Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Carrie Soto is fierce, and her determination to win at any cost has not made her popular.
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.
For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 Audiobook Challenge
2024 Library Love Challenge
The Reason
I first met Carrie Soto as a side character in Malibu Rising, which is one of my favorite TJR books. I didn’t think I’d like this book because I’m not a tennis fan and I know nothing about it, but I should’ve known that TJR would make me fall in love with Carrie.
The Quotes
“We live in a world where exceptional women have to sit around waiting for mediocre men.”
“Grief is like a deep, dark hole. It calls like a siren: Come to me, lose yourself here. And you fight it and you fight it and you fight it, but when you finally do succumb and jump down into it, you can’t quite believe how deep it is. It feels as if this is how you will live for the rest of your life, falling. Terrified and devastated, until you yourself die.
“One of the great injustices of this rigged world we live in is that women are considered to be depleting with age and men are somehow deepening.”
“People act like you can never forget your own name, but if you’re not paying attention, you can veer so incredibly far away from everything you know about yourself to the point where you stop recognizing what they call you.”
“No matter how good I was on the court, I was never good enough for the public. It wasn’t enough to play nearly perfect tennis. I had to do that and also be charming. And that charm had to appear effortless.”
The Narrator(s)
Stacy Gonzalez, Mary Carillo, Patrick Mcenroe, Rob Simmelkjaer, Brendan Wayne, Max Meyers, Reynaldo Piniella, Vidish Athavale, Tom Bromhead, Heath Miller, Julia Whelan, Sara Arrington.
Stacy Gonzalez is the main narrator and the voice of Carrie Soto. The other narrators voice commentators and articles in the story. Stacy Gonzalez is a pretty good narrator but there were parts where I felt like the inflections didn’t fit the intention. I still enjoyed listening to the book very much though!
My Thoughts
I didn’t expect to love this book as much as I did. Carrie is such a stand-out character that I even noticed and remember her from her tiny cameo in Malibu Rising. Trust me when I say I normally don’t remember stuff like that, but Carrie was too memorable a character. I also love that she was almost in her 40s when she decided to get back into the competition. There were many instances in the book where the double standard between men and women sportspeople were called out as well, and I’m totally here for that.
My Feels
Carrie’s drive and will to win is palpable in the story. You can feel it through the pages, you can feel just how important her goal is to her, and so it becomes important to you as well. The way the story was told, going through her journey with her, discovering what’s important, learning to love and trust other people, all of it was so impactful. This book is a contender for my most favorite of TJR’s work!
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
