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Carrie Soto Is Back

Taylor Jenkins Reid

Start date: July 1, 2023

Finish date: July 31, 2023

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What Members Thought

Jul 01, 2023 Tina Reads rated it really liked it

Shelves: z-2023, z-2023-book-club, z-tower-2023

I'm surprised how much I liked this novel about tennis. Carrie Soto is an interesting character, and I had moments where I both liked and hated her. Her father was a shining beacon in this novel and he was my favorite character. By the end of the book, I was really invested in the game and Carrie's frenemy relationship with Nikki Chan. ...more

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Jul 16, 2023 Catsalive rated it liked it

Shelves: 2023

An entertaining, fast-paced romp around the tennis court, albeit with a rather unlikable protagonist. I do understand the elite athlete's desire to win, but I really didn't appreciate spending so much time with a person who had so little joy in her chosen game. To be so lucky to spend your life working at your vocation, to earn money pursuing your passion, & then to be such a miserable, mean human being: Oh! I had very little patience with Carrie. I didn't mind all the tennis, I could skim if it ...more

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Jan 16, 2023 Michael rated it really liked it

Shelves: winter-reading-2023, read-in-2023

Carrie Soto rules the tennis court during her career, stacking up wins, earning the nickname "The Battle Axe," and setting a record for most Grand Slam wins. But while she collected trophies, she didn't collect many friends and even fired her father as her tennis coach.

Six years into her retirement, a new tennis phenom is setting the world on fire in Nicki Chen. When Chen ties Soto's record for Grand Slam wins, Carrie decides it's time to come out of retirement and win back her record. With brid Carrie Soto rules the tennis court during her career, stacking up wins, earning the nickname "The Battle Axe," and setting a record for most Grand Slam wins. But while she collected trophies, she didn't collect many friends and even fired her father as her tennis coach.

Six years into her retirement, a new tennis phenom is setting the world on fire in Nicki Chen. When Chen ties Soto's record for Grand Slam wins, Carrie decides it's time to come out of retirement and win back her record. With bridges repaired with her father, the Sotos embark on a mission to take the tennis world by storm. But will Carrie's now-thirty-seven-year-old body allow her to dominate the way she did in her youth and can she win the elusive next title?

Taylor Jenkins Reid takes us inside Carrie's head for the journey in her masterful Carrie Soto Is Back. Reid has been on the must-read list for a couple of years now with Daisy Jones and the Six and Malibu Rising. But there's something about Carrie Soto that feels like Reid is taking us to the next level. It could be the singular focus on Carrie's story as related by her. Or it could be the story of redemption and ambition tempered with being inside Carrie's mind as she doubts herself and whether she's doing the right thing or not.

But most of the novel's success comes down to the superlatively drawn father/daughter relationship. Carrie's father introduces her to the world of tennis and is an early guide to her career and then helps her find her way back for a comeback. I didn't realize how invested I'd become in the relationship between Carrie and her father until certain events unfold late in the story and I found myself getting a bit of a lump in my throat -- while reading at the dentist's office as I waited on a family member.

Of all the books I've read by Reid, this is the one that sticks the landing the best. It's bittersweet that the story ends for the characters involved exactly when it needs to, answering most of the big questions but leaving a few things for us to wonder about and fill in the gaps with our own imaginations.

Given that Reid inserts Easter eggs from other novels into other works, I wouldn't be shocked to get an update on Carrie in a future story -- and it's something I will look forward to reading.

For now, Carrie Soto Is Back is an utterly satisfying story, steeped heavily in personal and professional redemptions for a compelling first-person narrator. I can't recommend this one enough. Try it. I think you'll like it.
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Sep 16, 2022 Jenn rated it liked it

Shelves: 2022-finished, fiction

It's usually never a second thought when seeing a new TJR book come out. I was surprised and lucky to get it so quickly from the library so I plopped myself and started it immediately. If this would've been a TJR book that grabbed me from page 1 I would of sat there and finished it one day. Sadly this wasn't the case.

Carrie Soto is a tennis player. She isn't just any tennis player she wants to be the best tennis player ever. She was born into tennis as her father was a player and then a coach. ...more

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Oct 15, 2022 Lauren rated it it was amazing

This book was so enjoyable! I was worried that, as someone with a pretty strong aversion to sports, I would never be able to get into it. But TJR is masterful at telling a riveting story without an ounce of wasted prose or tedious sports commentary. Well done!

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Sep 11, 2022 Nicole rated it liked it

Carrie Soto was a big deal back in the day. She won more at Wimbledon than anyone else ever. She is known for her temper, her solitude. But she decides years after her retirement that it’s time for her to get back out there. And so she does. Using a loophole, she begins training with her old coach (her dad). At its core, Carrie Soto is Back is about a woman who has accepted the things that the world has said about her, embraced those thoughts, and then used those terrible things to her advantage ...more

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