What would you do to defend your legacy? How hard would you work to regain a lost record? For Carrie Soto, 37-year old retired tennis star, it isn’t a hypothetical. She’s just watched Nicki Chan earn her 20th Grand Slam title, tying the record that Carrie set five years prior. Carrie’s entire career was urged on by her drive to be the greatest, and she is not going to stand by and watch another take her place at the top. So, as the title says, Carrie Soto is Back.
The first part of the book takes us through Carrie’s rise to the top. Carrie starts out sympathetic, a young girl driven by her father to succeed, with no time for a life outside of tennis. But the more she succeeds the harder and colder she gets, seeming to try her best to live up the “Battle Axe” nickname she’s been given by the press. By the time she retires, she’s pretty unlikeable, has alienated all of her fellow players and damaged her relationship with her father.
And that’s how she starts the second half. Still determined and unapologetic, and prickly from people’s perceptions of her. Over the course of the book she softens in a way that still feels true to the character, properly healing the rift with her father instead of talking past it, committing to a real relationship instead of one night stands, and even forming a friendship with her rival Nicki. I won’t spoil the ending, but it is a satisfying conclusion to her journey.
Taylor Jenkins Reid can be hit or miss for people, but Carrie Soto is Back is great. I am not even a tennis fan and I was hooked! There were parts that made me so angry on Carrie’s behalf, parts that made me angry at her, and parts that made me cry. There’s even a fun little Easter egg for another of Reid’s books, so keep your eyes peeled.