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Sudden Death
Outrageous, irrepressible and endlessly entertaining, the bestselling author of Rubyfruit Jungle and Bingo spins a behind-the-scenes tale of women's professional tennis that dramtically intertwines the heart-stopping excitement of competition and the lingering heartache of intimate human bonds. Carmen Semanan loves three things tennis, money and professor Harriet Rawls. Just twenty-four, Carmen is at her peak as one of the world's top-seeded tennis champions, determined to win the coveted Grand Slam. She is protected from everything but the grueling demands of her sport by an avericious agent and her devoted gusty Harriet. All the odds are in her favor. But there are weeds growing in her paradise patch. Carmen's vey latin brother, Miguel, parlays her succes into a financial house of cards with deals that include smuggling, forgery, and fraud. Susan Reilly, Carmen's archrival and former lover, leaks word of Carms's relationship with Harriet to the press--and tennis's best-kept secret is blown into a front-page scandal. From the French Open to Wimbledon, jealousies, ambitions and passions are set to explode. Now, with everything she cherishes on the line, Carmen must test the true depths of her feelings-both on and off the court.
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
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423 people want to read
About the author
Rita Mae Brown
173 books2,231 followersRita Mae Brown is a prolific American writer, most known for her mysteries and other novels (Rubyfruit Jungle). She is also an Emmy-nominated screenwriter.
Brown was born illegitimate in Hanover, Pennsylvania. She was raised by her biological mother's female cousin and the cousin's husband in York, Pennsylvania and later in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Starting in the fall of 1962, Brown attended the University of Florida at Gainesville on a scholarship. In the spring of 1964, the administrators of the racially segregated university expelled her for participating in the civil rights movement. She subsequently enrolled at Broward Community College[3] with the hope of transferring eventually to a more tolerant four-year institution.
Between fall 1964 and 1969, she lived in New York City, sometimes homeless, while attending New York University[6] where she received a degree in Classics and English. Later,[when?] she received another degree in cinematography from the New York School of Visual Arts.[citation needed] Brown received a Ph.D. in literature from Union Institute & University in 1976 and holds a doctorate in political science from the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C.
Starting in 1973, Brown lived in the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles. In 1977, she bought a farm in Charlottesville, Virginia where she still lives.[9] In 1982, a screenplay Brown wrote while living in Los Angeles, Sleepless Nights, was retitled The Slumber Party Massacre and given a limited release theatrically.
During Brown's spring 1964 semester at the University of Florida at Gainesville, she became active in the American Civil Rights Movement. Later in the 1960s, she participated in the anti-war movement, the feminist movement and the Gay Liberation movement.
Brown took an administrative position with the fledgling National Organization for Women, but resigned in January 1970 over Betty Friedan's anti-gay remarks and NOW's attempts to distance itself from lesbian organizations. She claims she played a leading role in the "Lavender Menace" zap of the Second Congress to Unite Women on May 1, 1970, which protested Friedan's remarks and the exclusion of lesbians from the women's movement.
In the early 1970s, she became a founding member of The Furies Collective, a lesbian feminist newspaper collective in Washington, DC, which held that heterosexuality was the root of all oppression.
Brown told Time magazine in 2008, "I don't believe in straight or gay. I really don't. I think we're all degrees of bisexual. There may be a few people on the extreme if it's a bell curve who really truly are gay or really truly are straight. Because nobody had ever said these things and used their real name, I suddenly became [in the late 1970s] the only lesbian in America."
Brown was born illegitimate in Hanover, Pennsylvania. She was raised by her biological mother's female cousin and the cousin's husband in York, Pennsylvania and later in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Starting in the fall of 1962, Brown attended the University of Florida at Gainesville on a scholarship. In the spring of 1964, the administrators of the racially segregated university expelled her for participating in the civil rights movement. She subsequently enrolled at Broward Community College[3] with the hope of transferring eventually to a more tolerant four-year institution.
Between fall 1964 and 1969, she lived in New York City, sometimes homeless, while attending New York University[6] where she received a degree in Classics and English. Later,[when?] she received another degree in cinematography from the New York School of Visual Arts.[citation needed] Brown received a Ph.D. in literature from Union Institute & University in 1976 and holds a doctorate in political science from the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C.
Starting in 1973, Brown lived in the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles. In 1977, she bought a farm in Charlottesville, Virginia where she still lives.[9] In 1982, a screenplay Brown wrote while living in Los Angeles, Sleepless Nights, was retitled The Slumber Party Massacre and given a limited release theatrically.
During Brown's spring 1964 semester at the University of Florida at Gainesville, she became active in the American Civil Rights Movement. Later in the 1960s, she participated in the anti-war movement, the feminist movement and the Gay Liberation movement.
Brown took an administrative position with the fledgling National Organization for Women, but resigned in January 1970 over Betty Friedan's anti-gay remarks and NOW's attempts to distance itself from lesbian organizations. She claims she played a leading role in the "Lavender Menace" zap of the Second Congress to Unite Women on May 1, 1970, which protested Friedan's remarks and the exclusion of lesbians from the women's movement.
