Alissa Nutting

Tampa

In Alissa Nutting’s novel Tampa, Celeste Price, a smoldering 26-year-old middle-school teacher in Florida, unrepentantly recounts her elaborate and sociopathically determined seduction of a 14-year-old student. Celeste has chosen and lured the charmingly modest Jack Patrick into her web. Jack is enthralled and in awe of his eighth-grade teacher, and, most importantly, willing to accept Celeste’s terms for a secret relationship—car rides after dark, rendezvous at Jack’s house while his single father works the late shift, and body-slamming erotic encounters in Celeste’s empty classroom. In slaking her sexual thirst, Celeste Price is remorseless and deviously free of hesitation, a monstress of pure motivation. She deceives everyone, is close to no one, and cares little for anything but her pleasure. Tampa is a sexually explicit, virtuosically satirical, American Psycho–esque rendering of a monstrously misplaced but undeterrable desire. Laced with black humor and crackling sexualized prose, Alissa Nutting’s Tampa is a grand, seriocomic examination of the want behind student / teacher affairs and a scorching literary debut.

A Novel

katie h.

I think this novel is ahead of its time. Culturally, we’re still struggling to tell nuanced stories of women’s carnal sexual desires, and without them, the satire of this novel doesn’t hit as hard as it should. 

I want to preface this by saying I don’t think this story is glorifying sexual abuse in any way. It was meant to highlight the difference in reactions to female predators vs their male counterparts, and the mc is very obviously a disgusting human being. That being said, the execution fell very flat. I wish the author focused more on grooming tactics that predators use to lure in their victims and gave more attention to that aspect of the narrative; instead, it was a lot more focused on the sexual nature of the story. This is first person pov, so if that’s what the mc is about, it makes sense, but it was disappointing.

Speaking of the mc… she is not well. Obviously, a predator is a sick individual regardless, but this feels EXTRA. The author made this woman so overtly disturbed that it almost distorts the image of female predators in a way where the reader can say “Well, this doesn’t happen in real life.” If this was meant to be a cautionary tale, it doesn’t do a good job because the abuser is even more extreme than standard abusers. I think it would’ve been more helpful to keep the story grounded and realistic because it was almost a caricature of a female predator.

Nik ✨

I want to preface this by saying I don’t think this story is glorifying sexual abuse in any way. It was meant to highlight the difference in reactions to female predators vs their male counterparts, and the mc is very obviously a disgusting human being. That being said, the execution fell very flat. I wish the author focused more on grooming tactics that predators use to lure in their victims and gave more attention to that aspect of the narrative; instead, it was a lot more focused on the sexual nature of the story. This is first person pov, so if that’s what the mc is about, it makes sense, but it was disappointing.

Speaking of the mc… she is not well. Obviously, a predator is a sick individual regardless, but this feels EXTRA. The author made this woman so overtly disturbed that it almost distorts the image of female predators in a way where the reader can say “Well, this doesn’t happen in real life.” If this was meant to be a cautionary tale, it doesn’t do a good job because the abuser is even more extreme than standard abusers. I think it would’ve been more helpful to keep the story grounded and realistic because it was almost a caricature of a female predator.

Molly M

Celeste Price is an eighth-grade English teacher in suburban Tampa. She is attractive. She drives a red Corvette. Her husband, Ford, is rich, square-jawed and devoted to her. But Celeste has a secret. She has a singular sexual obsession - fourteen-year-old boys. It is a craving she pursues with sociopathic meticulousness and forethought. Within weeks of her first term at a new school, Celeste has lured the charmingly modest Jack Patrick into her web - car rides after dark, rendezvous at Jack's house while his single father works the late shift, and body-slamming encounters in Celeste's empty classroom between periods. It is bliss. Celeste must constantly confront the forces threatening their affair - the perpetual risk of exposure, Jack's father's own attraction to her, and the ticking clock as Jack leaves innocent boyhood behind. But the insatiable Celeste is remorseless. She deceives everyone, is close to no one and cares little for anything but her pleasure. With crackling, stampeding, rampantly sexualized prose, Tampa is a grand, satirical, serio-comic examination of desire and a scorching literary debut.

Lindy

It's been over a decade (!) since the publication of Alissa Nutting's  Tampa, the dust has somewhat settled, and so I decided to read it, arriving with entirely too much context and approaching gingerly, as if it were roadkill in the noonday sun. While reading, one question loomed large in my mind: has all the brouhaha been worth it? 

As with most books with a great brouhaha surrounding them, I assumed Tampa to be contemporary vaguely literary fiction, comparable to Boy Parts, We Need to Talk About Kevin, My Dark Vanessa, or perhaps Vladimir. As per usual, I was mistaken. Tampa falls squarely within the conventions of the thriller genre. Alas, I find conventional thrillers difficult to take seriously. The characters are cartoonish and the plots are contrived. Tampa leans so far into these conventions the third act falls into farce. To give an impression of its cornball texture: The protagonist's name is Celeste Price; the kid she preys upon jerks off while gazing into the night sky; Celeste enjoys driving a Corvette furnished by her wealthy but fundamentally incompatible husband Ford, son of Henry; Celeste outwardly exacts the feminine ideal, but she has to pay the price of being a pervert. I mean, like, come on. 

Tampa strikes me not as a novel set in the world in which I live. Rather, it is set in the fictional universe of pornography. It borrows from the storytelling conventions of pornographic films. Celeste is not a predator; she's porn's conception of a predator, a MILF. Her victims are not teenagers, they are porn's Hot Teens.Well, one could say, Celeste is the viewpoint character and she's a psychopathic nymphomaniac. And I'd say, that she's a psychopathic nymphomaniac is part of my point. There are approximately five women in the real world like that, but psychopathic nymphomaniacs account for a full 25% of female characters in porn. (I made those numbers up.) And yes, Celeste is arrested at the end, which does defy porn narratives, but it's perfunctory, sort of like how members of same sex couples end up dead or heterosexually married in old pulp novels. 

Could it be possible that Nutting is making some kind of point about the role of pornography in American culture, or perhaps of The Teenager within porn? I didn't see one. As far as I can tell, other readers haven't either. Tampa's fans like to say that the book illuminates difficult truths about society and/or human psychology. I don't understand what these truths are exactly, first of all (name them), and secondly that any text can do that if you're willing to squint. I didn't imagine I'd be bored reading Tampa, but I was. And once again, I do need to remind myself that Tampa is a conventional thriller. 

Thrillers are meant to scintillate, to titillate, to induce a sense of heart-pounding danger into the reader-voyeur's comfortable living room. I apparently have a brain deformity. In many social contexts, readers are supposed to be ashamed of their enjoyment of them. In people who lack brain deformities, Tampa appears to have achieved this in spades. Everything in this paragraph also applies to porn. 

So does has all the brouhaha been worth it? As an exercise in free speech, sure. From a literary perspective? Probably not.

jooooo-riaan

what a disturbing time. this may be the last time i'm ever listening to mahra.

The book depicts a 26 year old teacher who preys upon pre-pubescent boys (similarly to [b:My Dark Vanessa|44890081|My Dark Vanessa|Kate Elizabeth Russell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1583447793l/44890081._SY75_.jpg|67044583]) only here i get to know her thoughts. which i could've done without because i never wanted to commit violent crimes towards a fictional character more.
 AND THE ENDING????? i need to lay down

Again please check TWs before reading. 

Very disgusting and disturbing, made lowkey want to be illiterate never want to read another pedophile teacher story, or be able to read again for that matter.

Essence

I personally do not think a book about a remorseless p*do needs graphically explicit sex scenes but that might just be me! I do however think the author did a good job of writing a genuinely nauseating and awful main character.

Catherine Coronado

Sage

okay can i just say oh my god. 

i haven't been able to read properly the last couple of months. i would start on something for a few pages and then my mind just wanders right off. this book kept me flipping (on my phone) until the end. 

i finished the book with a single question. where is the line? are pedophiles inherently evil? what about the pedophiles who don't come out, who are silent about their sexual preference? do they deserve to be punished, even if they don't act on their desires? 

i'm still thinking about it. i don't know.

A very dark, disturbing, and graphic novel about a sociopathic pedophile who preys on 14 year old boys who she teaches in their 8th grade English class 

Amanda Autumn Berrey

Just gross. Out of all the books I’ve read about peadophiles (only 3, I’m not that weird) this is by far the worst. It is the worst written and also the most disgusting in terms of content. Celeste is an absolute sociopath that makes it difficult to have even a drop of like ability. She only cares about herself and is purposely, actively looking for boys to destroy. There is also far too much graphic detail about sex with a child for my liking anyway. It’s hard to understand what the point of the book is, without just feeling like we are meant to sympathise with Celeste over the fact she can’t have sex with a child anywhere she wants

Maria Davis 

Meet Celeste Price, an 8th grade English teacher - with a singular sexual obsession...

I’m honestly conflicted on giving this book a review because that [wipes off sweats] was one hell of a book. Not only is she an unhinged woman, but she, too, is a sexual predator that targets young boys at her new teaching school. The writing style was enjoyable for me to read. It was disgusting, it was horrifying, it kept making me thinking 

 throughout the story. At least I read this in one-sitting and managed to get me out of a reading slump.

nindy

I’m honestly conflicted on giving this book a review because that [wipes off sweats] was one hell of a book. Not only is she an unhinged woman, but she, too, is a sexual predator that targets young boys at her new teaching school. The writing style was enjoyable for me to read. It was disgusting, it was horrifying, it kept making me thinking what the hell? throughout the story. At least I read this in one-sitting and managed to get me out of a reading slump.

Kristen Claiborn

You know what it’s like when you drive past what appears to be a particularly gruesome car crash…and while you know there’s a possibility you could see the most disgusting gore, you can’t help but look? Don’t lie, we all do it. This book is just like that. 
	Years ago, long before I was much of an adult and became a teacher myself, I recall the news telling the world a story about Mary Kay Letourneau. This woman had a highly inappropriate relationship with one of her middle-school students, a 12-year-old child, and eventually even bore his two children. Like most of society, I was disgusted and appalled. Then I started teaching middle-school a few years later, and the idea was even more grotesque. They are children…and anybody who wants to have a sexual relationship with child is truly disgusting. I’m not entirely sure what made me want to read this book, but read it I did. 
	I would believe it if I was told this book was written by a female pedophile. The insight into the mindset of this teacher is mind-bending. She was frighteningly calculating, to the point I am mildly concerned there are actually people like this in middle school classrooms around the world. It felt like this was written from such a close perspective, which is the sign of first-hand knowledge OR a damn good writer. I’m going with the latter because the former is unthinkable. 
	This novel is both compelling and disturbing. It is not for everybody. I was impressed with the writing and the crafting of the story. Alissa Nutting truly delivered an account that is believable and chilling.

This was a very disturbing read. Very cringe worthy as you read from the main characters point of view, yet I was compelled to continue

Jenn

This was a very disturbing read. Very cringe worthy as you read from the main characters point of view, yet I was compelled to continue



I'm going to say something and you can't stop reading this review until you've read the whole thought because it's not what you think! Never before have I been so morally repulsed by a book and I don't mean that in an "oh its about a woman pedophile and it has sex and blah blah blah" i mean in the way it entirely divorces pedophilia from a human act--I don't mean that as in a "what can you do its only human" i mean that as in the people committing sexual violence against children are just as human as you with brains that work to justify their acts just as much as yours does and that should be what gets to you. The dehumanization of the main character by her garish over-the-topness, as someone who deals in similar content, disgusts me to my soul.

The main character, whose first name took me a solid minute to remember, is a clown. I'd call her cartoonish but that's insulting of the cartoons currently coming out. She is exactly what your Republican aunt is imagining when talking about keeping groomers out of schools except she's straight. There is not a single instant that she acted in a way I found compellingly human--She is a villain with no substance beyond engaging in disgusting amoral behavior for the purpose of shock value and pushing boundaries. Save for her pedophilic urges, beauty, and the thin veneer of what people imagine a sociopath is like--Which just so I can be clear, is a derogatory term used to describe a personality disorder that in no way makes people a monster and I am fucking tired of the villainization "scary" mental illnesses gets, especially when used as a cheap tool to deny character development--there is nothing to this woman. I know nothing about her that I did not learn within the first chapter.

To make matters worse, this brush is not only applied to the main character but every single character in this novel, leading to a world filled with over-the-top, outlandish, goofy characters without an ounce of grounding. If this were a comedy, it might be in bad taste but at least I could see the argument for it. But instead as far as I can tell and much to my befuddlement this is a literary novel.

It's a titillating read in the vein of what people talk about when they talk about the problem with true crime and I hate being titillated in such subject matter.

