Alright, I have to get this off my chest. I found Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid to be a letdown. If you know me you know TJR is my GIRL. Evelyn Hugo is one of my favorite books of all time, and one of my most recommended reads for sure. Daisy Jones isn’t too far behind, and I really liked Malibu Rising as well.
Carrie Soto is Back follows main character Carrie through her journey of un-retiring from women’s tennis (very Tom Brady of her) to defend her title of most Grand Slams. Nicki Chan, a badass, younger player who has threatened her title and changed the game of tennis as a whole, becomes Carrie’s sole focus. She has to beat her.
What I liked most about this story was the depth of the relationship between Carrie and her father, Javier, who is a former star tennis player himself. However, his true fame has come from coaching Carrie to the top, starting when she was just three years old. Once again, Reid’s ability to write deeply emotional relationships and characters shone in this novel. There is no doubt that Carrie was dreamed up by Reid with attention to every minute detail. With that said, I couldn’t stand her. I found her sole goal to be the greatest tennis player of all time to be both exhausting and obnoxious. It got so old, so fast. I felt that she was completely oblivious to the feelings of those around her. She would do whatever it took to win, even dump her very own father as coach, push away any semblance of friendship or romance, and repeatedly partake in self-destructive behavior in the media and in her personal life. I was so annoyed with how she treated Bowe. To some extent of course I understand that in sports, sometimes that is the only way to achieve greatness. But at what cost?! This was undoubtedly the underlying theme of the book and was meant to be one of the main takeaways. Even still, I had enough of Carrie’s moping and tantrums very early on in the book. Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of Carrie’s personality for me was her utter inability to recognize when someone cared about her. Despite her clan of loved ones being so scarce you could count them on one hand, Carrie constantly misinterpreted their good intentions and inevitably pushed them away. At some point, I started to think she just deserved to be unhappy. I am not sure if this was an intentional effect on Reid’s part, but I am guessing I wasn’t supposed to finish this book as frustrated with Carrie as I ended up being.
My obvious frustration aside, I swear there were still some great aspects of this story. My favorite parts of all of TJR’s books are the easter eggs connecting each of them, and Carrie Soto is Back was no exception. I did enjoy Carrie’s tendency to say whatever crosses her mind, no matter how harsh. Seeing her advise opponents to just get better at tennis made me smile, Also, Carrie and Javier’s relationship was portrayed beautifully. I was surprised to find myself crying in the last few chapters of the book, but not in a bad way! It was also fun to read about tennis, which I wasn’t all that familiar with before. Traveling to different tournaments alongside Carrie was fascinating- especially the Wimbledon chapters! I also liked reading about a different time period- Princess Diana was present at one of the matches! In all, I would still recommend this book, especially if you are a Taylor Jenkins Reid fan.
I’m going to stick around and watch Carrie Soto… I think what she’s doing here is remarkable. And I want to be able to say I saw it happen.
Rating: 3.5/5 grand slams
xx, Lauren