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41-Love
A darkly funny sports memoir about a mid-life crisis, exercise addiction, tennis, and how to grow up when you really, really don't want to.
At forty-one, Scarlett Thomas was a successful novelist and a senior academic. She'd quit smoking, gotten healthier, settled down in a lovely house with a wonderful partner. She'd had all the therapy. Then her beloved dog died. Of her three fathers (she'd acquired a stepfather at ten), one died of a heroin overdose and the other two were diagnosed with cancer. Her sister-in-law became pregnant at the same time that she realized that she really was never going to become a mother. For the first time in her life, maintaining her ideal weight had become nearly impossible.
She was supposed to grow up, but she didn't know how. So instead, she decided to regress: to go back to the thing she'd loved best as a child but had inexplicably abandoned: tennis. Thomas knows she's not the only person to have wondered if you throw enough money and time and passion at something, whether you can make your dream come true. 41-Love is heartbreaking but frequently darkly funny as Scarlett finds she'll do anything to win--almost anything.
At forty-one, Scarlett Thomas was a successful novelist and a senior academic. She'd quit smoking, gotten healthier, settled down in a lovely house with a wonderful partner. She'd had all the therapy. Then her beloved dog died. Of her three fathers (she'd acquired a stepfather at ten), one died of a heroin overdose and the other two were diagnosed with cancer. Her sister-in-law became pregnant at the same time that she realized that she really was never going to become a mother. For the first time in her life, maintaining her ideal weight had become nearly impossible.
She was supposed to grow up, but she didn't know how. So instead, she decided to regress: to go back to the thing she'd loved best as a child but had inexplicably abandoned: tennis. Thomas knows she's not the only person to have wondered if you throw enough money and time and passion at something, whether you can make your dream come true. 41-Love is heartbreaking but frequently darkly funny as Scarlett finds she'll do anything to win--almost anything.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published January 4, 2022
32 people are currently reading
1920 people want to read
About the author
Scarlett Thomas
32 books1,839 followersScarlett Thomas was born in London in 1972. Her widely-acclaimed novels include PopCo, The End of Mr Y and The Seed Collectors. As well as writing literary fiction for adults, she has also written a literary fantasy series for children and a book about writing called Monkeys with Typewriters. Her work has been translated into more than 25 languages.
She has been longlisted for the Orange Prize, shortlisted for the South African Boeke Prize and was once the proud recipient of an Elle Style Award. She is currently Professor of Creative Writing & Contemporary Fiction at the University of Kent in the UK. She lives in a Victorian house near the sea and spends a lot of time reading Chekhov and Katherine Mansfield.
She is currently working on a new novel and various projects for TV.
She has been longlisted for the Orange Prize, shortlisted for the South African Boeke Prize and was once the proud recipient of an Elle Style Award. She is currently Professor of Creative Writing & Contemporary Fiction at the University of Kent in the UK. She lives in a Victorian house near the sea and spends a lot of time reading Chekhov and Katherine Mansfield.
She is currently working on a new novel and various projects for TV.
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February 28, 2022I love the work of Scarlett Thomas, so I could wait to read this memoir about her determination to take up tennis again, at age 41.
January 31, 2022
I bought this book as Scarlett Thomas is one of my favourite authors (especially. The Seed Collectors). It’s always interesting to learn some biographical details, so reading this was a form of literary stalking.
41-love documents the author's determined efforts over several months to regain the tennis prowess of her teens at the age of forty-one and achieve the highest possible ranking. It is written from contemporaneous notes, as is evident from the sometimes stroke by stroke detail of her matches as she struggles to progress through the LTA’s rating system.
I read one review suggesting that the book could be much shorter; this misses the point. Much of the interest comes from the author's struggle with the psychology of the task and mood swings between extreme confidence and imposter syndrome, sometimes within a single game. There is a lot of humour arising from obsessions with kit, diet, training regime and interaction with coaches and fellow competitors. There is also the occasional release of pent-up aggression and disappointment when things do not go according to plan.
