Book Review: Exciting Times, Naoise Dolan
Book Review: Exciting Times, Naoise Dolan
My rating: 4 stars
Book of 2022: 1
When you leave Ireland to spend your parents’ money, it’s called a gap year. When Ava leaves Ireland to make her own money, she’s not sure what to call it, but it involves:
A badly paid job in Hong Kong, teaching grammar to rich children
Julian, who likes to spend money on Ava and lets her move into his guest room
Edith, who Ava meets while Julian is out of town and actually listens to her when she talks
Money, love, cynicism, unspoken feelings and unlikely connections
Exciting times ensue.
I bought this wonderful book (can we talk about that cover?!!!!) in Bath for my birthday book crawl (no I won’t shut up about it). I started it before Christmas 2021 and wasn’t totally in love with it at first but THEN in January 2022 I actually put some bloody time in and away we went.
The first thing that struck me about Exciting Times was the delicious use of descriptions.
“It was as if someone else ironed everything for her - her whole life - and her role was to make new creases.” (84)
“I’d go around all the sinks and turn on the taps, wait, then watch her inch her feet up.” (74)
“Besides, the rush hour train served for company. I settled in under a man’s armpit, felt the stud of a woman’s handbag digging into me, and thought: I am part of something.” (96)
Another striking example of Naoise Dolan’s brilliant writing is how in-Ava’s-head you feel. Ava is a complicated character, with flaws and issues, even spending the novel convincing the reader (herself) of her decisions to avoid them. It’s incredibly irritating to be in her head, which is why it’s so clever. You’re reading the way her brain works, and you’re left feeling exhausted by all the routes her mind takes, all the paths her thoughts go down, all the avenues it explores. She constantly generates reasons for her actions, reasons for other characters actions, and it is genuinely draining. The result? You really feel connected to her story.
She analyses why our first love interest Julian (I won’t call him another protagonist because honestly most of the time we spend with him as a reader is inside Ava’s head) does the things he does and says the things he says. I believe this is because Ava is completely at his disposal, so she needs to keep tabs on where she stands and how he thinks of her. She lives in his flat, without paying rent, sleeps with him occasionally, packs for him. She exists in this liminal space between girlfriend-wife-housekeeper-friend-carer. It’s very much an undefined situation, so as an overthinker myself, I totally get it. Dolan does this very very well.
Another way the writing is genius-ly relatable and real, is the way Dolan approaches huge topics so casually. Such important themes to discuss are brought up and dropped, brought to the forefront of Ava’s mind and then disintegrate to the back again. Heralding from Ireland, she of course discusses reproductive rights, the fear of getting unwantedly pregnant, the way those who can get pregnant view sex in a veryyyyy different way to those who cannot.
“You were afraid when men came in you, though you were unsure if that was all Irish women or just you, and sometimes you’d say do you want to finish in my mouth because after all this you still felt you owed him somewhere.” (64)
It’s so important and so huge and you feel how much this weighs on Ava’s mind, and yet, like in real life, the conversation moves on and other things become the centre of attention. I just think this symmetry with real life reflects Dolan’s talent as a writer. Conversations involving Irish politics, Hong Kong politics, capitalism, misogyny in the workplace and all the rest swing in and out of the viewfinder. I think above all else in the novel, I will say, it all just feels very real.
Throughout her time in Hong Kong, we see Ava’s interest in language. She breaks down the parts of the English language we all learnt and forgot about when they became second nature. She explains these to children who speak another language, she explains the difference between English and Irish to the reader, she notices the differences in phrases. How we speak and how we talk to others, the words we choose and in which order we do so. Fascinating. Dolan’s knowledge of language and its nuance is clearly reflected in this novel.
Part 2 is entitled: Edith. At the beginning of this section I wrote: Is this going to be a friendship? Relationship? Is Julien still going to play on Ava’s mind?
