someone with whom she can say, 'no, there's no genuine contempt here, however a slight animosity is the only mutual feeling either of us can play up convincingly enough to give this relationship any sort of flavour, so that's how it is.' because being able to think like that- if you cared as little about me as you claim you do, you'd have gotten rid of me long ago. I think it's very understandable and important for a girl to have a man who she hates solely on the grounds that he does nothing to justify her feeling any other way about him. dolan's writing has the wit and humour and snark needed to balance out the sociopolitical commentary and regretful introspection (much of which is so accurately reflected upon myself that it is equal parts terrifying and thrilling). naoise dolan writes the way sally rooney thinks she does. The more i read books written by authors with a similar writing style to sally rooney, the more i realize how much i dislike sally rooney's writing. i also appreciate that the book is a vessel for talking about these things: even though you lovely storygraphians did not ask to hear any of this, it's nice to be able to express it. (i do actually kind of like Julian though, despite his politics ). it's a little bit romcom, but chase after the person you wronged in a transit hub and get them back don't settle for the emotionally stunted man-child. because at least she had someone who ostensibly wanted her, and what more is there, right? but that's not what i was meant to take away. and to spot & run after Edith there? and Ava's admission to herself that she loves Edith, and that Edith changed her life… i think it says more about me that i wasn't against her moving to Frankfurt with Julian. but i read it back and there's more to it: Spoilerthe comparison of exiting the subway station to ascending into the clouds- heavenly, or at least stepping out of the dark and into the light. at first i was disappointed, asking myself how the author could think that's a good place to stop.

i loved her character's voice (in the literary sense, not the audiobook, though that was good too), i saw myself reflected in it a bit. i think it's in the narration: NP's is third-person, detached, and almost cold, while ET's is first-person, familiar, and didn't make everything feel completely futile? it helped that i related a lot, more than i would like, to the narrator 🥲 she's just like me fr.

Very similar to the only Sally Rooney book i've read, Normal People, (in fact, both audiobooks were read by the same person) but where i found NP depressing, i found Exciting Times *comforting*.

Exciting times naoise dolan ending