41-love will appeal particularly to Scarlett Thomas fans and followers of tennis, as well as anyone interested in sports psychology and challenging their limits.
41-love documents the author's determined efforts over several months to regain the tennis prowess of her teens at the age of forty-one and achieve the highest possible ranking. It is written from contemporaneous notes, as is evident from the sometimes stroke by stroke detail of her matches as she struggles to progress through the LTA’s rating system.
I read one review suggesting that the book could be much shorter; this misses the point. Much of the interest comes from the author's struggle with the psychology of the task and mood swings between extreme confidence and imposter syndrome, sometimes within a single game. There is a lot of humour arising from obsessions with kit, diet, training regime and interaction with coaches and fellow competitors. There is also the occasional release of pent-up aggression and disappointment when things do not go according to plan.
41-love will appeal particularly to Scarlett Thomas fans and followers of tennis, as well as anyone interested in sports psychology and challenging their limits.
June 5, 2022
I haven’t read much lately. Life is busy: we’ve got some house projects underway, Little League is an almost nightly affair, my people apparently need to be fed meals EVERY day — multiple times a day, even! Yes, all sorts of things are afoot these days.
Also, I’m playing a lot of tennis.
Like, a lot.
Not as much as Scarlett Thomas, who authored this book, but I’m somewhere on the spectrum of “oh wow, that’s a lot of tennis” to “what is this, some kind of desperate attempt to put off the fact that you’re 39 and the clock keeps ticking and you still haven’t done anything remarkable with your one wild and precious life?” (Yes. Probably.)
So here’s the thing with tennis:
1. It’s FUN.
2. Developing a skill is a chance to grow and learn and improve and make mistakes and try again and progress. Get busy living or get busy dying, man.
3. It’s a chance to turn on beast mode! After the age of, like, 25, there aren’t many socially acceptable opportunities to get all impassioned by the guts and glory of athletic competition — aka giving someone a mf beat down.
Anyway, all this to say I haven’t been reading much, but this book about a middle-aged chick WHO MIGHT BE A TENNIS PRODIGY (ahem) caught my eye for obvious reasons. Ultimately, I wanted to like it more than I did — and that’s only *partly* because I felt too seen at certain points. I wish Thomas had examined her motivations a bit deeper, and I would have preferred a less abrupt ending, but if you’ve been bit by the bug — maybe you’re one of the one bajillion humans who started playing tennis during Covid — I can still comfortably recommend this book.
I’ll leave you with my favorite snippet, which shockingly is *not* about tennis:
“I am trying to do something about my ego. This has been going on for a while now. A couple of years ago a therapist introduced me to A Course in Miracles. Did I think I'd become the type of person who
would spend fifty minutes every Tuesday afternoon in a suburban sitting room with scented candles, talking about my childhood and trying to become perfect inside as well as out? When did I become
that, rather than the cool, chain-smoking linguist with flats in Paris and Rome that my fifteen-year-old self would have wanted to be? But when the therapist says mysterious things like "You are loved, whatever you do" and "You are perfect just as you are," something deep inside of me takes notice. These are messages I'm not hearing anywhere else. I'm not even really hearing them from her, either; what I'm hearing is that I should begin a lengthy program to get rid of the ego that tells me I am better and different so that I can be better and different. My life becomes a paradox, but at least it's interesting. Instead of moaning about my childhood, I am to forgive everyone. Life does become easier when I do this, although I usually forget.”
Same, Scarlett. Same.
Also, I’m playing a lot of tennis.
Like, a lot.
Not as much as Scarlett Thomas, who authored this book, but I’m somewhere on the spectrum of “oh wow, that’s a lot of tennis” to “what is this, some kind of desperate attempt to put off the fact that you’re 39 and the clock keeps ticking and you still haven’t done anything remarkable with your one wild and precious life?” (Yes. Probably.)
So here’s the thing with tennis:
1. It’s FUN.
2. Developing a skill is a chance to grow and learn and improve and make mistakes and try again and progress. Get busy living or get busy dying, man.