In the early 1970s, she became a founding member of The Furies Collective, a lesbian feminist newspaper collective in Washington, DC, which held that heterosexuality was the root of all oppression.
Brown told Time magazine in 2008, "I don't believe in straight or gay. I really don't. I think we're all degrees of bisexual. There may be a few people on the extreme if it's a bell curve who really truly are gay or really truly are straight. Because nobody had ever said these things and used their real name, I suddenly became [in the late 1970s] the only lesbian in America."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
May 23, 2017
This novel holds a place of high honor in my heart because it was the first lesbian novel I'd ever read. A friend loaned it to me. I was 18 and in the Marines during the dark pre- Don't Ask Don't Tell years, so hid it away in my locker when not reading. It is supposedly based on Brown's relationship with Martina Navratilova. I often think of re-reading it, but it might be one better left to my fuzzy memories.
November 6, 2018
4.5 stars. I could not get enough of
Sudden Death
, and got lost in the business and pleasure of the tennis world. This story is so well crafted, between the plot and the characters and background provided by Rita Mae Brown - and this is coming from someone who's not a sports enthusiast.
June 6, 2024
lesbian drama in professional tennis!! a con man creating fast fashion!! “summa cunt laude” !!!
April 24, 2018
Reading this book has made me realize how far we have come in making LGBT people a more integrated part of society. We still have a long way to go, but compared to this book, written in 1983, our society has progressed by leaps and bounds.
It was interesting, but frustrating. Most of the characters were fairly one dimensional but the story moved along so it never got boring. Although I've often felt like too many stories have the Hollywood Happy Ending, this one doesn't...and I really wanted one. Go figure. The story never really resolves though it doesn't seem like many of the characters are headed for happiness or even contentment. Only one character in the story came out publicly and that was unintentional. The others lived in the closet, some so deeply in the closet they were in denial. They hadn't really moved or grown by the end of the book.
So....interesting because of the historical context but not really a must read story.
It was interesting, but frustrating. Most of the characters were fairly one dimensional but the story moved along so it never got boring. Although I've often felt like too many stories have the Hollywood Happy Ending, this one doesn't...and I really wanted one. Go figure. The story never really resolves though it doesn't seem like many of the characters are headed for happiness or even contentment. Only one character in the story came out publicly and that was unintentional. The others lived in the closet, some so deeply in the closet they were in denial. They hadn't really moved or grown by the end of the book.
So....interesting because of the historical context but not really a must read story.
February 12, 2020
Allegedly a roman à clef of Rita Mae Brown's relationship with Martina Navratilova, Sudden Death is a soapy, dramatic, silly story of 1980s women's tennis.
Brown's writing is cynical in a way that I have a hard time connecting with, but that may speak to the difficulties of being queer in the 20th century.
Note: There are a lot of problematic parts of the story. Carmen, the Marina stand-in, is Argentinian, and is often described as a "fiery" Latina. Her brother, Miguel is literally a cocaine-smuggling, crooked lawyer. Yikes. Additionally, while a necessary component to the story, the depictions of homophobia may be really triggering for some.
Brown's writing is cynical in a way that I have a hard time connecting with, but that may speak to the difficulties of being queer in the 20th century.
Note: There are a lot of problematic parts of the story. Carmen, the Marina stand-in, is Argentinian, and is often described as a "fiery" Latina. Her brother, Miguel is literally a cocaine-smuggling, crooked lawyer. Yikes. Additionally, while a necessary component to the story, the depictions of homophobia may be really triggering for some.
April 22, 2025
I don't give away spoilers in my reviews.
A friend recommended I read Sudden Death since it's one of her favorite books. I knew it was about tennis.
I started and finished this book in one day. It was hard to put down. I don't know much about tennis but I didn't think a vast knowledge was required to enjoy the book.
I loved the competitiveness and intensity of Carmen and the other tennis players. I also loved the relationships in the story. It was written so long ago that lesbians are for the most much more accepted thankfully.
The ending was perfect as well.
A friend recommended I read Sudden Death since it's one of her favorite books. I knew it was about tennis.
I started and finished this book in one day. It was hard to put down. I don't know much about tennis but I didn't think a vast knowledge was required to enjoy the book.
I loved the competitiveness and intensity of Carmen and the other tennis players. I also loved the relationships in the story. It was written so long ago that lesbians are for the most much more accepted thankfully.
The ending was perfect as well.
July 23, 2023
I love a book that is both literary and gossipy. The sports intersection is even better
December 24, 2023
So thankful to read a tennis novel by somebody who is actually familiar with the sport! A part of me wants to avoid hypocrisy and rail against the use of references as an emotive tactic or the necessity of background (historical, rather than technical) knowledge to make a work enjoyable, but at least Brown leans into ‘Sudden Death’ as a roman à clef ─ and it’s just so much fun to work out which contemporaneous player(s) comprise each character. It’s especially amusing to see how well the characters and their relationships map on to things that happened after this book was published (I was viscerally reminded of Martina Hingis in the infamous 1999 Roland Garros final at one point). Actually, it’s depressing how little has changed in the last four decades of the WTA: the same arguments about marketing individuals, rivalries and women’s tennis itself that Brown discusses herein seem to be argued ad nauseam on tennis twitter and tennis forum. I definitely enjoyed this book, but I have to wonder if it would have anything like the same effect on somebody who isn’t a tennis lesbian with a Martina Navratilova obsessed mother.
