Exciting Times A Novel
Reviews
I’m a little conflicted on how to rate this book. I enjoyed it as an audiobook to have on in the background but I don’t think I would have been able to stand reading a physical copy. It’s not that it was a bad book; I just found the main character unlikeable in a boring way (I don’t mind an ‘unlikeable’ protagonist as long as they’re interesting). All in all, it was a fine read, but it wasn’t very memorable and I doubt I’ll return to it. I can’t tell if that’s because it was poorly written or if I’m just not the target audience for this type of mopey 20 year old litfic.
fast, fun read. not exciting in the least.
It's been said before but I'll say it again: exciting times these are not! But I'm feeling generous so take 2.5 stars, a passing grade. Initially I was charmed by Ava, the 22-yr old definitive millenial who moves to Hong Kong to teach English. She was snarky and whip-smart. She soon meets Julian, a rich banker from England. They start talking about politics a lot, and communism and socialism and Marxism (what is Marxism) and many other -isms, and Ava's light dims, as in she gets boring, as she moves in with Julian and starts sleeping with him casually. Julian goes away, Edith comes in, a lawyer Ava's age from Hong Kong, and her light starts to glow again. Energy, excitement (okay I guess I lied when I said exciting times these are not but they mostly weren't), lesbian sexual tension! Ava and Edith fall in love, talk about politics some more (seriously, what is Marxism and why is everyone obsessed with it!!!), but then Ava's light turns into a strobe, as in, she becomes really annoying and kind of unbearable. I didn't completely hate this. I often found myself sympathising with Ava; she's young, aimless, trying to find her purpose, which I get. But she was very selfish and completely blind to her privilege as a young, white, uber-rich-by-proxy woman who seemed wholly preoccupied with how she could best fuck over her "friends." I guess she was also preoccupied with making sure to name drop every street in Hong Kong and what businesses resided on them (shoutout Caine Road Starbucks!), but I digress. I understand characters don't always need to be likeable but it helps and she was not likeable and nobody was likeable other than like maybe her mom, she sounded nice, but anyways next please.
Ι REFUSE TO ACCEPT IT ENDED THE WAY IT DID BUT OK I STILL LOVE IT
** spoiler alert ** i would never fumble edith like that
THIS IS COMEDY GOLD
Sally Rooney-esque, but not quite hitting the mark for me.
Bruh, I don’t like Ava. My impression of her after finishing this book: she is an asshole, yet she’s proud to be of it sometime? Like, wtf?
I was actually excited at the beginning, expecting a great plot and twist and some spices here and there. Yet, that’s just … it. I’m actually disappointed, now that I’ve read it completely.
Those times are not exciting. Annoying, definitely.
Someone from Goodreads said their friend pointed out that the book doesn’t need to be set in Hong Kong. I AGREE! Like, come on, the world in the book just involves Ava, Julian, Edith (she appears even later in the book), Julian’s parents, Ava’s parents, Ava’s white friends, Julian’s white friends, Edith’s family (HER MOM SPECIFICALLY), and only TWO OF EDITH’S FRIENDS. Naoise Dolan could’ve chosen any other place around the world, not even necessarily in Asia, and the story would’ve been THE SAME.
Though I’m not a Hongkonger, I think I could give my two cents as an Asian. Honestly, this makes me even hate white people more LMAO. Like, honey, are you fucking serious? The cultures shown between Ava and Julian and other white people (honestly) are just ANNOYING (now I’ve said this word twice). Also, Ava, if you don’t wanna live and teach in Hong Kong, just move out, you know?
Anyway, again, I’m disappointed. I already expected things from this book, and so surprised when it turned out like ... that. I only enjoyed some of the moments that happened between Ava and Edith (not even all of them). 2.5/5.
Tiresome and underwhelming. Skip this one and read Snowflake by Louise Nealon instead.
very apt cover.
2.75 round down
I love her writings style so much. But I dare to say I hate the plot.
Refreshingly honest and frustrating at the same time.
This book albeit Rooney-esque and the characters insufferable dickheads at times, did tickle my fancy. I liked the prose and overwroughtness (unsure if word). The certain world of Hong Kong that was illustrated made me feel close to my best friend who spent time there as a beb twenty. I liked imagining we were Ava’s two flatmates who rolled their eyes at her ongoing apathy and unenthusiastic nature to life.
Loved this book! Found Ava very relatable at times, even when I found her frustrating.
Loved her use of language and Hiberno-English and it’s quirks in contrast to “proper” English.
Funny social commentary but quiet slow, no real growth character wise.
Gorgeous. So entertaining and sensual, with room for touching honest moments with our protagonists. A modern love story that does not overpromise romance and happy endings. Look forward to re-reading one day.
Loved this, had me clung to the pages, witty, ironic, serious with a flair of carelessness. However, as open endings are not my preference, it left me a little frustrated. So be warned. Also I wanted to note this book does contain casual racism and strongly focuses on (white) privilege. It does point out its prevalence, but I wanted to include this as this can be a turnoff for some readers.
I thought Julian was boring. I loved Edith. And Julian and Edith just made me mad. I can’t believe you don’t find out if Edith and Ava get back together. I think they did, I’m choosing to believe in it. I don’t know what on earth that last chapter was about
3.5 this is literally a comedy
los times no eran exciting 2,8 :((
ava was a insufferable character however very relatable which made me hate her. very sally rooney esq and i felt stupid reading it because i’m an american reading about european people with rich white people problems but it was good. very thought provoking in ways
i read this while on holiday, because someone else had a paperback copy, and i am easily intrigued. it's a suitable beach read, but that's it really. the characters were quite boring (julien was the most interesting character just because he wasn't supposed to be a "cool relatable millennial") and the plot was very slice-of-life predictable. one of my least favourite books of 2021 (although i am usually excellent at picking books i know i'll like, so grain of salt.) the bisexuality is its most redeeming feature.
normal people flavored but better (?)
Highlights
he enables this perception of yourself as a detached person. Plenty of people are willing to ofer you intimacy. That terrifies you. You prefer feeling like no one will ever love you."
i'm still not entirely sure you're not the guy in american psycho
"You keep describing yourself as this uniquely damaged person, when a lot of it is completely normal. I think you want to feel special-which is fair, who doesn't but you won't allow yourself to feel special in a good way, so you tell yourself you're especially bad."
i’ve never read a more me sentence.
I wanted to say she didn’t know him like I did. That was a textbook claim women made about men we'd regret
The more I imagined things, the more personal they felt.
You had to pretend to feel sad if you'd been single too Iong. I hated doing that because there were other things I was actually sad about.
I wanted other people to care more about me than I did about them.
this is so real
“I wanted to explain to Edith: that holding Julian’s hand was like holding a museum pass, and holding hers was like holding a grenade. But that didn’t make sense even in my head, so I knew it wouldn’t if I tried to say it aloud. And she didn’t want to hold hands either, so it never came up.”
It had never made sense to me that men thought women they'd had sex with would like to hear them be unkind about other women they'd had sex with. You would have to be a raging egomaniac, I thought, to think those men didn't also speak about you that way.
“Everyone does that, Ava," she said. “You keep describing yourself as this uniquely damaged person, when a lot of it is completely normal. I think you want to feel special--which is fair, who doesn't-but you won't allow yourself to feel special in a good way, so you tell yourself you're especially bad."
The trouble with my body was that I had to carry it around with me.
You could go manless entirely, and I saw a great deal of elegance in that approach, but enough people felt otherwise that I thought it best to have one. You had to pretend to feel sad if you'd been single too long. I hated doing that because there were other things I was actually sad about.
We'd known each other about two months, and in total I'd spent perhaps thirty hours in his company-little more than a day. But I was in the habit of thinking he was a habit.
In this way I could strip you of every word you know. I’d take them like truffles and you'd say, "Help yourself," and then I’d take those, too, and you'd be speechless.
Undoubtedly he told himself he'd do something once he had the power and when he got there, he'd wonder where all the women had gone.
He'd voted for Brexit to have tighter borders, and was applying for an Irish passport to avoid being stopped at them.
Sounds about right.
'sometimes i love you and sometimes i think it would be best if a plane flew into your office and you were on the plane or in the building.' I decided, on balance, that this message would not have the propitiatory effect intended.
Victoria had large teeth. They made it difficult for her to smile without scaring people, which was why Victoria smiled a lot.