3. It’s a chance to turn on beast mode! After the age of, like, 25, there aren’t many socially acceptable opportunities to get all impassioned by the guts and glory of athletic competition — aka giving someone a mf beat down.
Anyway, all this to say I haven’t been reading much, but this book about a middle-aged chick WHO MIGHT BE A TENNIS PRODIGY (ahem) caught my eye for obvious reasons. Ultimately, I wanted to like it more than I did — and that’s only *partly* because I felt too seen at certain points. I wish Thomas had examined her motivations a bit deeper, and I would have preferred a less abrupt ending, but if you’ve been bit by the bug — maybe you’re one of the one bajillion humans who started playing tennis during Covid — I can still comfortably recommend this book.
I’ll leave you with my favorite snippet, which shockingly is *not* about tennis:
“I am trying to do something about my ego. This has been going on for a while now. A couple of years ago a therapist introduced me to A Course in Miracles. Did I think I'd become the type of person who
would spend fifty minutes every Tuesday afternoon in a suburban sitting room with scented candles, talking about my childhood and trying to become perfect inside as well as out? When did I become
that, rather than the cool, chain-smoking linguist with flats in Paris and Rome that my fifteen-year-old self would have wanted to be? But when the therapist says mysterious things like "You are loved, whatever you do" and "You are perfect just as you are," something deep inside of me takes notice. These are messages I'm not hearing anywhere else. I'm not even really hearing them from her, either; what I'm hearing is that I should begin a lengthy program to get rid of the ego that tells me I am better and different so that I can be better and different. My life becomes a paradox, but at least it's interesting. Instead of moaning about my childhood, I am to forgive everyone. Life does become easier when I do this, although I usually forget.”
Same, Scarlett. Same.
September 7, 2021
Did not finish. The story is of an Englishwoman who seeks to make a comeback as a tennis player at the age of 41. She has a couple of coaches and hitting partner, and enters several tournaments. She seems to not progress well. Rather than delving into the emotions of aging and the body not being as agile and fit as in younger years, there is more factual writing about the actual matches, the players, the points won and missed. I would have appreciated more attention to her feelings of not progressing as she had hoped, nor receiving the support she craved.
November 14, 2022
Ahh, I loved it. However, it was not at all what I expected it to be. I found it on the shelf at the library and thought, 'Kismet! She's 41, I'm 41, we both played tennis with some proficiency as kids, we both want meaning for our adult lives...total sympatico!' But we are not alike, lol. And at first, I didn't know whether I could forgive the book for not being what I imagined, and she seemed almost, like, bitchy, and I didn't know if I could like that either. But she is a masterful bitch! I just didn't understand the tone at first, and once I really got that this was High English Snark at its very finest, I couldn't put it down. It's funny! It's heartfelt! It has a shocking(?) (to me) ending that upended how I thought about the rest of the book, and made me think about myself quite a bit too. The very best kind of memoir: absorbing, relatable, impetus for reflection. Loved it.
May 28, 2022
Scarlett Thomas (Oligarchy) is too hard on herself.
For the “5 Things About Your Book” segment in the New York Times, Thomas was asked to persuade someone to read “41-Love” in 50 words or fewer:
“Watch an unwitting idiot have a nervous breakdown in real time in this embarrassing and self-absorbed memoir.”
If you took that statement seriously, you’d miss the irony and the joy of 41-Love: On Addictions, Tennis, and Refusing to Grow Up.
She did have a nervous breakdown so let’s get that out of the way but the journey is as hilarious as it is poignant.
“My mind immediately begins to prepare for my upcoming tournaments. I’ll need hotels and train tickets. Three clean tennis outfits packed in my bag. A nutrition plan. Game plans.”
“It’s so f***** exciting I could die.”
“I’d give anything for that: the intense rightness of the feeling of winning. Why has this come to me so late in life, the realization that it feels so great to compete and win? Surely, surely if I want it enough I’ll be able to get it? I just have to work out the right things to do, and then do them.”
Thomas does them to the point of overdoing them but without these setbacks, its appeal to the middle-aged tennis player who still sees herself in Stella McCartney Adidas, would be diminished.
