Exciting Times
AuthorNaoise Dolan
LanguageEnglish
PublisherW&N
Publication date
12 April 2020
Preceded byThe Happy Couple 

Exciting Times is a novel by Irish author Naoise Dolan. It was released on 12 April 2020.[1] The book is Dolan's debut novel, an intimiate exploration of a millennial teacher in Hong Kong who becomes entangled in a love triangle with a male banker and a female lawyer.

Background and synopsis

Dolan began writing Exciting Times in 2017, when she was living in Hong Kong. She completed writing the novel in five months. An early excerpt was published in The Stinging Fly. The novel received critical acclaim, and was often likened to the work of Sally Rooney, a fellow Trinity College Dublin graduate.[2][3]

The novel follows a 22-year-old Dubliner, Ava, while she is teaching English in Hong Kong, and her relationships with Julian, an Oxford-educated banker, and Edith, a corporate lawyer from a wealthy Hong-Kong family.[4]

Publication

Exciting Times was published in the United Kingdom by W&N on April 12, 2020.[5] It was released in the United States on March 16, 2021, by Harper Collins.[6]

Reception

The New York Times described it at as a novel where "jealousy and obsession, love and late capitalism, sex and the internet all come whirling together in a wry and bracing tale of class and privilege."[4] Kirkus Reviews praised it as a "refreshingly wry and insightful debut."[7] The Irish Times declared, "Exciting Times, which was acquired in a seven-way bidding war, more than lives up to the hype … It teems with insight around class, race, language and sexuality. Likely to fill the Sally-Rooney-shaped hole in many readers’ lives."[3]

Awards and prizes

Exciting Times was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction, Dylan Thomas Prize and the Desmond Elliott Prize, and shortlisted for the An Post Irish Book Awards, Dalkey Literary Awards and Waterstones Book of the Year. Dolan was also shortlisted for the Sunday Times / University of Warwick Young Writer of the Year Award in 2020.[8]

Adaptation

In May 2020 it was announced that Exciting Times had been optioned for a US television series by Black Bear Pictures, and in August 2021 it was revealed that Cooper Raiff would adapt with Phoebe Dynevor to star in the adaptation and act as executive producer. The series will be produced by Amazon Studios.[9]

References

  1. ↑ Williams, Holly (6 April 2020). "Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan review – a bracing, witty debut". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  2. ↑ Armstrong, Maggie (11 April 2020). "Exciting Times: Naoise Dolan's dazzling debut offers a rare treat in times of isolation". Independent.ie. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  3. 1 2 Gilmartin, Sarah. "Exciting Times review: Whipsmart debut heralds a new star of Irish writing". The Irish Times. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  4. 1 2 Wang, Xuan Juliana (2 June 2020). "In 'Exciting Times,' Echoes of Sally Rooney, but With a Queer Twist". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  5. ↑ "Exciting Times by Naoise Doland". W&N. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  6. ↑ "Exciting Times: A Novel". Harper Collins. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  7. ↑ "Exciting Times". KirkusReviews.com. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  8. ↑ "Exciting Times Naoise Dolan". National Centre for Writing. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  9. ↑ Andreeva, Nellie (17 August 2021). "Phoebe Dynevor Set To EP & Poised To Star In 'Exciting Times' Series In Works At Amazon Studios". Deadline. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
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