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A review by renee_reads_books
Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
fast-paced
4.5
I finished the audiobook of Carrie Soto is Back, by Taylor Jenkins Reid, on Thursday. Then I forgot to post.
My sister reminded me that Carrie Soto is a character in TJR’s book Malibu Rising. I totally forgot that because I can’t remember anything anymore (frustrating when you’ve been long praised for never forgetting). There’s also a point in this book where Carrie is reading a book about Daisy Jones & The Six, so I appreciate the references from within the TJR universe.
Throughout the 80s, Carrie Soto was the best tennis player in the world. Coached by her tennis champion father, Javier Soto, she was unstoppable.
In 1994, several years after her retirement, she’s watching tennis with her father when she decides she wants to come back and win a slam in 1995. I think that’s the term. I don’t know much about tennis except what I learned in this book. She wants to reclaim her title as most decorated tennis champion.
Half of the book takes place in the past, giving the reader a sense of who Carrie Soto is, how she became the best tennis player in the world, and her relationship with her father, including a rift they had that separated them for a while. The other half is in 1994-95 as she prepares her comeback.
Carrie is not likable. She’s arrogant and cold. She’s calculating. Nothing matters more to her than tennis and being the best. In the 80s, that questionably included her father. Now in the 90s, she’s aged a bit, but she’s still the Battle Axe.
And in the 90s, she can finally see the sacrifices her father he made for her.
As he coaches her one last time, she’s out to prove to herself and everyone else that she can and will beat the young woman who is taking away Carrie’s accolades: Nicki Chan.
She’s back and silencing all the naysayers. But something unexpected threatens her final tournament — the one in which she is to meet Nicki Chan and reclaim her titles.
I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about this book because I know virtually nothing about tennis. The audiobook was so well done that it made me not only feel like I was there at the matches, but invested.
I also enjoyed the father/daughter dynamic between Carrie and Javier. Javier was probably my favorite character.
There are parts of dialog that are spoken in Spanish. That might not be for everyone but I enjoyed listening to it and trying to figure out what they were saying in the context of the English around it and with the handful of Spanish words I can recognize.
Overall, engaging. Another good TJR read. 4/5.
My sister reminded me that Carrie Soto is a character in TJR’s book Malibu Rising. I totally forgot that because I can’t remember anything anymore (frustrating when you’ve been long praised for never forgetting). There’s also a point in this book where Carrie is reading a book about Daisy Jones & The Six, so I appreciate the references from within the TJR universe.
Throughout the 80s, Carrie Soto was the best tennis player in the world. Coached by her tennis champion father, Javier Soto, she was unstoppable.
In 1994, several years after her retirement, she’s watching tennis with her father when she decides she wants to come back and win a slam in 1995. I think that’s the term. I don’t know much about tennis except what I learned in this book. She wants to reclaim her title as most decorated tennis champion.
Half of the book takes place in the past, giving the reader a sense of who Carrie Soto is, how she became the best tennis player in the world, and her relationship with her father, including a rift they had that separated them for a while. The other half is in 1994-95 as she prepares her comeback.
Carrie is not likable. She’s arrogant and cold. She’s calculating. Nothing matters more to her than tennis and being the best. In the 80s, that questionably included her father. Now in the 90s, she’s aged a bit, but she’s still the Battle Axe.
And in the 90s, she can finally see the sacrifices her father he made for her.
As he coaches her one last time, she’s out to prove to herself and everyone else that she can and will beat the young woman who is taking away Carrie’s accolades: Nicki Chan.
She’s back and silencing all the naysayers. But something unexpected threatens her final tournament — the one in which she is to meet Nicki Chan and reclaim her titles.
I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about this book because I know virtually nothing about tennis. The audiobook was so well done that it made me not only feel like I was there at the matches, but invested.
I also enjoyed the father/daughter dynamic between Carrie and Javier. Javier was probably my favorite character.
There are parts of dialog that are spoken in Spanish. That might not be for everyone but I enjoyed listening to it and trying to figure out what they were saying in the context of the English around it and with the handful of Spanish words I can recognize.
Overall, engaging. Another good TJR read. 4/5.