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Tampa (2013)

by Alissa Nutting(Favorite Author)

3.29 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0062280562 (ISBN13: 9780062280565)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Ecco

review 1: Tampa places the reader inside the mind of a psychopathic female teacher in her mid-twenties as she pursues middle school boys to feed her overwhelming sexual desire. Though it's gruesome to be inside a mind this pornographically twisted for the entire novel, I have to admit that I really enjoyed reading Tampa. As a reader, I felt complicit in Celeste's actions. Her sexual tension inspired my own while reading. I wanted her to make physical contact with Jack, her fourteen year-old target, because that act of sexual transgression moved the story along. I despised Celeste for her self-absorbed, sex-obsessed sickness, and yet I was fascinated by the way her internal thoughts and external perception are so incongruent. Celeste's character reminded me of a mash-up between Brett... more Easton Ellis' Patrick Bateman and Gillian Flynn's Amy Dunne. I thought that need for Celeste to act out her psychopathy using sex rather than violence as a form of aggression an power is an interesting feminist message. Though the book successful captures Celeste's current state of mind, and the true depth of her disorder, I wish the novel delved more into her backstory. When did her desire for young boys start? What was her childhood like? Where are her parents? What were her early sexual experiences like (one of these is hinted at)? Overall, Celeste's character was disturbing, but not developed enough given that she was the only character the reader had any multidimensional access to because of Celeste's psychopathic first person perspective. This novel is worth reading, but I wanted more especially as the plot began to spin dizzily out of control at the end.
review 2: This book is very well-written, however. . . if I'm going to read a story of pedophilia from the perspective of the monster, I'd at least prefer it to be wrapped in rich and slightly mystifying prose, a la Lolita. I wonder what the author's research was like going into this, because it seemed kind of ham-handed at times. All in all, it was an entertaining and engrossing read; just not 'absolutely incredible' like other books I've read. less

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