“Do I feel guilty about winning? Not worthy of it? Or am I just not good enough? Am I just unlucky? Cramp in one match. Playing after a funeral. Drinking too much. Not drinking enough?
Why is seeing someone do worse than you so comforting? Is it a bad thing?”
As a competitive tennis player myself, this book is insatiable and I adored it.
Forget Brad Gilbert’s Winning Ugly. Forget the Galway classic, The Inner Game of Tennis.
If I need a moment of Zen, I’m reaching for 41-Love.
If any of the following quotes have crossed your mind, as they certainly have mine, this book should be on your bedside table.
“The only thing I really want to do on my birthday is play tennis.”
“Why did I stop hitting the ball hard?
“Did my thoughts do it again? It simply didn’t occur to me that I could win a first set and then lose the second.”
“I’d been thinking instead how obvious it is now that I am better than (Fill in the Blank).”
“All his shots are weird. I begin to think disparaging thoughts about how old and embarrassing everyone looks and then realize that I must look exactly the same.”
41-Love is dark however, and although tennis is the focus in this narrative, she too understands actions can be informed by events.
There is a reason for the way she was in 2013.
But to think that should stop us or somehow require deep reflection, Thomas intones, “we are all fooling ourselves.”
Or maybe that was my Dad intoning.
Me: *Looks up next tournament.*
For the “5 Things About Your Book” segment in the New York Times, Thomas was asked to persuade someone to read “41-Love” in 50 words or fewer:
“Watch an unwitting idiot have a nervous breakdown in real time in this embarrassing and self-absorbed memoir.”
If you took that statement seriously, you’d miss the irony and the joy of 41-Love: On Addictions, Tennis, and Refusing to Grow Up.
She did have a nervous breakdown so let’s get that out of the way but the journey is as hilarious as it is poignant.
“My mind immediately begins to prepare for my upcoming tournaments. I’ll need hotels and train tickets. Three clean tennis outfits packed in my bag. A nutrition plan. Game plans.”
“It’s so f***** exciting I could die.”
“I’d give anything for that: the intense rightness of the feeling of winning. Why has this come to me so late in life, the realization that it feels so great to compete and win? Surely, surely if I want it enough I’ll be able to get it? I just have to work out the right things to do, and then do them.”
Thomas does them to the point of overdoing them but without these setbacks, its appeal to the middle-aged tennis player who still sees herself in Stella McCartney Adidas, would be diminished.
“Do I feel guilty about winning? Not worthy of it? Or am I just not good enough? Am I just unlucky? Cramp in one match. Playing after a funeral. Drinking too much. Not drinking enough?
Why is seeing someone do worse than you so comforting? Is it a bad thing?”
As a competitive tennis player myself, this book is insatiable and I adored it.
Forget Brad Gilbert’s Winning Ugly. Forget the Galway classic, The Inner Game of Tennis.
If I need a moment of Zen, I’m reaching for 41-Love.
If any of the following quotes have crossed your mind, as they certainly have mine, this book should be on your bedside table.
“The only thing I really want to do on my birthday is play tennis.”
“Why did I stop hitting the ball hard?
“Did my thoughts do it again? It simply didn’t occur to me that I could win a first set and then lose the second.”
“I’d been thinking instead how obvious it is now that I am better than (Fill in the Blank).”
“All his shots are weird. I begin to think disparaging thoughts about how old and embarrassing everyone looks and then realize that I must look exactly the same.”
41-Love is dark however, and although tennis is the focus in this narrative, she too understands actions can be informed by events.
There is a reason for the way she was in 2013.
But to think that should stop us or somehow require deep reflection, Thomas intones, “we are all fooling ourselves.”
Or maybe that was my Dad intoning.
