Scan barcode
girlgetsbook's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I didn't love it as I thought I would, because it has a lot of themes I either relate to or am interested by, however I didn't enjoy the character's voice so much and almost DNFd it, it felt tiring at times especially in part I, it felt like it was the same scene over and over and the same topics, though important, being driven to the ground by being mentioned in every sentence. Part II saved it for me and all the stars here are exclusively because that part exists, still I was already tired and wanting to finish it as quickly as possible by that time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Sexism, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Lesbophobia and Homophobia
oliviaclaire's review against another edition
dark
funny
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I feel like the fact that I'm not a fan of Sally Rooney probably saved this book for me as trying to live up to that literary hype is a lot for any other story.
I think, and on reflection hope, that the title is ironic as not much happens outside the head of our protagonist, where too much happens all too often. In a way, this would fit with Ava's character and with the brand of humour a lot of the characters in this novel subscribe to. I would consider this a character driven novel, maybe even a character study, rather than a book with a particularly strong plot.
What I enjoyed most was the writing style. It's witty and charming and I flew through the story in two days. Perhaps if you are a slower reader this could drag due to the afformentioned lack of plot but for a quick read it's actually a unique and oddly entertaining insight into the mind of a young expat with some unresolved issues around identity, sexuality and self-appraisal.
Because of this my main gripe is the mildly disappointing ending, which I'm sure other people see as the only upside to the story. I feel like Ava deciding to make the right decision, be brave, get the girl, insert additional cliché, removed from the idea that we don't always make that last minute run through the airport, that perfectly articulated heartfelt declaration. Sometimes we chicken out or we don't have an introspective realisation and life takes us on a different path and I think that having that neat happy ending tagged on awkwardly at the end of the story makes the entirety of the preceding 250 pages seem wasted.
I think, and on reflection hope, that the title is ironic as not much happens outside the head of our protagonist, where too much happens all too often. In a way, this would fit with Ava's character and with the brand of humour a lot of the characters in this novel subscribe to. I would consider this a character driven novel, maybe even a character study, rather than a book with a particularly strong plot.
What I enjoyed most was the writing style. It's witty and charming and I flew through the story in two days. Perhaps if you are a slower reader this could drag due to the afformentioned lack of plot but for a quick read it's actually a unique and oddly entertaining insight into the mind of a young expat with some unresolved issues around identity, sexuality and self-appraisal.
Because of this my main gripe is the mildly disappointing ending, which I'm sure other people see as the only upside to the story. I feel like Ava deciding to make the right decision, be brave, get the girl, insert additional cliché, removed from the idea that we don't always make that last minute run through the airport, that perfectly articulated heartfelt declaration. Sometimes we chicken out or we don't have an introspective realisation and life takes us on a different path and I think that having that neat happy ending tagged on awkwardly at the end of the story makes the entirety of the preceding 250 pages seem wasted.
Content Warnings
Minor: Drug use, Sexism, and Rape
frrock's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
This book fell short for me. It has a good premise, but the writing at times felt forced and I didn’t end up relating to any of the characters like I hoped I would.
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism and Sexism
samdolan's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The first 70 pages were slow but after I got past that I couldn’t put it down.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abortion, Drug use, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Homophobia, and Sexism
laurenw22's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism, Sexism, and Misogyny
snowhitereads's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I’ve seen mixed reviews about this book and I can definitely see why.
A lot of people compared Naoise Dolan’s writing to that of Sally Rooney’s and maybe that’s why it was kind of a “meh” read for me. It’s not my favorite style of storytelling.
I found Exciting Times a little hard to get into. The pacing and overall feel of the story didn’t do much for me.
Ava, the main character remained a very unlikeable character throughout the book.Displaying extreme self-absorption and self-hatred, she never really really grew or evolved as a character.
However I did enjoy part II of the book where Ava met and developed a crush on Edith, with Ava overanalyzing all their interactions and Edith's Instagram presence
I really liked the commentary on Irish culture and the political scene, I just wish the author gave the same treatment when it came to Hong Kong. Given the fervent political and social atmosphere of the place where the story takes place, I found it disappointed and a disservice to the culture being portrayed in the book.
Overall, not a bad book, just not my personal taste.
