Ava is miserable. When she decided to move to Hong Kong to find happiness, she didn’t realise it would be more of the same. She spends her days teaching English to rich children and her nights living in a rundown air BnB.
When Ava meets Julian, she thinks her luck has finally changed. A rich banker from London, Julian can offer Ava everything she wants – a luxurious apartment, sex and money. The only thing that Ava can’t have is commitment; Julian is emotionally unavailable. When he’s suddenly whisked off to London for his job, Ava is left confused as to where they stand.
Then Edith appears. A Honk-Kong born lawyer, Edith is everything Ava wants to be – wealthy, ambitious and knows exactly what she wants. As Edith and Ava become closer, Julian suddenly announces his return from London. Ava is left with two choices – will she stay with the safe and predictable comfort of Julian, or will she take the risk of being with Edith?
I can safely say that Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan is unlike any other book I have read. At first glance, it looks like your average love triangle plot, when it fact it’s a lot deeper than that.
The plot itself is very minimal and is told from Ava’s point of view. The story is driven by the relationship of these characters and is well written – I could almost feel the awkwardness when Julian and Edith met for the first time.
Ava is a very unique character who has an opinion on everything, whether its politics, feminism or class structure. There were moments where I really liked her, and others where she was quite frustrating. A lot of the time, she seems quite emotionally distant, which made her hard to read. She lets herself be treated relatively badly by Julian at times, and when Edith finally wants to offer her love, she panics. Although I can imagine that this sort of self-destructive behaviour is relatable for a lot of people, it didn’t make it any less frustrating to read.
I liked the sense of humour in the book, especially between Ava and Julian. They’re both sarcastic and witty and are always trying to one-up each other. They have a really complex relationship, which at times I didn’t always understand.
Edith, on the other hand, is a lot more open and honest. Compared to Julian, she’s a breath of fresh air. But that doesn’t make her relationship with Ava any less difficult. It was interesting to read about how a lot of people are scared to be in openly gay relationships in Asian culture. Without spoiling too much, I think Edith deserved more from Ava.
As a whole, Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan is an interesting and at times a thought-provoking read.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an early copy!
Favourite quotes:
“When I met someone I liked, I wanted all of them, and fast.”
“You still put more time and energy into showing me you don’t love me than anyone has ever put into showing me they do.”
Comments