A review by literaryelephant
Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan

challenging dark emotional funny lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

An exciting addition to this year's Women's Prize list; Dolan admirably captures the plight of a young bisexual woman who's not sure what she wants from life or how to get there. Our MC's two romantic relationships upon moving to Hong Kong fulfill very different needs for her, pulling our protagonist in conflicting directions and eventually forcing her to choose a single path. Dolan's writing is sharp and intuitive, the MC's longing and malaise shockingly sympathetic. My only complaint is that the first two sections of the book, covering each of Ava's romances individually, ran about twice as long as I needed to understand them and left me somewhat bored, while the final chapter of the three characters juggling each other I found so tense and captivating that I wished this dynamic had taken up the bulk of the novel. 
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