Displaying 1 of 1 2020 Format: Book Author: Dolan, Naoise, 1992- author. Title: Exciting times : a novel / Naoise Dolan. Edition: First edition. Publisher, Date: New York, NY : Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2020] Description: 242 pages ; 24 cm Summary: "An intimate, bracingly intelligent debut novel about a millennial Irish expat who becomes entangled in a love triangle with a male banker and a female lawyer"-- Provided by publisher. Subjects: Irish fiction -- China -- Hong Kong. Generation Y -- Fiction. Triangles (Interpersonal relations) -- Fiction. Generation Y. Irish fiction. Triangles (Interpersonal relations) Hong Kong (China) -- Fiction. China -- Hong Kong. Genre: Domestic fiction. Fiction. Love stories. LCCN: 2019050717 ISBN: 9780062968746 hardcover 0062968742 hardcover 9780062968753 trade paperback 0062968750 trade paperback electronic book OCLC: 1117556779 System Availability: 3 # System items in: 3 # Local items: 1 # Local items in: 1 Current Holds: 0 Place Request Add to My List Expand All | Collapse All Availability Large Cover Image Trade Reviews Library Journal ReviewDEBUT This delightfully sardonic, insightful debut picks apart life at the whims of the economy, love, and self-sabotage. Ava has moved from Ireland to Hong Kong to teach English to children, a job that's so intense, she is expected not to go to the bathroom all day. She remains very much of working-class Dublin in her nervous dealings with the English and rich Irish people she meets but takes up with one of them, Julian, a stiffly unloving and Eton-ified banker. Ava then falls for a kind Hong Kong woman, Edith, but can't be honest with either partner, let alone herself, about her feelings or desires for the future. The first two sections of the book, which portray Ava's two relationships, are the most satisfying. The last section looks at the love triangle and can be frustrating. VERDICT Overall, this surprising novel is believable and piercingly written, with many hilarious lines, such as when Ava wonders if a nasty English character is "a real person or three Mitford sisters in a long coat." For fans of Rachel Khong's Goodbye, Vitamin. [See Prepub Alert, 12/2/19.]--Henrietta Verma, Credo Reference, New York, NYPublishers Weekly ReviewIn Dolan's wry, tender debut, a young Dubliner navigates her love life and sexuality. Ava, 22, has a murky friendship with London-born and Oxford-educated banker Julian, in his late 20s, whom she'd met at a bar during her first month in Hong Kong, where she teaches English. They treat each other with ironic regard, speaking mostly in quips about his privilege and their mutual maybe-attraction. Ava moves into his flat, and they soon start sleeping together. The novel picks up speed after Julian travels to London for work and Ava meets Edith Zhang, who is both different from Julian in many ways--stylish, female, a Hong Kong local--and similar--boarding school, Cambridge, a well-off family. On Ava's 23rd birthday, Edith kisses her, and they fall headlong into an earnest, garrulous, and secret love, as Edith isn't out to her family. When Julian writes to say he will be returning in a month, Ava, who hasn't disclosed the true nature of her and Julian's relationship to Edith, must decide what she really wants. Dolan starts slowly, but gradually the ironic distancing of Ava's narration is pierced by questions from Ava's students and her transformative relationship with Edith. Dolan's smart, brisk debut works as charming comedy of manners, though it packs less of a punch when it comes to class consciousness. (June) Librarian's View Displaying 1 of 1