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A review by shimmery
Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan
3.0
I enjoyed this. It’s a novel about relationships, and it manages to articulate a lot of complicated power plays, feelings and motivations that I think many people likely experience but struggle to put in to words. In fact there is a focus on language throughout that is interesting and the book’s strength.
I liked the relationship between Ava and Edith — main character Ava’s first queer relationship — which I found to be relatable.
My rating is perhaps a bit harsh given that I raced through this book, but there was something a little self conscious about it that was distracting. It seemed to include some sentiments for the sake of trying to resonate with an imagined reader rather than because these things contributed toward character development which there was relatively little of. One example of this being the narrator mentioning seeing people who were homophobic in high school update their social media profiles to show support for gay rights. That type of thing is presented with little context — she says it hurt her but there’s not much elaboration beyond that. Of course I can bring my own experience to the story to understand why that provokes certain feelings, but this kind of filling in the blanks means that the novel remains at a surface level and doesn’t really delve as deep in to the character as it could.
As a result I was often amused by the story but didn’t find I was ever really moved by it as I would expect to be by a story that covers topics so close to home. Even the relationship between Edith and Ava feels held at a distance somehow, I couldn’t really feel how she was feeling. Either way, worth a read. I appreciated its honesty and it was thought provoking — lots of good things about it, which is maybe why I am more harsh in my review, it had the potential to be more! I look forward to reading what the author writes next.
I liked the relationship between Ava and Edith — main character Ava’s first queer relationship — which I found to be relatable.
My rating is perhaps a bit harsh given that I raced through this book, but there was something a little self conscious about it that was distracting. It seemed to include some sentiments for the sake of trying to resonate with an imagined reader rather than because these things contributed toward character development which there was relatively little of. One example of this being the narrator mentioning seeing people who were homophobic in high school update their social media profiles to show support for gay rights. That type of thing is presented with little context — she says it hurt her but there’s not much elaboration beyond that. Of course I can bring my own experience to the story to understand why that provokes certain feelings, but this kind of filling in the blanks means that the novel remains at a surface level and doesn’t really delve as deep in to the character as it could.
As a result I was often amused by the story but didn’t find I was ever really moved by it as I would expect to be by a story that covers topics so close to home. Even the relationship between Edith and Ava feels held at a distance somehow, I couldn’t really feel how she was feeling. Either way, worth a read. I appreciated its honesty and it was thought provoking — lots of good things about it, which is maybe why I am more harsh in my review, it had the potential to be more! I look forward to reading what the author writes next.