Irish girl's Hong Kong diary

While backpackers often resort to teaching English in Hong Kong only until they have raised enough to head toward Thailand, Ava, the central character of Naoise Dolan's debut novel, Exciting Times, had no such plan. Teaching wasn't exactly a means to an end, especially once Ava found out her tutor's salary wasn't even good enough to pay the security deposit for renting an apartment in the city. And yet, trying to resist capitalist traps, she would rather teach English to Chinese children from well-heeled families than sell her soul to the corporate machine in order to earn a comfortable salary. Ava finds herself in the same job several months after she arrived in Hong Kong, as a consequence, having barely scraped together a rental deposit.

Like her protagonist, Dolan, who is from Ireland, was an English teacher in Hong Kong in her mid-20s when she wrote Exciting Times, and that may not be the only similarity between the two.

Before long, Ava finds herself in bed with a man who she can't confirm likes her. He invites her to move in with him. "If money wouldn't improve my life, I couldn't think of anything likelier to," Ava confesses to the reader.

The cockroach-free spare bedroom of an English banker seems a better bargain than living in an Airbnb or with snarky roommates.

Julian, the banker, is an Oxford graduate and a product of the private school system. He's perfected the art of not showing much emotion.

So what happens when two emotionally unavailable people live together and sometimes share a bed?

For anyone who has ever spent a significant amount of time living abroad, Ava's experience is totally relatable.

Dating isn't easy without much of a support network, especially when, as in Ava's case, the person concerned is socially awkward and feels isolated in a foreign land. "It's normal to miss your family," writes Nolan.

Hong Kong is more of a backdrop than a lead character in the novel, although there are snatches of the city's generic charms in it.

Semi-isolated and surrounded by people having somewhat different views of the world than her own, Ava clings to Julian. A part of her wants to have some kind of upper hand on him. But six years her senior, Julian's had more time to practice what some might call emotional manipulation.

Her life seems to revolve around a man who doesn't care for her until Edith comes along. Edith's from Hong Kong, went to school in the United Kingdom and works in a law firm.

Life with Edith is exciting. And ladies' night in Lan Kwai Fong makes girl-on-girl dating much more affordable, provided one is ready to ignore the sleazy men in the bars.

Ava's fling with Edith is exhilarating and scary, especially since the dreadful thought of Julian's return from an extended work trip looms in the background.

Exciting Times may be a story of millennials, but probably not outside the experience of those slightly older.

It's a fun, sharp-witted and utterly relatable novel, likely to make the reader ponder about the idea of home, which, according to Julian, is "where there's a small Irish person waiting for you."

If you read

Exciting Times

Naoise Dolan

Orion Publishing Company

Price: HK$107

www.amazon.com/Exciting-Times-Novel-Naoise-Dolan/dp/0062968742