How is it possible for me to have loved and hated this so, so much? I’m utterly satisfied by the resolution, but at the same time, I want to throw it at the sliding glass door in the dining room.
I’ve got a list of things that have never happened in tennis – the Aus open at Christmas? “The game is Soto’s.” Argh! How has TJR researched what it’s like to play tennis well enough to be totally viscerally realistic, at the exact same time as writing that 7-6 in the second set is when you need to break to take the set? That’s always been a tie break! Conversely, in 1995 there was no third set tie break, you just played until someone was two games up (hence all those five hour long 3am matches before they changed the rules). It really takes you out of the action if you follow tennis, and since this was released around about the same time as the US Open, doesn’t everyone?
Right, sorry, that’s off my chest; this was my TedTalk.
Unsurprisingly, my objections were totally steamrolled by the force of the characters and the story. Carrie is such a compelling protagonist (women don’t have to be likeable all the time! Being up front is not the same as being a bitch!), and there are easter eggs for those who have read previous novels. The relationship between Carrie and Nikki, her rival, reminds me of Bring It On (I loved that “I define being the best as beating the best” vibe between Gabrielle Union and Kirsten Dunst).
Of course, there’s also a love story, but it is so grounded in their mutual love of tennis that it feels organic, and inevitable.
Totally compelling, I sped through it in a single night and absolutely loved it.
[I immediately loaned this to my sister, and two hours later she was on the phone complaining about the Aus Open at Christmas]