As if this all were not enough of a trial and tribulation this book has committed the unforgivable sin of making me consider flirting with MAP discourse which, if you don't know what that is, don't look it up. Nothing good will come from wading into that cesspit.

I should not leave your book about a pedophile feeling sorry for pedophiles the world over. This book has made me keenly aware of how most books with child molesters make them pedophiles. Interesting how the idea rape is about power and not sexual attraction disappears as soon as children enter the equation when most children are not raped by pedophiles and the person statistically most likely to abuse a child is, discomfortingly enough, a parent.

I’m also disappointed in how underutilized the victims being teenaged boys is.

Despite everything, I must admit I finished this book in four days. Compels me, though.

There's better books to read I will never get these five hours back.

Light spoilers for Gone to See the River Man below. You will miss nothing by skipping:

If you want a book that does a woman perpetrator without being the mess of character this book is and you've got the stomach for it, Gone to See the River Man is an excellent book and I cannot recommend it enough.

Jules

I'm going to say something and you can't stop reading this review until you've read the whole thought because it's not what you think! Never before have I been so morally repulsed by a book and I don't mean that in an "oh its about a woman pedophile and it has sex and blah blah blah" i mean in the way it entirely divorces pedophilia from a human act--I don't mean that as in a "what can you do its only human" i mean that as in the people committing sexual violence against children are just as human as you with brains that work to justify their acts just as much as yours does and that should be what gets to you. The dehumanization of the main character by her garish over-the-topness, as someone who deals in similar content, disgusts me to my soul.

The main character, whose first name took me a solid minute to remember, is a clown. I'd call her cartoonish but that's insulting of the cartoons currently coming out. She is exactly what your Republican aunt is imagining when talking about keeping groomers out of schools except she's straight. There is not a single instant that she acted in a way I found compellingly human--She is a villain with no substance beyond engaging in disgusting amoral behavior for the purpose of shock value and pushing boundaries. Save for her pedophilic urges, beauty, and the thin veneer of what people imagine a sociopath is like--Which just so I can be clear, is a derogatory term used to describe a personality disorder that in no way makes people a monster and I am fucking tired of the villainization "scary" mental illnesses gets, especially when used as a cheap tool to deny character development--there is nothing to this woman. I know nothing about her that I did not learn within the first chapter.

To make matters worse, this brush is not only applied to the main character but every single character in this novel, leading to a world filled with over-the-top, outlandish, goofy characters without an ounce of grounding. If this were a comedy, it might be in bad taste but at least I could see the argument for it. But instead as far as I can tell and much to my befuddlement this is a literary novel.

It's a titillating read in the vein of what people talk about when they talk about the problem with true crime and I hate being titillated in such subject matter.

As if this all were not enough of a trial and tribulation this book has committed the unforgivable sin of making me consider flirting with MAP discourse which, if you don't know what that is, don't look it up. Nothing good will come from wading into that cesspit.

I should not leave your book about a pedophile feeling sorry for pedophiles the world over. This book has made me keenly aware of how most books with child molesters make them pedophiles. Interesting how the idea rape is about power and not sexual attraction disappears as soon as children enter the equation when most children are not raped by pedophiles and the person statistically most likely to abuse a child is, discomfortingly enough, a parent.

I’m also disappointed in how underutilized the victims being teenaged boys is.

Despite everything, I must admit I finished this book in four days. Compels me, though.

There's better books to read I will never get these five hours back.

Light spoilers for Gone to See the River Man below. You will miss nothing by skipping:

If you want a book that does a woman perpetrator without being the mess of character this book is and you've got the stomach for it, Gone to See the River Man is an excellent book and I cannot recommend it enough.

Katie Vargo

deeply disturbing. this book made me cringe and look away, just how its meant to be read. the author builds such a hateful disgusting main character and you live inside her head for the whole book whether you like it or not. absolutely insane read from start to finish.

Amy Vicknair

Wouldn’t describe as enjoyable and hard to get through.Interesting and very disturbing look into a female pedophile.

Autumn

Oh, Tampa. If I had to describe this book in two words, they would be, “sad cringe”. Like many others, I read this book because I thought the premise of a female offender and teacher was both scandalous and morbid. I didn't even know this was based off a real-life case until I did some research on this book, and I think its obvious what Nutting's stance is on that case.

