Tom

I just finished reading ‘Exciting Times’ the debut novel by Irish write Naoise Dolan. I liked it a lot. It reminds me more than a little bit of Sally Rooney and there’s a bit of ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ in there too. It’s a recommended book by The New York Times Book Review * Vogue * TIME * Marie Claire * Elle * O, the Oprah Magazine * Esquire * Harper’s Bazaar * Bustle * PopSugar * Refinery 29 * LitHub.

Exciting Times tells the story of Ada, a 22-year old Irish woman who moves to Hong Kong to teach English. She has no particular qualifications except that she is a university graduate and has a lot of millennial angst.

She meets Julian, an Oxford-educated young banker and, impressed by his high income, sees more of him. Soon they are sleeping together and she is living in his flat. She is very attuned to the situation and wonders if he wants her to depend on him as she adds up in her head the money she is saving.

Ava is very attuned to class and cultural advantages and her focus pops up in odd moments. As she As she explains the aspirated “th,” to her young students she thinks: “If the Irish didn’t aspirate and the English did then they were right, but if we did and the English didn’t then they were still right. The English taught us English to teach us they were right.”

While Julian is back in London, Ava meets Mei Ling ‘Edith’ Zhang, scion of a wealthy Chinese family. Edith also has an Oxbridge degree and a good job as a lawyer with a big firm. Ava envies Edith’s life and income and the two become lovers. When Julian returns it gets complicated.

There’s a lot of humor in this book as well as a fun and interesting story. It’s not a difficult or long read so give it a try. I think you’ll like it. Here’s the NYT review of the book.