Canary Girls by Jennifer Chiaverini

September 8, 2023

Canary Girls by Jennifer Chiaverini

At the outset of World War I, three women from different backgrounds all sign up for war work at a munitions plant just outside London. Two are assigned to shell assembly while the third carves out a place in administration as welfare supervisor. Shell assembly involves handling TNT which turns the women's skin yellow and their hair orange (hence the name canary girls). To keep up morale, the munitionettes form a football (soccer) team and compete against teams from other plants.

This has been described as Rosie the Riveter meets A League of Their Own, and I think that's a fair description. It's a look at the home front during World War I: doing war work, coping with rationing, trying to keep up morale while worrying about loved one serving at the front. The story was slow moving. I'm not really into sports (especially not soccer), so I skimmed over the parts of soccer matches and plays. Also, I think I could assemble an artillery shell from the repeated descriptions of the work. I think one of the reasons that I didn't love this more is that I'm tired of World War I and World War II fiction. Recommended for readers who enjoy historical fiction or fiction about women's lives.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

Two canary girls

Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

August 15, 2022

Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

For years, Carrie Soto was the G.O.A.T. of women's tennis. But then a younger player came and knocked her off her pedestal by beating her record of tournament wins. At near-40 years old, Carrie decides to make a comeback to reclaim what she considers to be her rightful place. But it's harder than she thinks it will be - the younger players have new strategies and stronger bodies. Carrie's father Javier, a country club tennis pro who was her coach during her early years of competition, is along for the ride, is along for the ride, coaching both her and Carrie's playing partner and sometime boyfriend Bode.

I wanted to love this as much as I loved Daily Jones and the Six, or the Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, but I didn't. Carrie and Bode are loosely based on Chris Evert and Jimmy Connors, two professional tennis players of the 1970's who also had a well-publicized dating relationship. Connors was famous for throwing his racquet and having tantrums on the court when he didn't agree with the umpire's call. Real-life Evert seemed to be more personable than Carrie is.

Too much about tennis matches and training for tennis and psyching out other tennis players - and well, I found myself skimming the sections about tennis, which meant I easily finished the book in one day. I thought the storyline was predictable. Another annoying thing was having Carrie and her father converse in Spanish most of the time. I know enough Spanish that this wasn't an issue for me but many readers are not going to want to stop and look up the words to figure out what the conversation is about.

Overall disappointing for me, although I think hardcore TJR fans will love it. Characters from previous books (such as Mick Riva and Broderick the surfer) are mentioned. I didn't also love her previous book Malibu Rising (about a super-beautiful super-model who is the super-surfer of the world). As least Carrie isn't drop-dead gorgeous - there is another tennis player who gets that title.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC.