Underspin Slices Deep and is a Win!

Reviewed by Michael Reff
NCTTA Press Committee Chair

Full disclosure: upon getting the news I was going to read and review Underspin by
author E.Y. Zhao, I was extremely excited, but I possessed many preconceived notions
about what it would encompass. I thought it may be a joyous homage to the sport, full of
happy nostalgia, perhaps taking place over a few days at a tournament.

However, upon looking at the associated blurb and description on the back cover, I
knew I was going to be in for a roller coaster ride! That being said, what I got out of the
novel, and I’m sure many readers will as well, were equal parts intellectual, emotional,
and spiritual reflections that I will cherish moving forward.

As I read the book, with its painstaking attention to detail  in the description of table
tennis (especially USA table tennis, scandals, ambitions, personalities, as well as the
actual form of the chapters representing points of a game!) and the doomed trajectory of
its tragic  hero due to abuse, drugs, and heartbreak, I came to realize that it was not a
“table tennis novel.” 

Rather, it is a character analysis that depicts the flawed, multifaceted natures of its
ensemble cast, but happens to have table tennis at its backdrop. The reason I write this
is because I believe this novel has universal appeal, as these are real things that can
and have occurred to real people in the past, present, and unfortunately in the future.

This is a wonderful, heartbreaking, and beautiful novel that I highly recommend to both
table tennis aficionados and general booklovers alike.

Underspin comes out on September 23rd. Be sure to check out the following link for purchase: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/796326/underspin-by-ey-zhao/

Emily Zhao (https://eyzhaowriter.com/) started playing table tennis when she was nine and competed in USATT until the age of 16, after which she played NCTTA for Harvard and University of Michigan. She writes and edits fiction, and recently reported on the inaugural US Smash for Defector.