Carrie Soto Is Back
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Average rating4.2
By the time Carrie retires from tennis, she is the best player the world has ever seen. She has shattered every record and claimed twenty Slam titles. And if you ask her, she is entitled to every one. She sacrificed nearly everything to become the best, with her father as her coach.
But six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 US Open, watching her record be taken from her by a brutal, stunning, British player named Nicki Chan.
At thirty-seven years old, Carrie makes the monumental decision to come out of retirement and be coached by her father for one last year in an attempt to reclaim her record. Even if the sports media says that they never liked the 'Battle-Axe' anyway. Even if her body doesn't move as fast as it did. And even if it means swallowing her pride to train with a man she once almost opened her heart to: Bowe Huntley. Like her, he has something to prove before he gives up the game forever.
In spite of it all: Carrie Soto is back, for one epic final season. In this riveting and unforgettable novel, Taylor Jenkins Reid tells a story about the cost of greatness and a legendary athlete attempting a comeback.
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Received from NetGalley in exchange for a review.
Look, the thing about Taylor Jenkins Reid is that she's very readable - I read this in a couple days. I've read all her books, each in a couple days. There's not always a lot there, but they're fun and good at the time, but I don't think about them much. Other than Evelyn Hugo, I've enjoyed her earlier books the best, and could do with more of those and less of these focused on famous people. That said, you'll definitely enjoy this if you've enjoyed her other books.
If you've read Malibu Rising, you know a little of Carrie Soto. But here, here you get her whole story.
I loved Carrie, even when she's hard to love, and her father, Javier. I loved watching her relationships with other players (Bowe and Nicki Chan foremost) grow and change. Some of these changes I saw coming, others I did not at all.
I know earlier I said there's not always a lot there, and I do stand by that - I don't know how much I'll think about Carrie now that I'm done - but there's still so much to take away from this book.
I loved watching Carrie grow and change. She's a tough person to be in the head of. I wanted to yell at her to be nicer a lot. But that makes for a nice change when she begins to soften and relax into who she is now.
I don't read many new books, but Taylor Jenkins Reid is an author that I always look forward to new books from. If you like her books, read this. If you don't, you still might enjoy this. Who'd've thought I'd enjoy a book about a tennis player?!
“People don't want new, they want the familiar done differently”
A 7/10 4* from me because:
- It is unequivocally as advertised - an easy read, Sunday afternoon on ITV4 story
- It largely achieves my interpretation of its aims in how it presents the (fairly standard) characters and key messages
- It is definitely compelling enough to want to continue reading, despite the on-the-rails plot
The tennis fan in me inwardly cringed a bit at some of the Basil Exposition explanations of the rules and basics of the sport but it's limited enough to be distracting only in a Drive To Survive / Break Point way.
For a different perspective on the cost of elite success in pro tennis, Andre Agassi's autobiography ‘Open' is excellent and very honest.
Overall I'd be happy enough to pick up another TJR at the airport.
