy to encounter a book so compulsively readable and painfully funny while simultaneously deeply insightful on love, on sexuality, on social class, on their links as terribly inextricable in the 21st century as they ever were. Dolan is a major talent and this is a formidable debut
This is icily brilliant stuff. A poised and surgical examination of class, sex, language and self-making, with some flat-out enviable jokes
Read if you like ANIMALS by Emma Jane Unsworth, TRICK MIRROR by Jia Tolentino, THE BELL JAR by Sylvia Plath
Brilliantly funny, surgically sharp, furiously political. Expect to hear lots about EXCITING TIMES next year
Forensically brilliant - an elegant and painfully funny portrait of greed and hunger, love and indifference
So wry, witty and insightful
Dolan's debut lives up to the hype, a hypnotic tale (Sarah Hughes)
We're really, um, excited about this sharp, smart debut
All stars
Most relevant
My only disappointment was that Naoise Dolan hasn’t written another book yet. I have stolen some of her lines and will definitely drop them into my conversations to make me sound more entertaining than I actually am.

As sharp as a paper cut.

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At times I really loves this book - you can feel the author's voice through it. At times it felt quite 'jolt-y' but nonetheless it completely made up for that in all other areas, especially at the end when I was like 'noooo I've got to see this arrgghhh' which I thought was a brilliant was to show myself how drawn into the story I had become. Language, culture, story and voice are all very cleverly written. Bravo.

Would be very happy to listen again

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The book is written as a stream of consciousness that flows effortlessly from one page to the next. It’s stimulating, intriguing and funny. Highly recommended.

Beautifully written and narrated.

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A book about politics and class but the main character is the language we call English.

It is a book I plan to re read as the story has many layers. Next however I will read it without audible narration. This is in no way meant to criticise the narration as it is very good and helped get an understanding of the overarching narrative in a way I don't think I would have fully appreciated fully had I read text alone on a first read.

However to fully appreciate the genius of this novel I feel you may also need to read it slowly, carefully and marvel at how it is put together linguistically.

Speaking personally I like how the narrator in the novel (not to be confused with audible narration necessarily) is also a proud socialist!

A book that plays beautifully with language

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I was 'quite' gripped by this book. far more of a character portrait than a plot-driven novel. i wasn't surprised to see that the author, Naiose, pronounced Nisha, had sought a diagnosis for autism after writing this book. The thoughts of the protagonist Ava were beautifully original and complex! A real brave and fantastic piece from the author weaving her own kind of thinking into the story, I assume. Just great, original, insightful, witty, analytical and wonderfully draws on linguistics to propel the tale because Ava is a TEFL teacher in Hong Kong, and from Ireland. And the reader is superb at bringing it all to life.

unusual insight

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