Of course he does. Ava’s mind now, instead of analysing Julian’s behaviour, now compares the way Edith behaves in the flat she has shared with Julian, and notices the different ways they use the space. Her analysis isn’t necessarily of Edith, but of how she is not Julian. She doesn’t seem to analyse Edith’s language in quite the same way as others, despite the ambiguity of their relationship, to both reader and Ava.
“Still, I kept one tab open on Edith, another on Julian, and went back and forth.” (125)
Her fascination with Edith is also spent trying to decipher what the women mean to each other. What is behind the theatre trips and the coffee and the Instagram likes.
“I wish I could watch her be friends with other women. If I knew how she normally went about it, it would be easier to know if we were different.” (110)
While Edith treats Ava better, listens to her, and Ava spends so long pointing out the way Edith is nicer to her, she still has to consider Julian, after all he calls the shots money-wise. We see her plan out, half-type, and accidentally send texts to Julian. She has to contrive how she talks to him. Note, she doesn’t tell him about Edith. Is this also to keep some semblance of heteronormativity, for commitment issues sake? Oh, and it took me SO LONG to realise the significance of the third toothbrush on the cover…
Something I did notice - Ava seems to think that because of both Julian and Edith’s “superior” social standing, they can’t possibly be hurt by her. That, because they both have a handle on life, a solid career, money, social circles, homes, she couldn’t possibly impact their lives. That she is almost obliged to keep them secret from each other because she doesn’t have as much as they have, that because her life is much more of a mess that this is fine. It’s frustrating to read, and it’s sad. We get the sense Ava doesn’t feel worthy enough to matter to either of them.
“I felt calm in a way I never had before he’d left. I had Edith to go on proper dates with now, so I didn’t have to worry about whether Julian and I were on one. We could just eat.” (213)
Later on, we see the roles reverse from the beginning of the novel. Now it is Julian who relies on Ava, who wants her company, who needs her help and support and for her to call the shots. While he still holds the financial power, she is the one making decisions and moving his limbs in the right direction. It’s an interesting shift in their dynamic. One that makes Julian seem more human in Ava’s head, and thus, in the reader’s.
“Women took care of men, and let them pretend we didn’t.” (216)
The disorganised way Ava navigates her life, and her relationships, I think sums up her existence as a sexually ambiguous person. Whilst easily conforming to heteronormative appearances with Julian, she then has to trailblaze her relationship with Edith, and everything new that comes with it. She traverses their friendship to a relationship and feels threatened by the lack of power. She is used to men, often referencing her ability to be “good at men”, but with Edith, “[n]o one could be good at Edith” (134). Thus she feels totally powerless, out of her depth, Edith presents a spanner into the usual simplicity of men that Ava experiences.
“I broke up with you because you threatened to break up with me. I felt your power and wanted to feel my own. I did. It worked. I hate it.” (239)
The end of this novel got really good. Part 3 - Edith & Julian was magical honestly. Seeing them all interact, seeing Ava’s confidence grow, as well as her uncertainty. It was really interesting.
“We arranged our elbows carefully around the plates.” (204)
The realistic navigation between these two people who impact Ava so massively is so relatable, interesting, and frustrating. I had to keep remembering she is so young… 23… my age. Wow.
The ending I believe is left purposefully ambiguous. In classic Ava fashion, she cannot seem to make her mind up about the two. I don’t want to know, because I think they both impact on her so much, and she impacts on them so greatly. They both feel right to the reader. Perhaps though, her floating up out of the escalator in the end sees her breaking free from the constraints of the relationships which she has almost tethered herself to. Perhaps, she chooses Ava.
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I found this one really interesting. I’m not usually a character-driven book but maybe I am now? The constant thinking of what Julian is thinking, then the constant thinking about what Edith must be doing. It’s annoying, and it’s exactly what being in your early 20s, navigating relationships in a different country must be. EXCITING, NERVE-WRACKING, UNKNOWN, NEW, CONFUSING, EXHILARATING, AND EVERYTHING.
Its writing is what holds this book up, so if you’re a fan of juicy descriptions and meaty thought-provoking words, read this book.
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