Book Review: Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Book #105 of 2023:

Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

A feel-good comeback story from the master of other such recent historical fiction celebrity novels as Daisy Jones & The Six or The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (all of which apparently share a loose continuity). In this one, our heroine Carrie Soto retired from professional tennis after setting the world record for the most women’s Grand Slam titles, but is lured out of retirement years later when another player threatens to surpass her. Now in her late thirties, she finds that no one expects her to be able to compete at her old level, but with her father as her coach, she sets about aiming to prove them all wrong.

Like many sports narratives, the book loses a bit of dramatic tension from the necessary structure of the competition it’s built around. The character announces she’ll be playing the four eligible events in the 1994 pro season to try and squeeze out another win, so… obviously she’s not just going to clinch the first one and walk away, you know? But the individual matches manage to be exciting nonetheless, as do her endless practice sessions as we can gradually see her skills and confidence increasing. I’m sure the upcoming film adaptation is going to generate some nice montage scenes from this material.

Carrie’s also a great flawed protagonist: she doesn’t make friends easily and is painfully focused on her athletic career, to the clear detriment of anything else in her life. She doesn’t smile or appear grateful enough for the patriarchal standards of the media, who long ago dubbed her “the Battleaxe,” and has alienated so many competitors over the years that none of them will agree to train with her following her announced return. The true heart of this plot isn’t a former champion striving to convince everyone she’s still a contender — it’s a lonely woman rediscovering the things she loved about the game in the first place, deepening her connections with the few people who are meaningful to her, and learning to accept the limitations of an aging body. Regardless of her performance on the court (which I won’t spoil!), she’s so much happier at the end of the story than the beginning, and it’s a real joy as a reader to get to go on that journey with her.

[Content warning for disordered eating and death of a parent.]

★★★★☆

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