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A review by realadhdoug
Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
3.0
I cannot for the life of me understand why this novel has such an absurd amount of 4 and 5 star ratings. This is a story about tennis. And, by that, I don’t mean that tennis is the vehicle used to tell the story. I mean tennis is the story. About 90% of it consists the main character training for matches, play-by-play recounting of the matches, and these weird asides where sportscasters provide commentary on her matches. There is very little else that happens in this story.
The writing is very good. The author kept it interesting enough for me to keep going to the end. And, about 2/3 of the way through, the story just barely touches on a bond the MC forms with a male tennis player as well as her complicated relationship with her father/coach. There’s also a few feminist moments that touch on the challenges that women face in sports and in celebrity more generally. These are all the saving graces that made the story just above insufferable for me.
The main character is so unlikable. She’s 37 and acts constantly like a petulant child. Sure, she’s a competitor and winning is everything and blah blah blah but she demonstrates the emotional maturity of a toddler. I kept waiting for some character development but, if there is any at all, it’s not nearly enough to redeem her.
The most irritating thing about this book—I just can’t imagine why it needed to be written. Like, she might as well have written a biography (although this is written in first person) about the career of an actual tennis player. There’s nothing interesting about the character or the story arc, no clear themes that highlight complicated issues or interesting aspects of the human experience. It’s just tennis and whining about other tennis players beating your records. That’s it. Why? Why was this book necessary?
The writing is very good. The author kept it interesting enough for me to keep going to the end. And, about 2/3 of the way through, the story just barely touches on a bond the MC forms with a male tennis player as well as her complicated relationship with her father/coach. There’s also a few feminist moments that touch on the challenges that women face in sports and in celebrity more generally. These are all the saving graces that made the story just above insufferable for me.
The main character is so unlikable. She’s 37 and acts constantly like a petulant child. Sure, she’s a competitor and winning is everything and blah blah blah but she demonstrates the emotional maturity of a toddler. I kept waiting for some character development but, if there is any at all, it’s not nearly enough to redeem her.
The most irritating thing about this book—I just can’t imagine why it needed to be written. Like, she might as well have written a biography (although this is written in first person) about the career of an actual tennis player. There’s nothing interesting about the character or the story arc, no clear themes that highlight complicated issues or interesting aspects of the human experience. It’s just tennis and whining about other tennis players beating your records. That’s it. Why? Why was this book necessary?