Any review which claims, “author X is the next Y”, ought to ring alarm bells, or at least be treated with some caution. Exciting Times falls into this category, with Dolan cited as being the (currently most) worthy successor to Sally Rooney. Sure, both are young, Irish and have their writing informed by post-financial crisis Irish identity. The comparisons probably end there though: Conversations with Friends and Normal People were both a pleasure to read, but I struggled to get too enthused about Exciting Times. I have no doubt that Dolan is clever, but I sensed her attempts to be incisive and caustic about the modern world overwhelmed the integrity of the plot. Only Ava came close to being fully developed among the three characters, and we learn little about the inner motivations of either Julian or Edith. Where I thought Dolan was good was on the depiction of Ava's self-loathing. Some suggested Exciting Times is a modern take on Plath's The Bell Jar. And even more on consumer culture: Julian would not be out of place in American Psycho. In a world where we are all trying to find a place, emotions cannot be reduced to simple (economic) transactions. This is probably the key takeaway from the novel. 7/10.
By Naoise Dolan