I did think this novel is multi-layered. I would reread Tampa, not because its a literary masterpiece (which it isn't) but because there's details that make the reader think more on the entire story, if they care to do that. For example, (view spoiler)[ Celeste reveals early on that she had a traumatizing sexual experience when she was 14, and it lead to her being attracted to boys that age. We see throughout the novel that she likes having control over others, especially men and boys. What does this say about her as a whole?  (hide spoiler)] and (view spoiler)[ Celeste rarely thinks about the consequences of her actions, to the point where she even kills a man. She's very prepared for her interactions with boys. How long has she been doing this sort of thing, or how many boys has she hurt? I mean Hell, there were things Nutting added in that I would never have thought of a predator doing.  (hide spoiler)] .

I'm also going to say something controversial, but hear me out; this can be read as a feminist novel. Celeste (view spoiler)[ has unresolved sexual trauma  (hide spoiler)] and because of it she both develops an attraction to 14 year old boys, and a method of manipulating men with her looks. She settles down with a wealthy man who provides her with anything she needs, she (view spoiler)[ has sex with her victim's father to distract him from what was going on  (hide spoiler)] , and (view spoiler)[ she was deemed "too pretty for prison" in her trial  (hide spoiler)] . The only men she has control over are these young boys, and with actual men, she uses her looks to get her way because she can't control them. 

This could say a lot about American society (at least at the time) where women were let off scott free because they were pretty. It also tells a lot about the sexuality and traumas some women face in a world dominated by men. Would I recommend this to someone who is studying feminism to prove a point? Probably not, but it still gives another view on the topics. 

About the actual writing, aka, why I'm giving this book three stars.

There were times, however, where I felt this novel could be put on r/womenwritingmen. Like the lovely examples below:

 - "...despite the dense canvas of his shorts, I could make out the circumcised shape of his tip beneath my fingers" (94).
- "This had the effect of making his testicles, which hung off the ridge of the toilet seat in solitude, seem like a normally internal appendage that had accidentally fallen out" (196). 

I was also annoyed by Nutting’s lack of commas. Like in this passage, for example: 

 "Two exits outside of town we got milkshakes and burgers and parked in front of a closed appliance store to eat" (115). 

As much as I want to blame it on the narrator having the mentality of a horny 14 year old, is it really that hard to add a comma?

Also there were so many one-syllable names in this book. Please tell me it was to make the characters as relatable as possible, or something.

Overall, I did like this book. There's so much more I could touch upon (like the fact that Nutting brings up incels, and men not noticing when women don't want to have sex, and even the literary parallels that are made to other books that the students are reading in class) but I have to return my copy of Tampa to the library.

But I will leave you with a passage from this book that actually made me laugh in a good way and not in a "good god what is Celeste thinking?" way:

 "Everything said in class would be audible from the hallway —no more sex talk veiled behind a thin veneer of literary studies" (102). 

Because let's be real, the only way many authors of yonder years were able to get their sexual frustrations out was through writing about them.

terrifying and hilarious and dark and engrossing. need to think about this some more, review to follow.

Michelle

*TRIGGER WARNING* subject matter includes grooming, statutory rape, graphic depictions of sexual acts between minor & adult. 
This novel is NOT for the faint of heart. Throughly disturbing, but surprisingly page-turning & even funny at times, Tampa is from the perspective of a conventionally  attractive schoolteacher and her persistent seduction of a 14 year old boy. 

Sage Lee

Megan Oiler 

This was a wild book. Uncomfortable in many many places. But I cant deny how well written it was despite being a tough subject.

Caitlyn C

Saying I liked this book is tricky due to the subject matter. However, it was interesting to look into the mind of a female predator. I think it takes guts to write a controversial book like this one and for that I give it 5 stars. 

Caellum

This book is at once repulsive and impossible to put down. Check the trigger warnings and proceed with caution but, if you've got a strong stomach, you're in for an incredible experience. Nutting is an amazingly talented writer and I respect her bravery in making something so contentious her debut novel. Celeste, our main character, is depraved and the novel picks apart so many interesting topics in such a vibrant way. It's a disaster you can't look away from, orchestrated by someone with militant efficiency and pure artistic skill. 10/10 wish I could read it again for the first time. Vladamir Nabokov would be proud. 

Tampa

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