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A review by _basicbookworm
Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
5.0
When she retired, Carrie Soto was the greatest tennis player of all time. Six years after retirement, there is a new star on the rise, threatening to break the records Carrie set. Determined to stay the best, Carrie comes out of retirement for one final season to reclaim her record.
I never thought I would get excited about a book about tennis, but here I am, raving about a book about tennis. As always, Taylor Jenkins Reid is an incredible story teller, and in this story she does an incredible job sharing the price of success as well as writing the most beautiful (and painful at times) father-daughter relationship. Of TJR’s most recent 4 books featuring famous/successful women, I think Carrie is my favorite main character. She is strong and complex and relentless in her pursuit of her goals. I flew through this book and adored every page.
After reading this book, I had a chat with some friends about some of the conversations happening around this book that I also feel I need to acknowledge. Particularly that the main character is Argentenian-American and this book was written by a white author and whether or not this is ok. While I didn’t personally find this book or these characters problematic, I do acknowledge that many Latinx authors are not getting the opportunities and/or publicity that an author like TJR gets. This is definitely a huge problem in the publishing industry, and after reading an interview with TJR she acknowledges this (and her position of influence as well). In the interview, it doesn’t sit well with her to only write straight, white women and that she wants to use her position to tell many different stories. In the Time Magazine article she says, “I’m trying and figuring it out with the awareness that my intention to create good representation does not mean I have done it right. I come to it conflicted and open to criticism.” Personally, I’m still grappling with my thoughts on this and appreciated hearing many different perspectives in the chat I was in. I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments as well.
Thank you Ballantine Books for the advance copy.
I never thought I would get excited about a book about tennis, but here I am, raving about a book about tennis. As always, Taylor Jenkins Reid is an incredible story teller, and in this story she does an incredible job sharing the price of success as well as writing the most beautiful (and painful at times) father-daughter relationship. Of TJR’s most recent 4 books featuring famous/successful women, I think Carrie is my favorite main character. She is strong and complex and relentless in her pursuit of her goals. I flew through this book and adored every page.
After reading this book, I had a chat with some friends about some of the conversations happening around this book that I also feel I need to acknowledge. Particularly that the main character is Argentenian-American and this book was written by a white author and whether or not this is ok. While I didn’t personally find this book or these characters problematic, I do acknowledge that many Latinx authors are not getting the opportunities and/or publicity that an author like TJR gets. This is definitely a huge problem in the publishing industry, and after reading an interview with TJR she acknowledges this (and her position of influence as well). In the interview, it doesn’t sit well with her to only write straight, white women and that she wants to use her position to tell many different stories. In the Time Magazine article she says, “I’m trying and figuring it out with the awareness that my intention to create good representation does not mean I have done it right. I come to it conflicted and open to criticism.” Personally, I’m still grappling with my thoughts on this and appreciated hearing many different perspectives in the chat I was in. I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments as well.
Thank you Ballantine Books for the advance copy.