June 9, 2024
As usual, Rita Mae Brown does a fine job of storytelling, with excellent characterizations and pacing. But the basis of this story -- fictional tennis players, competing in tournaments and sniping at each other off the court due to bitter feelings given that they're ex-lovers, and over the course of the book (minor spoiler alert) both betraying their current lovers over the course the book, just wasn't really riveting. Sports are exciting because they AREN'T scripted; it's generally a mistake to try to tell a moving fictional story about sports, because unlike in real sports, the drama is scripted and the outcome is controlled by the author. In this case, once you strip away the pointless sports portion of the plot, what's left is a couple of unhappy love stories. Just not as interesting or moving as most of Rita Mae Brown's stories.
December 9, 2023
I had to read this book for my college class. It was very boring with little character motive or empathy. Most pages are full of odd tennis lingo that isn't interesting to anyone who isn't completely in love with the sport.
Read
September 9, 2023It was not very good. I think I regret having spent my time reading it.
October 30, 2023
i don’t know how rita mae brown managed to make nearly everyone in this book unlikeable, but she did.
October 31, 2023
cat puns got old
June 8, 2025
I felt the last few chapters were very rushed, lots of information kind of just shoved in. But I did enjoy the book, and I liked the ending.
July 18, 2016
Getwijfeld tussen twee en drie sterren. Het verhaal tegen de achtergrond van het vrouwentennis begin jaren 80 heeft voor minder aantrekkingskracht dan de maatschappelijke setting in Venusnijd. Toch is het een doorlezer, al lijkt het nergens echt spannend te worden en blijft het allemaal wat aan de oppervlakte. Brown heeft duidelijk iets met de Griekse mythologie (ook in Venusnijd een aanwezig thema), maar in dit verhaal komt het niet veel verder van wat namedropping zonder dat het echt wat aan het verhaal en de karakters toevoegt. Het zegt meer over de erotieke connotatie die de schrijfster er zelf mee heeft.
Aardig, maar Venusnijd was beter.
Aardig, maar Venusnijd was beter.
May 25, 2012
I've no doubt that a lot of the things written here really do happen in the tennis world, but these characters were mostly written as caricatures instead of realistic. For instance, the Bible-thumping, self-loathing homophobic lesbian Alicia Brinker was just too much. Nothing about her was even remotely believable. Nor was the breakup and fight between Carmen and Harriet at the end. This is definitely not one of Ms. Brown's better efforts.
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June 17, 2008This book is a "horrid example".
The author and Martina Navratilova were, for a time, a very public couple. Then they broke up. And Brown made the fatal error of writing a roman-à-clef. This is always a mistake. Getting revenge on your ex is death on good writing. It's a shame, because Brown is ordinarily an excellent writer.
The author and Martina Navratilova were, for a time, a very public couple. Then they broke up. And Brown made the fatal error of writing a roman-à-clef. This is always a mistake. Getting revenge on your ex is death on good writing. It's a shame, because Brown is ordinarily an excellent writer.
February 26, 2009
So I just started this book and I'm already giving it 5 stars. I'm trying to take it slow and distract myself because its so short i could finish it in a few hours.
It's a sexy lesbian tennis novel from 1983! And it's so smooth and natural and slightly ridiculous. By Rita Mae Brown of Rubyfruit Jungle. I'm gonna look up some of her other books now
It's a sexy lesbian tennis novel from 1983! And it's so smooth and natural and slightly ridiculous. By Rita Mae Brown of Rubyfruit Jungle. I'm gonna look up some of her other books now
December 2, 2014
I found this one disappointing. Clearly a potshot at a lover who jilted her. Not that it wasn't deserved, I just think it was beneath her. But hell, who hasn't done something like that? And if you can get paid to do it, good for you. Just didn't think it was her best effort.
February 10, 2008
Love her!
May 29, 2008
Life with Martina...raw and tell all.
April 20, 2009
Women's professionla tennis and the scandal of lesbian relationships is the focus of this novel.
August 15, 2009
I'm not into tennis. I'd rather read one of her other books.
February 8, 2010
Very light reading- I love all the Rita Mae Browns for a quick snack.
December 11, 2010
THIS WAS NOT A GOOD BOOK AND THE ENDING MADE IT THAT MUCH MORE AWFUL. THE CHARATERS ARE HARDLY LIKEABLE AND VERY ANNOYING.
June 11, 2012
Maybe I would have liked the book more if I was into tennis, which I'm not...I don't know, book was just ok for me
July 31, 2013
A fan of the author, but must also be a fan of tennis to enjoy this book.
January 25, 2008
Couldn't put it down!
January 29, 2011
nyc.. with enough lesbian drama to keep u glued :)
August 8, 2011
A lesbian tennis soap opera...you can see the 80s in there!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews