Multiple friends of mine who’ve read Sally Rooney’s phenomenally popular novel “Normal People” have asked me for suggestions of what they can read that is “just like Normal People”. I think “Exciting Times” by Naoise Dolan might be the answer. Of course, to say that this debut novel is “just like” Normal People does a disservice to the originality of Dolan’s tale and the uniqueness of the authorial voice. But there are several similarities. It’s a contemporary novel about young people new to adulthood. Although it’s set in Hong Kong, it’s by an Irish author and the narrator is Ava, an Irish woman who moved there to teach English to rich children. There’s a difficult romance at the centre of the novel and a suspenseful element driving the story is about whether or not they’ll get together. Factors such as social class and money play into the tension of the central relationships. It concerns a lot of miscommunication or failed communication which is muddled by the medium of modern technology. It’s a poignant and oftentimes funny story. There’s also the fact that in the acknowledgements Dolan thanks Sally Rooney alongside a couple of other contemporary Irish writers. These aspects all mean that if I were an algorithm I’d offer up “Exciting Times” as an if you read and enjoyed Normal People suggested purchase. Thankfully, I’m not an algorithm so I have a bit more to say about what makes this novel great.
The novel fits into a tradition of Irish books which explore the subject of emigration. Ava seems to have moved so far away from her native country because she feels like an outsider and she’s not entirely sure what to do with her life. This distance gives her a unique perspective on her own sense of nationality and the way she’s viewed by others. Given that she teaches English as a foreign language, there’s a lot of wry commentary on language itself: the limitations of it but also the cultural significance of how and where it’s used. She meets an English banker named Julian whose upscale apartment she moves into and they have sex but they are not “together”. This is another fascinating way the novel tests the limitations of language. Everything about their actions fit into the definition of a romantic relationship, but neither Ava or Julian will label it as such. But, also, Ava makes a lot of pointed commentary about how Julian uses the English language verses how she uses it as an Irish person. This shows a tradition of cultural imperialism and also a grotesque snobbery on the part of the English. Growing up with the influence of English culture in Ireland leads her to observe “The English taught us English to teach us they were right.” And the self-consciousness she feels teaching English prompts her to sardonically reflect “Sometimes I wondered if I was actually a native English speaker.”
The crux of the story concerns a romantic triangle Ava becomes caught in when she enters into a loving relationship with Edith, a lawyer looking for the sort of emotional commitment that Julian denies Ava. For a while, Ava tries to maintain both relationships separately but the pressure gradually builds forcing this ambivalent individual to make some tough decisions. I often found myself very sympathetic to Ava while also being very critical of her actions and choices. So it’s engaging how Dolan treads that line and it’s refreshing to see a sympathetic portrayal of bisexuality in a novel. I can’t think of many books that have successfully done this other than Rooney’s first novel “Conversations with Friends” or Rowan Hisayo Buchanan’s “Starling Days”. It’s also noteworthy the way Ava looks with a somewhat critical eye at how Ireland has been changing in recent years. She comments how on social media many of her old school mates publicly supported the 1995 referendum on same-sex marriage, but these are also the same women who ostracised her by labelling her a lesbian when they were girls in school.
One of the most relatable things this novel does is describe the dynamics of online culture/social media etiquette and the feelings of self-consciousness this medium evokes. So much of Ava’s time and energy is invested in browsing the online history or status updates of the people she’s most interested in rather than trying to communicate with them directly. The novel also shows how a lot of exchanges or interactions are made indirectly through this medium. Ava is intensely aware when her stories on Instagram are viewed by Edith and she’s very nervous about viewing Edith’s stories because then Edith will get a notification that she’s viewed it. It reflects the absolute absurdity of this world but it also shows how difficult it is for people to be emotionally open and how they can grow dependent on the ambivalence romance offers. When Edith tries to confront Ava about this she notes how “she asked if I thought I'd gone for unavailable people because I knew I'd never have to face the reality that being with them would not solve all my problems. I told her she had no business saying something that perceptive.” This perfectly summarizes how Ava is an intelligent and funny, but flawed individual. “Exciting Times” is the kind of relatable and modern story that I hope to see in more new novels and (aside from obvious comparisons) Naoise Dolan is definitely a unique new voice in fiction.