If you like Sally Rooney, you might want to check this one out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Drug use, and Homophobia
liteartha's review against another edition
reflective
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
as this isn't going to be the most positive of reviews, i will just start off by saying that i did like dolan's writing style, the exploration of linguistics, and the touch of sapphic yearning, if little else
anyway
i feel like i've read this book before. ava's narration was so similar to that of frances in sally rooney's conversations with friends that i could genuinely have believed they were the same character at times (and i don't think i can blame that on the audiobook narrator being the same for both books)
all the supporting characters were flat and uninteresting to me, which i'll attribute mostly to ava's narration and (at risk of sounding like a broken record) note that that's the exact reason i felt similarly about rooney's aforementioned novel. i felt no emotional connection to anyone or to their relationships with each other, which made for very low stakes
there's a lot of shallow social commentary at play especially in terms or race and class and my god does it feel like this book thinks it's so clever for it all. there's a lot of tongue in cheek acknowledgement of the privilege various characters hold while also really not getting it? or at least not discussing it with the needed depth and nuance? idk
this also feels like it had no business being set in hong kong, imo. it reads like it could've been set in [insert generic major east asian city here] and frankly didn't need the asian setting at all given that ava's there for no bloody reason and spends her time surrounded almost entirely by white people with the exception of edith. there are virtually no other asian characters with speaking lines and the few that do are quite stereotyped
and then there's the bi rep. this one's much harder for me to pick apart, but i'm going to try. it's hard to give context for what gave me pause without explaining the entire plot of the novel so this is spoiler-y, but in essence:
- ava is involved with julian. they aren't dating, they don't say they love each other, but she lives in his flat rent free and knows his father and blah blah blah. julian goes away for work for several months, leaving the flat to ava
- enter edith, who ava is initially friends with but does eventually enter into an actual romantic and loving relationship with all while not disclosing the nature of her relationship with julian or calling things officially off with julian himself
i guess i'm just tired of this?
julian is straight, edith is gay, ava is bisexual
julian isn't clear about his emotions, edith is, ava is deeply undecided even to herself
the dynamic this creates here is just... what am i meant to do with yet another bi character who misleads her romantic partners? and look, i'm bisexual. we are nuanced fucking people. i want to be as open to stories about bisexuals being messy in their romantic relationships as i am to any other story about it, but when these are already the prevalent stories about us, it gets tiring to see it played out again and again
not that this was the point of things, but there's a throwaway line from edith at one point about how compulsory monogamy and heterosexuality can often go hand in hand which would frankly be a much more interesting exploration than what we got, but was also clearly not what this story was doing so there's that
anyway
i feel like i've read this book before. ava's narration was so similar to that of frances in sally rooney's conversations with friends that i could genuinely have believed they were the same character at times (and i don't think i can blame that on the audiobook narrator being the same for both books)
all the supporting characters were flat and uninteresting to me, which i'll attribute mostly to ava's narration and (at risk of sounding like a broken record) note that that's the exact reason i felt similarly about rooney's aforementioned novel. i felt no emotional connection to anyone or to their relationships with each other, which made for very low stakes
there's a lot of shallow social commentary at play especially in terms or race and class and my god does it feel like this book thinks it's so clever for it all. there's a lot of tongue in cheek acknowledgement of the privilege various characters hold while also really not getting it? or at least not discussing it with the needed depth and nuance? idk
this also feels like it had no business being set in hong kong, imo. it reads like it could've been set in [insert generic major east asian city here] and frankly didn't need the asian setting at all given that ava's there for no bloody reason and spends her time surrounded almost entirely by white people with the exception of edith. there are virtually no other asian characters with speaking lines and the few that do are quite stereotyped
and then there's the bi rep. this one's much harder for me to pick apart, but i'm going to try. it's hard to give context for what gave me pause without explaining the entire plot of the novel so this is spoiler-y, but in essence:
- ava is involved with julian. they aren't dating, they don't say they love each other, but she lives in his flat rent free and knows his father and blah blah blah. julian goes away for work for several months, leaving the flat to ava
- enter edith, who ava is initially friends with but does eventually enter into an actual romantic and loving relationship with all while not disclosing the nature of her relationship with julian or calling things officially off with julian himself
i guess i'm just tired of this?
julian is straight, edith is gay, ava is bisexual
julian isn't clear about his emotions, edith is, ava is deeply undecided even to herself
the dynamic this creates here is just... what am i meant to do with yet another bi character who misleads her romantic partners? and look, i'm bisexual. we are nuanced fucking people. i want to be as open to stories about bisexuals being messy in their romantic relationships as i am to any other story about it, but when these are already the prevalent stories about us, it gets tiring to see it played out again and again
not that this was the point of things, but there's a throwaway line from edith at one point about how compulsory monogamy and heterosexuality can often go hand in hand which would frankly be a much more interesting exploration than what we got, but was also clearly not what this story was doing so there's that
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism and Sexism
Minor: Body shaming, Homophobia, and Sexual assault
questingnotcoasting's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I really enjoyed this. I found the characters engaging, despite Ava's sometimes infuriating behaviour and I really liked Dolan's writing style. The blurb implies a love triangle but to me the relationships seemed more complex and interesting than that suggests. I've seen this compared to Sally Rooney a lot and while I definitely agree, there are several other elements here aside from a twenty-something finding herself. Dolan explicitly comments on issues of class, gender and capitalism and there are some fascinating observations about Irish English vs. RP British English through Ava's work as a TEFL teacher.
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexism
More...