Me: *Looks up next tournament.*
abandoned-dnf
October 18, 2024I truly thought this would be perfect for me and my 40th year reading project but I haven’t picked it up since May 😫 and it’s time to let it go…
June 18, 2023
Are you a lover of tennis? You must be in order to read the nonstop rundown of matches that is the bulk of this memoir. I’m usually very forgiving with stars on memoirs because I never want to judge someone’s story. Her story matters - the experiment of at middle age trying to go all in on tennis has its moments. There is references to larger life events but they are brief, one sentence here or there. Perhaps the point that she wasn’t dealing and using sport to numb out to all of her other life? I think the frustration I kept having was the hints to a great big thing of some kind coming. I kept trudging through waiting for the climax of that, what did she learn, and how did it change her course in the journey. It’s literally not explained, happens on the last page of second to last chapter and then the next chapter flashes to 4 years later quick recap. She could have shorten up the journey to there, had the incident and then spent last third with more thoughtful turning over of her circumstances. Simply, I think she missed an opportunity to tell her genuine interesting experience.
March 19, 2022
Some of you Goodreaders are being needlessly hard on this forthright and entertaining tennis memoir. What's refreshing about this is that Thomas doesn't pretend to be anybody other than herself. She's upfront about her contradictions (a strangely competitive streak counterbalanced with considerable self-doubt). The postscript alludes to an episode that came about from Thomas's tennis adventures. And the memoir can be read as an examination of hidden qualities that were there all along, which precipitated the episode. I'm very fond of Thomas's vivacious candor and her willingness to be honest about her judgments and flaws. But if you're looking for a "likeable" memoirist (rather than someone being honest about her life), this isn't the book for you.
December 20, 2021
Finishing this was exhausting. It litterally drained me. I had to, so I did but there are a lot of less painful things to do. Or painful but enjoyable. This is simply boring.
I desperately wanted to link with the writer, but I simply couldn't. Her experience is awful, and I distantly had the feeling I should have felt sorry for her; but the way she tells it is flat and arid, and I couldn't feel anything but the need of closing the book forever.
I desperately wanted to link with the writer, but I simply couldn't. Her experience is awful, and I distantly had the feeling I should have felt sorry for her; but the way she tells it is flat and arid, and I couldn't feel anything but the need of closing the book forever.
July 30, 2023
Scarlet Thomas, the author, is a professor at Kent University in the UK and an established writer of books. This book was the authors journey at age 41 to fulfill her dream of becoming a highly ranked tennis player, a dream she abandoned as a child. How was Scarlet Thomas going to accomplish this and write a book about her experience? The answer is put tons of money into lessons, tennis tournaments and an exorbitant amount of time every day to accomplish a high level of ranking in the 40+ age bracket of tennis. This strategy came at not only a financial cost but a very personal cost as well.
I am an over 40 tennis player and found the tennis matches, references and descriptions from the United Kingdom tennis ranking system very interesting. However, the author was overly descriptive in her tennis playing and obsessive tournament matches. I found it very tedious and boring to read an overwhelming analysis of every single match. It was actually pathetic and quite painful to take this personal journey with the author as she clawed her way through depressing defeats with occasional wins to increase her tennis ranking.
The story climaxed when the author managed to play in the 40+ Wimbledon seniors tournament. The story abruptly ended when the author basically went from her daily obsession with tennis playing to crashing and burning with a nervous breakdown. What ultimately did the author provide the reader as her message?
I am an over 40 tennis player and found the tennis matches, references and descriptions from the United Kingdom tennis ranking system very interesting. However, the author was overly descriptive in her tennis playing and obsessive tournament matches. I found it very tedious and boring to read an overwhelming analysis of every single match. It was actually pathetic and quite painful to take this personal journey with the author as she clawed her way through depressing defeats with occasional wins to increase her tennis ranking.
The story climaxed when the author managed to play in the 40+ Wimbledon seniors tournament. The story abruptly ended when the author basically went from her daily obsession with tennis playing to crashing and burning with a nervous breakdown. What ultimately did the author provide the reader as her message?
January 9, 2022
This book was a funny sports memoir about the author going through a mid-life crisis, starting an exercise addiction, and getting into tennis at 40. After dealing with some struggles in her life, the author decided to go back and start playing the sport she loved as a child: tennis. She talks about her obsession in so much spending time and money chasing a newfound passion at an older age. The author took an honest and darkly humorous approach to tell us a sad story of trying so hard to do something but failing and learning life lessons.
