BIOGRAPHY

41-Love

by Scarlett Thomas
Counterpoint. Dec. 2021. 384p. ISBN 9781640094765. $27. MEMOIR
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Tennis, anyone? Thomas’s (Oligarchy; The Seed Collectors)) new work, a memoir about finding tennis again in mid-life and the accompanying rush of competitive spirit, may be a bit of a departure for fans of her fiction. However, her own coming-of-age story is written in the style of her novels, and the author’s characteristic acerbic wit shines through. The memoir will thus be a joy to Thomas’s fans but might be off-putting to those uninterested in her upper-middle-class lifestyle and her indulgence in jealousy, complaints, and criticism of self and others. But will this same string of negative thinking challenge the author to reconsider her priorities? Thomas’s writing is darkly funny at times, and she brings readers along as she navigates the death of her beloved dog and caring for her aging parents.
VERDICT Most readers will need to have a keen interest in playing tennis to appreciate this memoir’s focus but they might be rewarded with a meditation on the psychology behind a tennis obsession.
Reviewed by Kelly Karst, California Inst. of Integral Studies, San Francisco , Nov 19, 2021
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