Rooney's Conversations with Friends has particular resonance: fast-moving, tangled relationships that laugh in the face of heterosexual monogamy. All three are Trinity College Dublin graduates who write with their fingers on the pulse. There are strong parallels with the intelligent female narrators in the writing of Nicole Flattery and Sally Rooney. There is perhaps too much banter with her new banker friend, Julian, before we've had time to settle into her world. There is perhaps too much banter with her new banker friend, Julian, before we've had time to settle into her worldĪva's voice takes a while to get used to. Split into three sections – Julian Edith Edith and Julian – Dolan presents us with thesis, antithesis and something approaching synthesis in the vibrant closing third. For all its zeitgeist feel and interest in modern culture, there is a classic structure underpinning proceedings. Ava is largely uninterested in her poorly paid job and her peers, and the first-person narrative instead focuses her energy on two seminal relationships over the course of the novel. The exciting times mainly take place inside her head, where a vast, neurotic mind constantly analyses her own behaviour and second-guesses the actions of others.Įxciting Times is an impressive, cerebral debut written with brio and humour. The voice is astute, sardonic and highly emotionally aware. A modern love story of sorts, it follows a year or so in the life of Ava, a 22-year-old Irish woman working as a foreign-language teacher in Hong Kong. Not a lot happens in the exterior world of the book. The arch title of Naoise Dolan's whipsmart debut novel, Exciting Times, is the first indicator of the author's style.

Exciting times by naoise dolan