I thought it was so funny when the author showed her colleague a picture of her holding a tennis trophy, but he didn't believe that it was her. She also showed us how she got the idea to make her tennis journey into a book and how she kept justifying it to herself and others. I love how she turned to so many books for advice during her tennis training, including ones from authors Brad Gilbert and Andre Agassi.
To listen to my interview with the author, go to my podcast at:
https://zibbyowens.com/transcript/sca...
I thought it was so funny when the author showed her colleague a picture of her holding a tennis trophy, but he didn't believe that it was her. She also showed us how she got the idea to make her tennis journey into a book and how she kept justifying it to herself and others. I love how she turned to so many books for advice during her tennis training, including ones from authors Brad Gilbert and Andre Agassi.
To listen to my interview with the author, go to my podcast at:
https://zibbyowens.com/transcript/sca...
March 14, 2022
This one's definitely for the tennis players--if you do not play recreational tennis you will likely find many passages in this book rather tedious (as did I, and I do play recreational tennis). 41-Love would've made a better long-form article rather than a book. Thomas is sometimes funny, a bit snarky and not terribly likeable, or maybe I'm just jealous of someone who can throw all their time and money into amateur tennis. Thomas has many issues that could've been explored, but truly the main focus is on her obsessive quest to become a formidable 40+ player and it would seem she may have done that, but at a cost. The book wraps up with a not terribly satisfying explanation of the sudden implosion of her brief, mid-life tennis career.
April 15, 2025
I don't normally write reviews on here but, as Scarlett Thomas is my favourite author, I felt I needed to justify the rating I gave.
I've read pretty much everything Scarlett has published - I love the dark, mathematical, erotic undertones of her writing. I knew this was going to be different to her fiction writing, of course I did but I struggled to get through it and read it over the course of 12+ months. It's a very negative read and if you are feeling darker thoughts yourself, I couldn't connect with the words in a way that brought me any hope so put it down again for a bit. That said - the postscript is brilliant and something I will read again and again as a fantastic summary for 'coming out the other side'. I also just don't really enjoy tennis!
I've read pretty much everything Scarlett has published - I love the dark, mathematical, erotic undertones of her writing. I knew this was going to be different to her fiction writing, of course I did but I struggled to get through it and read it over the course of 12+ months. It's a very negative read and if you are feeling darker thoughts yourself, I couldn't connect with the words in a way that brought me any hope so put it down again for a bit. That said - the postscript is brilliant and something I will read again and again as a fantastic summary for 'coming out the other side'. I also just don't really enjoy tennis!
January 23, 2022
Sometimes you have to get scary-obsessed with something in order to be great at it. Or do you? Scarlett Thomas' chronicle of the years she tried to recapture the competitive love of tennis she left behind as a teenager, with side quests on getting older and the shock of time passing in general, drills down into the specifics of drop shots and tennis dresses like the right day and wardrobe could make all the difference. But in a competitive situation, that feeling is so real. I've read intense point-by-point memoirs like this from runners, but none in tennis, and the intricacies of the ranking system and the amateur tennis competition circuit provided fascinating wallpaper for Thomas' quest.
November 28, 2022
3 stars.*
I haven't read any of Scarlett Thomas' books, so I cannot compare this journey of self-discovery and reflection to her other works.
This is the story of a former child-phenom returning to tennis at 41 years of age just to see what happens.
I found the story itself interesting, though a bit bogged down by the minutiae of tennis. I felt like there were a few loose ends that really deserved wrapping up and the end surprised and confused me.
*with thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for this honest review.
I haven't read any of Scarlett Thomas' books, so I cannot compare this journey of self-discovery and reflection to her other works.
This is the story of a former child-phenom returning to tennis at 41 years of age just to see what happens.
I found the story itself interesting, though a bit bogged down by the minutiae of tennis. I felt like there were a few loose ends that really deserved wrapping up and the end surprised and confused me.
*with thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for this honest review.
February 22, 2024
What a terrible start! Scarlett is probably one of my top five authors, and I tend to love autobiographical works. This should have been a slam dunk! Unfortunately I wildly underestimated how little I care for tennis, and after getting set up.. there's nothing really interesting when she keeps going to a lot of meets and slowly getting better. The neuroses and mental damage don't even really show until the end.
I'm amazingly proud of Thomas for getting as far as she did, but as a book this isn't as cohesive as I'd like. The last 200 pages were a slog, and made me dread reading for a while. Good for completionists I guess?
I'm amazingly proud of Thomas for getting as far as she did, but as a book this isn't as cohesive as I'd like. The last 200 pages were a slog, and made me dread reading for a while. Good for completionists I guess?
April 19, 2022
I've been a tennis fan all of my life and I too played when I was younger. I found this book to be interesting perhaps only because of that. I was surprised the author didn't elaborate on what happened to her after she was forced to stop playing tennis due to overextending herself physically. I think the book could have had more potential had she went into how that affected her emotionally.
August 3, 2022
A very interesting read about an accomplished author and professor's attempt to become a top rated tennis player at age 41 after not playing the game since her early teens and to write a book about the experience. The book turns out to be about much more than tennis. Funny, sad and reflective all rolled into one. I could not put the book down.
August 6, 2022
An incredibly human book, so much about striving to become good at something and how to handle both the successes and failures but also your relationships with others. The concept of the book can seem extremely unrelatable, but once you dig in, you feel you are with the author the whole way and ride the roller coaster of emotions, successes and failures with her. Wonderful book!
March 8, 2023
I am a tennis player and an older one at that. So of course, this book appealed to me immediately. There is a lot of discussion about matches and strategy and tennis shots, etc., so this book might bore people who don't play tennis. I just found it so relatable especially her anxiety on the court, etc. Super fun read - loved it. Loved the last 2 words of the book the most.
February 10, 2024
I read a lot of memoirs and by definition the author is self-focused/absorbed as they interrogate their life. But this was above and beyond somehow- either whining,
Complaining or being super-critical (and cheaply mean/nasty) of others.
Didn’t feel any empathy for the author- although I love tennis and exercise!
Complaining or being super-critical (and cheaply mean/nasty) of others.
Didn’t feel any empathy for the author- although I love tennis and exercise!
Read
March 2, 2022It was okay. Felt like character was a bit whiney. Humor in looking at ourselves in later years and trying to be that stud we might have been in our teenage years. The reality of life and our older bodies sets in to bring us to the conclusion that we are aging gracefully.
March 14, 2022
I felt like I was at a party where you are listening to someone talk about people you do not know, and have no interest in knowing! Tedious, and mostly boring. Author would vacillate between thinking poorly of herself to being the hottest thing going. Good grief.
June 6, 2022
The book got VERY tedious. If she had expanded on her "nervous breakdown" that would have been compelling. I found the last 5 pages the most interesting - but the abrupt ending and lack of description or explanation was odd.
June 12, 2022
Hey Scarlett, think you can learn how to write without using the F word? Most credible authors are able to convey emotion using language other than that profanity. Not sure what audience you’re actually trying to reach with all your f bombs……just saying.
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December 29, 2024Book Riot Read Harder Challenge #21: Read a book that went under the radar in 2023
(This was so vague and totally uninspiring to me. I'm saying this book qualifies becuase there are only 4 reviews with comments on this 2022 book from 2023.)
(This was so vague and totally uninspiring to me. I'm saying this book qualifies becuase there are only 4 reviews with comments on this 2022 book from 2023.)
Want to read
January 7, 2022Lit Hub, January 7, 2022
https://bookmarks.reviews/the-best-re...
https://bookmarks.reviews/the-best-re...
January 8, 2022
4.5 match balls. Funny and intense, definitely a must for Scarlett Thomas fans.
February 26, 2022
More tennis than you would expect, not the most likable narrator
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews