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Tampa

Alissa Nutting (Goodreads Author)

3.45 · Rating details · 21,154 ratings · 3,612 reviews

“In this sly and salacious work, Nutting forces us to take a long, unflinching look at a deeply disturbed mind, and more significantly, at society’s often troubling relationship with female beauty.” -San Francisco Chronicle

In Alissa Nutting’s novel Tampa, Celeste Price, a smoldering 26-year-old middle-school teacher in Florida, unrepentantly recounts her elaborate and soci ...more

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Paperback, 272 pages

Published March 4th 2014 by Ecco (first published July 2nd 2013)

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Apr 26, 2013 karen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: dbr, icky-sex

hoo boy.

this is one of those books that people are going to have opinions about.and i look forward to people getting all angry and hysterical at me for liking it. for liking it a lot. because the subject matter is pretty ick, right? who is going to be all out and proud saying they liked a book about pedophilia if it doesn't come from the pen of nabokov? (hebephilia, sure, but still...) but it's a pretty accomplished book.

i mean, what does it set out to do? it sets out to get you in the head of ...more

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Sep 03, 2013 Emily May rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013, contemporary

Believe me, I can easily understand all the negative reactions to this book but I can't help but find it absolutely fascinating.

In fact, since putting the book down, I've given myself a while to think about it and, the more I do, the more I find myself acknowledging how clever and brilliant it is. And even feminist in a way, but I'll get to that later. You should be aware, if you haven't already gathered from other reviews, this book is full of vile descriptions and crude language. Being inside Celeste's head makes you feel like you need a good long shower afterwards and if you're not ready for graphic descriptions of the female anatomy and masturbation methods, then you're not ready for this book. No details are spared here: you have been warned.

The story is about eighth-grade teacher, Celeste Price, who on the outside appears to be everything anyone would want to be: attractive, intelligent, happily married... but underneath the surface lurks a secret she has kept hidden since she was fourteen years old. A secret desire for fourteen year old boys. It plagues her every thought, every step, every move. In private, all she can think about are ways to act upon her longing. She wants to set herself up in a position to engage in an affair with one of the objects of her desire. And eventually, an opportunity arises. Celeste begins a sexual relationship with the fourteen year old Jack. She pursues him, seduces him and uses him to fulfill her sexual needs. There is no love or romance in this story. The only one fooled is Jack. Celeste is not another Humbert in that she never attempts to convince the reader or herself that what she does is for love. It's all about sex.

What this book does, above everything else, is make us question the gendered view we have of sexual relationships. We are inside Celeste's mind, getting a good look at how perverted, depraved and even sociopathic she is, so we experience outrage at the way society and the law allow her to escape justice because she is an attractive young woman. There's an assumption still often being made that women are the passive gender in a sexual relationship and that men are natural predators/aggressors. It's hard for us to imagine a woman sexually abusing a man. This question is even asked in the book: "If you were a teenage male, would you call a sexual experience with her abuse?" A teen girl with a male teacher is considered a victim of his evil manipulation - a passive victim without a sexuality of her own coming into play. But a teen boy with a female teacher is victim of nothing more than the perfect teen male fantasy. Can attractive women really be rapists? Isn't Celeste just giving the boys what they want? Doesn't that make it okay? These are the questions one might ask if they weren't living inside her mind.

While the disgusting and graphic language left me feeling uncomfortable at times, I also felt it was completely necessary to make the point effectively. The point being that a woman can be as much of a sexual predator as a man and that teen boys can be as much of a victim as teen girls. If we'd been treated to something akin to Humbert's narrative in Lolita, if it was our sympathy that Celeste looked for, I think the important message would be completely missed. We needed Celeste to be a monster and a sexual predator to show that women can be. And to show how female monsters often go unpunished because of their gender. It reminded me of Gillian Flynn's characters and the way she creates such fantastically evil women. It's strange, I suppose, to consider that creating female murderers and rapists is a form of feminism but I think it serves to break down ideas we hold about gender. I also think it's incredibly important to acknowledge male abuse by females because it does happen and nowhere near enough is written about it. It's such a taboo subject that male victims often feel ashamed of it and unable to get help.

I have to confess: I quite liked the language. Well, okay, perhaps "like" is the wrong word but I really appreciate crude honesty in books, particularly when the author utilises language the way this author does. I'm not sure we needed such a graphic description of Celeste's vagina and her masturbation methods but, what the hell, it certainly achieved it's purpose with me. And, strange as it may sound, there was an odd beauty to the author's writing that gave a certain artistry to such descriptions. They were gross, naturally, but weirdly poetic.

One thing that is true most of all about Tampa: it makes you think. I put it down and literally spent about an hour sat there, just going over everything in my head. I thought about the way we view relationships, what this means for both men and women, victims and rapists; I thought about the judicial system and the way the law isn't about guilty/not guilty but the show you put on (which admittedly made me sing Razzle Dazzle from Chicago); I'm still thinking about it all now. One thing I can say for certain - I'm really glad I picked this up. ...more

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Apr 12, 2017 Crumb rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

✫✫✫✫✫ Compelling, Explosive, and Controversial Stars!

This book is truly disturbing in its nature. If you are triggered easily with graphic sexual language and content, than don't go anywhere near this book. As creepy and unsettling as Tampa was, I couldn't put it down.

Celeste Price is a twenty-something, married woman who is living a double life. She is not attracted to her husband. In fact, her husband is about twenty years too old for her. And this is the where and why of it all when she hatch ...more

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Mar 03, 2013 Roxane rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Five stars for sheer audacity and fearlnessness. This book has some issues but Nutting has completely committed to her premise of a hot, twenty-something female teacher/pedophile. People are going to have LOTS to say about this book. There are going to be comparisons to Lolita and American Psycho but the similarities between Tampa and those books are on the surface only. In Tampa, Celeste is her desires and the plot is how she goes about satisfying those desires. To say this novel is explicit wo ...more

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Nov 04, 2013 Paul Bryant rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: novels

I get it – the vagina on the cover looks like a buttonhole – clever, that. Book cover of the year!

This book is based on the real-life case of Debra Lafave, who was busted in, yes, Tampa in 2005 for "Lewd or Lascivious Battery" against a 14 year old boy. She was his teacher. She was 23 at the time.

As you may know, this deliquescent, oozing and dripping Boylita novel is about as un-pc as you can get. Whereas Mr Nabokov’s brilliant Lolita skirts around the actual sex because that was probably the ...more

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Jul 30, 2019 Felicia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

"Ford, like the husbands of most women who marry for money, is far too old. Since I'm twenty-six myself, it's true that he and I are close peers. But thirty-one is roughly seventeen years past my window of sexual interest."

HOLY SHIT

Mrs Price, an 8th grade teacher, has an unadulterated sexual obsession with 14 year old boys. Not just any 14 year old boy, but lesser developed boys. Once any sign of manhood manifests itself, she not only loses interest, she is repulsed.

WTF

This story is told entire ...more

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Feb 23, 2019 Nenia ✨️ I yeet my books back and forth ✨️ Campbell rated it really liked it · review of another edition

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Whenever I see a book with a crazy-low rating on Goodreads, I'm always intrigued. In this age of politically correctness, it's not uncommon for people to down-rate books for mentioning uncomfortable topics just because they're uncomfortable. In this case, I do understand why people would be so quick to hate on TAMPA. TAMPA is a gender-swapped LOLITA: a book about a female hebephile/pedophile who likes 13/14-year-old boys. I'm pretty libe ...more

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Jun 26, 2017 Dan Schwent rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017, 2017-books

On the surface, Celeste Price and her husband are the perfect couple. He's a cop and she teaches junior high. However, her secret ravenous lust for young boys threatens to tear them apart...

Yeah, this is one of those polarizing books. It asks the uncomfortable question "If a gorgeous 26 year old teacher wants to bed a very willing 14 year old student of hers, is it really rape?" A wise man once wrote "the best villain is the one who thinks he's the hero" and Celeste definitely thinks she's in th ...more

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Jun 06, 2019 Robin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: erotica, american, literary-fiction, debut, 2019

This might very well be the smuttiest thing I've ever read. Aside from the Marquis de Sade, of course, or maybe Anais Nin. I wonder how many times the word "penis" turns up (ha) in these pages. I don't know the number, but it's a lot.

Be forewarned: these said pensises are underage ones. Fourteen year old ones, to be precise, and the subject of the fantasies of high school teacher Celeste Price.

In this gender-reversed version of Lolita, we are privy to ~~Molest's~~ I mean Celeste's lurid fantasies wh This might very well be the smuttiest thing I've ever read. Aside from the Marquis de Sade, of course, or maybe Anais Nin. I wonder how many times the word "penis" turns up (ha) in these pages. I don't know the number, but it's a lot.

Be forewarned: these said pensises are underage ones. Fourteen year old ones, to be precise, and the subject of the fantasies of high school teacher Celeste Price.

In this gender-reversed version of Lolita, we are privy to ~~Molest's~~ I mean Celeste's lurid fantasies which are a far more graphic, female version of Humbert Humbert's. We learn that her marriage is a misery and all she longs for is sex with pubescent teenagers.

Sex struck me as a seafood with the shortest imaginable shelf life, needing to be peeled and eaten the moment the urge ripened.

We learn that she will do almost anything to make the fantasy reality. And she does.

I had to read this in small doses. There's definitely an "ick" factor here, despite superbly subversive and darkly humorous writing. There's an uncomfortability factor too, because while Celeste is most definitely a predator, there's a strange conflict one feels given that her victims are more than willing participants.

Alissa Nutting is fearless in advancing the plot to wild and extreme heights, which is exciting and kept me turning the pages even if I was rather sickened to see what would happen next.

But there's something dangerous about treading on Nabokov's path. You need to be really effing great to get away with it. I'm not entirely sure she did get away with it, either. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of the story's gender reversal, and I think it worked really well in What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal . But Tampa didn't fully succeed for me. I think it's the smut, to be honest. It's the cover of this book adorned with a vagina-buttonhole and a sanitary-product-inspired title. I know that it's meant to be provocative (who could possibly miss that intention?) but it's kind of a cheap trick. The many, many pornographic sex scenes also become a cheap trick, no matter how well written they are. It brought to mind the expression English friends of mine use: "mutton dressed as lamb".

She's draped Nabokov over a piece of cleverly written, character-driven erotica. But she's not fooling me! This isn't serious literature. It's a compelling, tantalising, controversial, very readable piece of mutton.

3.75 stars ...more

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Oct 22, 2018 Justin Tate rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Yikes! Was expecting a kind of trainwreck drama similar to “Notes on a Scandal” but this is closer to The Exorcist or Silence of the Lambs. Mrs. Price is every bit as terrifying as Hannibal Lecter.

Kudos to Alissa Nutting for taking on this subject in a daring way. There’s many times it seems to toe the line between art and obscene, but as a complete product every detail ends up contributing to the character’s disturbing mindset. Removing one star for the sheer ickiness factor, but it really is s ...more

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Feb 01, 2014 Paquita Maria Sanchez added it · review of another edition

Shelves: literature

Well, here goes. Yes, I read an extremely sexually graphic book about a female middle school teacher who has an affair with a 14-year-old male student or two. So there's that.

After finishing this book yesterday, I watched part of an interview with its seeming inspiration, Debra Lafave, expecting it to be sort of like that prison interview with Richard Kuklinski: remorseless, cold, disturbing, honest - and even perhaps unconsciously gloating because why not?, or at the very least exploratory of h Well, here goes. Yes, I read an extremely sexually graphic book about a female middle school teacher who has an affair with a 14-year-old male student or two. So there's that.

After finishing this book yesterday, I watched part of an interview with its seeming inspiration, Debra Lafave, expecting it to be sort of like that prison interview with Richard Kuklinski: remorseless, cold, disturbing, honest - and even perhaps unconsciously gloating because why not?, or at the very least exploratory of her disorder. What I discovered instead was a woman of socially accepted physical attractiveness per Western standards - not my idea of striking beauty, but certainly your average, boring, white 14-year-old American boy's style as ordained from on high where all the AC/DC videos, gangbang porn, and marketing money live - a former Prom Queen type, who was just so la-dee-da, comfortably wrapped in a warm narrative of victimhood which was definitely helped along by that sorry excuse for a journalist, Matt Lauer. He may as well have asked her if she needed a hug, the poor girl. Not that she was crying or anything, she was just so "Who, me? Little ole meeeee?" Like she'd just been caught texting in class and called on by the teacher to answer a question about the reading she hadn't read. It was boring and unrevealing and probably scripted by her attorney, no matter how much Lauer pretended to try and pull some feels out of her. She robotically recited her tale of the two awful things that have ever happened in her life, placing blame on both these traumas, and a misdiagnosis and mistreatment of her bipolar disorder as depression. She just wasn't herself at the time, and she's so.sorry.for what.she did.

Now don't get me wrong, I do firmly believe that environment can have a huge influence in honing a neurological predilection for deviance. Maybe her alleged rape (I'm not questioning the validity of her claim like some asshole, just noting that it was never reported, let alone proven) in a middle school bathroom did permanently warp her views about sex. Maybe the chemical cocktail she was on for the wrong mental disorder did kick her brain into a manic, nymphomaniacal frenzy. That's really not the point in Tampa, though, nor is it even the case. And that is one of the things that make this book so creepy.

The first thing you should know about this novel is that it's the kind of book you don't want anyone reading over your shoulder. It's probably not a book most people would loan out to most people. It's the kind of book that could get you fired if you accidentally left it at work and your boss found it, and if people walk by you while you're reading it, you slam it shut all "What? Nothing. What are you up to? What?" It's pornographic, ohhhh sooooo pornographic. It wears you down to the point where you may almost give up, what with all the extremely detailed masturbation and fucking going on, and tricks you for a moment into thinking that's all it has to offer. No, that's just all Celeste Price has to offer. Well, that and a sociopathology so grossly inflated that she starts to become surprisingly comical. There is no mincing of words here; our narrator knows exactly who and what she is, and she tells you allll about it without an ounce of reservation or shame.

I think this deadpan confessional delivery is the first thing that made me say to myself "okay, maybe there is more to the constant Lolita comparisons than just basic subject matter." I'm not saying it reads like Lolita, because it doesn't, not really. I'm definitely not saying it's as well-executed as Lolita, but you'll almost never hear me saying that anyway, regardless of the book at hand. However, there are some pretty clear elements of homage in Tampa, some moments where you can tell that Alissa Nutting is offering up a respectful nod to her predecessor, such as the repulsive, pitiful depiction of the teenage boy's father which may or may not be distorted through the lens of Celeste's uncommon tastes, his painfully obvious lust for her, her hesitant, revolted indulging of his desires which she sees as a necessary martyring of herself for her own warped idea of the greater good, and the obvious parallel between both novels' uses of deus ex machina to deal with said obstacle. Beyond these similarities, we are dealing with a far more vicious animal this go-around. Based on how strongly written and disturbingly hilarious this novel can be in its finer moments, it is able to move beyond cheap comparison into a realm all its own. This is less Lolita from Humbert's perspective, and more like if it had been written by a Quilty with ladyparts. I'm not saying the two men are worlds apart at the core or anything; there is just no mistaking on Celeste's part of her lustful desires as genuine affection. No self-trickery is at hand, no real attempts to manipulate sympathy out of the reader. And that is a pretty major difference.

One thing that did sort of bug me about Celeste at first, beyond her obvious surface-level repugnance: has she never heard of twinks? Based on the exhaustively detailed physical characteristics of what she looks for in a manboy, I started thinking I should just do her a solid and introduce her to some of my exes. Shit, we could share clothes, and I could probably beat a couple of 'em in an arm-wrestling match if properly motivated. After being a little weirded out by this realization, and thinking about all the trouble she could've saved herself by just going for a scrawny, effeminate, largely hairless 20-something, I began to consider the possibility that appearance wasn't even the main motivating force behind her actions. This is about control, about dominance and manipulation. Every aspect of Celeste's limited human relationships are built on lies, and she drags around by the balls every man who dares to fall under her spell. She uses her precious little box like hush money, but that doesn't mean she ever really feels vulnerable to exposure, or actually restricted in any major way by the adult men in her life. Even as she physically pays them off, she does so on her own terms, sporadically, and they trail along like battered, whimpering puppies hesitantly wagging their tails and slowly scooting forward with ducked heads when her tone goes from the more common brusque to a passing, calculated niceynice. Such is the power of physical beauty in this often garbage world. Or anyway, that's a lot of what I took from this book. Don't mind me, I'm just irreparably cynical.

So, this is not an easy sell, but it does work on a number of levels beyond the novelty of the thing. It is indeed pretty severely executed, but Nutting clearly took this route for reasons beyond simple shock-value. Yes, to quote Debra Lafave, "sex sells," but the fact still remains that this novel is a strikingly honest depiction of a one-track mind post-barriers, a revealing look behind the mindset and methods of a sociopath, and a harsh critique of our society's tendency to extend undeserved privilege and leverage to people solely for winning the genetic lottery. I'm getting behind the chorus of voices claiming this was quite a gutsy way to gallop out of the new novelist gate, especially with an unfortunate last name like that. ...more

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Feb 21, 2018 Sarah Toussaint rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: phenomenal-writing

If you haven't read this book, I advise you to please approach with caution if you plan to.

It's about a woman.

She is a sexual predator and is entirely fixated on fourteen-year-old boys.

At first, I readied my puke-bucket as I was preparing to read this book. (I listened to the audiobook.)

And granted, I did start out feeling sick, yet from the start, I was fully entertained by this main character and what was going on in her head. She was just so fascinating...

When she felt disgusted, I felt disgu ...more

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Jul 23, 2013 Steve Lowe rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is an odd one to rate and review.

Was it well-written? Oh, yeah. Almost... too well-written. Felt a couple times like the plot was a bit too overtly manipulated to steer the story toward a particular conclusion, but maybe I'm just being picky.

Was it entertaining? Hell, yeah. It was hilarious, in the way that sociopaths can be hilarious with their overriding desire to please themselves at the expense of all others (and specifically, Celeste's inner thoughts about those around her.) The voice ...more

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Sep 15, 2013 Shelby *trains flying monkeys* rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: scary-stuff, read-2013

Ever read a book and wonder what the heck did I just read? This book is that. Celeste Price is a predator. Don't go into this book thinking she is not. The woman sets out to get what she wants (which is a fourteen year old boy) and she adjusts and justifies her actions in split seconds. The damn woman has no soul.
Did that stop me from reading this book? Nope. I'm not rating this book highly because I liked her actions. No one in their right mind could go in this woman's mind and like it. That's ...more

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Apr 13, 2014 Maxine (Booklover Catlady) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: maxines-favourites, could-not-put-down

Wow, wow, wow - this novel tackles taboo stuff, namely the relentless, sociopathic sexual pursuit of teenage boys by a female eighth grade English teacher. It's a book you won't want to like as it's subject matter is just WRONG, but because it's so well written it's a brilliant bit of fiction.

First read in 2014 I've just revisited this book. I wanted to see if it still impacted me.
Celeste is married and very attractive with a never ending sexual thirst for teen boys, not teen boys that look like Wow, wow, wow - this novel tackles taboo stuff, namely the relentless, sociopathic sexual pursuit of teenage boys by a female eighth grade English teacher. It's a book you won't want to like as it's subject matter is just WRONG, but because it's so well written it's a brilliant bit of fiction.

First read in 2014 I've just revisited this book. I wanted to see if it still impacted me.
Celeste is married and very attractive with a never ending sexual thirst for teen boys, not teen boys that look like young men but teen boys who still look like, well, young teenage boys. She plans, executes and pursues her "prey". It's disturbing to be in her mind to say the least, she has zero sense of shame or concern, she is what she is. A sociopath at least, a sexual predator indeed.

I didn't grow to like her and some scenes are just heartbreaking, the impact she has on the lives of others is quite devastating. She is a cold predator, plain and simple. This book challenges the existence of reversed roles, the woman who is the paedophile.She's clever, too clever and it's hard to read at times but the writing keeps you hooked, because the writing is brilliant.

The sex scenes in the book are explicit and graphic,you need to be prepared for that if you read it, but by golly they are well written scenes regardless. Alissa Nutting has written a controversial book indeed, I honestly couldn't put it down. It's like morbid fascination.

This is a book that divides you all the way through and would make for a brilliant book club discussion. It's like tasting something you want to spit out but as the texture is so nice you persist. That's what this book did to me. It's a very thought-provoking book.

Make it one of your more challenging books to put on your to-read list for sure. I have it 5 stars because the quality of the writing is outstanding and the book is a stand out. But as for Celeste and her impact on young lives, I don't like it, neither will you, but you will keep reading anyway.

I'll forever be thankful to the librarian that recommended I read this book after he loved it and his wife despised it so he needed my help to settle the score.

Dare you enter the pages of this taboo novel and come out unchanged on the other side. Would love to discuss! ...more

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May 20, 2013 Blair rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013-release, first-novels, contemporary, netgalley, sex-and-sexuality, read-on-kindle, favourites

This is definitely not going to be a book for everyone, and it's bound to be controversial, whatever that means these days. However, I knew I'd want to read it from the first time I heard about it. That may make me sound a bit strange when you consider that the book is about a woman who has an all-consuming sexual obsession for teenage boys... But it got a a good review from Karen, Queen of Goodreads, and it was thanks to her reviews that I discovered and loved The End of Alice, a novel with sim This is definitely not going to be a book for everyone, and it's bound to be controversial, whatever that means these days. However, I knew I'd want to read it from the first time I heard about it. That may make me sound a bit strange when you consider that the book is about a woman who has an all-consuming sexual obsession for teenage boys... But it got a a good review from Karen, Queen of Goodreads, and it was thanks to her reviews that I discovered and loved The End of Alice, a novel with similarly controversial subject matter which happens to be completely brilliant. The fantastic cover of the UK edition (which I'm kind of surprised they got away with - but then, the cover is nothing compared to the content, I suppose) cemented my certainty that I had to read this.

Celeste Price is a beautiful, wealthy woman in her mid-twenties. Married to handsome Ford, a police officer from a rich family, she appears to have everything in the eyes of the outside world. Indeed, one might be tempted to wonder why she has bothered to train as a schoolteacher when she clearly has no need to work. The answer lies in her proclivity for schoolboys, specifically fourteen-year-olds. Despite living an outwardly and happy normal life, she is wholly devoted to pursuing this obsession, although she mostly appears to live in a dreamworld and gives little thought to her long-term future: she is determined that teaching will provide her with a stream of suitable 'lovers', but appears to devote little energy to actually teaching her students anything whatsoever. This, then, is a portrait of an insatiably sexual and avaricious woman, with the plot hanging on the chain of events that unfolds when Celeste starts to put her plan into action, targeting a virginal student named Jack.

I am not a stranger to fiction with controversial themes - I loved The End of Alice, American Psycho, Lolita, Lamb and Notes of a Scandal (all but one of which, of course, have notable similarities to this in terms of why they're controversial) - but there were times when Tampa tested my resolve. For one thing, there is a lot of sex in this book and it is graphic, almost biological, in its detail. Even if Celeste's partners were adult men, there would be nothing erotic or sexy about these scenes: the word I would use is carnal. Celeste is portrayed not as a victim of her 'condition' but as a ruthless predator, thinking of almost nothing else but her obsession, constantly plotting ways to secure her next target and scoping out her pupils to test their potential. She barely teaches her classes, constantly turning to fantasies and hoping the students will start talking about sex to liven up her day. Although there is one point, near the beginning of the book, when she refers to her sexuality as 'a deformed thing to be kept chained up in the attic', thereafter she pursues her goal almost shamelessly and shows no remorse or emotion. There is also intensely unpleasant content that has nothing to do with underage boys: Celeste is essentially raped at least twice in the book, in scenes that are extremely disturbing to read.

Despite all of the above there is a seam of dark humour running throughout the novel. When Celeste's preferred boy turns fifteen, she wonders whether it would be wise to tactfully introduce him to anti-ageing creams; many of the fantasies she has are ridiculous, in a bizarro sort of way, rather than actually being sexual (aforementioned boy appearing in the form of a giant and crushing her car with his gargantuan penis is just one example). With Celeste drugging herself stupid to endure sex with Ford, stealing away to masturbate furiously over boybands' music videos and fending off the advances of a variety of grotesque adult male characters, this could be seen as a pitch-black satire of the 'perfect' middle-class American marriage.

The more I think about it, the more I think this is an incredibly brave book to have written. Nutting has got so thoroughly inside her protagonist's head that there is nothing the narrative shies away from - it's seriously explicit, and conservative critics of the book are bound to speculate on what this says about the author and why she would have written this story when she could have chosen any other subject. Tampa is an undeniably disturbing piece of work, and I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to everyone because you're going to need a strong stomach to get through some of it: however, it is also brilliantly written, incisive, strangely funny, dark, shocking and clever. If you enjoyed any of the opinion-dividing books I mentioned above, you must read this one too. ...more

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Nov 04, 2013 Kelly (and the Book Boar) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2013

Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/

Celeste Price has everything a girl could dream of. She’s model-gorgeous with an equally attractive husband who also happens to have a significant trust fund. He works as a police officer, she is a middle-school teacher. He worships the ground his trophy wife walks on and she????? Well, she fantasizes about banging 8th graders.

Okay kids, get ready to hate me because I freakin’ LOVED Tampa. Please, don’t misunderstand – I agree that the ...more

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Aug 07, 2015 Elyse Walters rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Middle school teacher in Florida --Celeste Price --26 year old sociopathic protagonist --married to a police officer likes teenage boys. In particular, one 14-year-old boy.

This story is loosely taken from the true story about Debra Jean Beasley, or better known as Debra Lafave......who pleaded guilty in 2005 to lewd or lascivious battery.
The charges stemmed from a sexual encounter with a 14- year old male student in the summer of 2004.

This story will shock and disturb many readers - at the sam ...more

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Jul 11, 2013 Scarlet rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: disappointing, good-starts-gone-wrong, disturbia, netgalley

2.5

I'm giving Tampa such a low rating not because it was disgusting but because it was so disappointing. Believe it or not, I liked the idea of this book. It was the way the plot played out that irked me and in the end, I'm afraid it did not have the intended effect on me.

Tampa started off brilliantly. I had my doubts, having read countless reviews that called it vulgar but 10 pages in and I was *gasp* liking it. Yes it was vulgar but it was also witty, brazen, horrifying and compelling. Jugglin ...more

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Mar 18, 2013 Charles rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

It's inconceivable to me just how good this book is. Not just destined to be one of my favorite novels of the year, but quite possibly one of my favorite novels of life. I think Celeste Price would approve of my thinking that I haven't wanted to take a shower after reading several chapters in a sitting, for fear of not having the words on my skin anymore. Fortunately for me, I can always read the book again, after I finish.

As I near the end (sadly), I tweeted to the author this evening:

@cblacks ...more

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Jul 21, 2014 mark monday rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sexathon, mnemonic-devices, all-fucked-up, world-of-insects

THIS READER HAS A LOT OF MIXED-UP FEELINGS ABOUT THIS BOOK

Tampa is a gleefully sardonic black comedy about a lovely young psychopath who preys on 14-year old boys in order to attain her primary goal in life: sexual satisfaction.

the first half of the book often made my skin crawl; I squirmed uncomfortably while reading about the cold-blooded machinations of a person - a teacher! - who is completely without empathy or morality, plotting and planning to take advantage of various minors.

THIS READER ...more

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Jul 10, 2013 Samadrita rated it liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: people looking for a deeply unsettling story

Shelves: in-by-about-america, disturbia, ewwrotica, 2013-releases, arc-netgalley, sort-of-good, by-women-who-matter, controversial-or-social-taboos, satire, human-drama

I am still struggling to understand what this book made me feel or whether it left any impression on me at all.

What I could sense in Nutting's writing, was an eagerness to cause the readers to recoil in horror and to make them experience the full impact of being inside a scheming, conniving, good-looking hebephile like Celeste Price's head.
And I might say, she does succeed in that venture to a certain extent.
But don't mistake this for another Lolita from a female sexual predator's point of vie I am still struggling to understand what this book made me feel or whether it left any impression on me at all.

What I could sense in Nutting's writing, was an eagerness to cause the readers to recoil in horror and to make them experience the full impact of being inside a scheming, conniving, good-looking hebephile like Celeste Price's head.
And I might say, she does succeed in that venture to a certain extent.
But don't mistake this for another Lolita from a female sexual predator's point of view. Alissa Nutting maybe good but her writing doesn't even come close to meriting a comparison with Nabokov's prose. And Celeste Price makes Humbert Humbert look like a fine gentleman deserving of a special award for decency instead of jail time.

She is neither deranged nor merely blessed with an uncommon sexual preference but a calculative, crafty and manipulative 'bitch' (I'm putting aside my obsession with being feministically correct for a while). She has achieved a state of harmony with her aberrations, doesn't suffer from feelings of contrition in any form and relentlessly pursues what she seeks. Not even a highly public trial and an exposure to the world as a sexual deviant of the most abominable type, cures her of her perversions. The narrative also tells us in a rather unsubtle manner, that given an opportunity she would not have hesitated to kill her victims in order to protect her secret.

She is undoubtedly one of the most well-sketched female antagonists in contemporary fiction.
But aside from the creation of this marvellously despicable character I don't spot any other achievement in Nutting's novel.
I was often disturbed by the detailing of various sexual acts between Celeste and Jack/Boyd, the unsuspecting victims, and found a few nagging questions bobbing up to the surface of my consciousness as I kept plowing along - "Um is this erotica masquerading as literary fiction?".

Does Nutting seek to titillate? Does she wish to indict the American judicial system for letting off Celeste easily just because her victims found her sexually attractive enough to want to sleep with her? Does she want to make the world more aware of such perverts lurking just around the corner and hence be more vigilant and keep our children safe? Does she want us to empathize with Celeste Price and see her as a personification of the uglier facets of our existence? Does she question our notions of morality?

I did not get any definitive answers to these questions. I am effectively stumped as to what the purpose of writing this book could have been and hence I am being generous by giving this 3 stars. I was glad when I reached the end and unable to decide whether I just wasted a few precious hours of my spare time or not.

P.S.:- People looking for better books in a similar vein, please do read What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal . I simply cannot recommend it highly enough.

*I received an advance reader copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.* ...more

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Aug 05, 2013 Brie rated it did not like it · review of another edition

It mostly consists of lots of disturbing sex scenes with a minor designed to shock readers, and a bland, cartoonish and underdeveloped main character(s). I guess this is supposed to be a character study, but it’s hard to do that when you’re too busy writing sex scenes instead of developing the characters. Basically, it’s a book that uses its controversial subject to distract readers from how bad the whole thing is.

So there, I read it so you don’t have to.

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Dec 12, 2016 Matt rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary-fiction, prurient-interest

My bookshelves tell the story. Overwhelmingly, my taste runs to history. After that, there is a fair-sized collection of classic fiction, most of it read for vanity when I was younger. There is a smattering of contemporary fiction, usually a book that is so prevalent in the zeitgeist that failure to read it would mark me as hopelessly out of touch. Alas, lately, I’ve definitely become more comfortable being hopelessly out of touch.

So how do I explain Alissa Nutting’s Tampa? This slim novel tell ...more

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Apr 11, 2015 Suzanne rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: gave-away

Possible spoiler

I consider myself to be pretty new at this book reviewing thing. Jot down a few things I liked, disliked, general chit chat about the book. Well with this one I just don't know. I'm not an expert about what people should and should not write about, what would I know?! But I do know this is some crazy stuff, yes it does happen, but writing fiction such as this on this topic? 30 year old female, sexually attracted to 14 year old boys? Every sentence was about the topic. The desire, ...more

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Jul 22, 2013 Garima rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arc-galley, my-2-cents, no-kidding, prude-me-not

..they’d never feel their libido a deformed thing to be kept chained up in the attic of their mind and to only be fed in secret after dark.

Meet Celeste Price. Or do we really want to? It’s a dicey prospect based completely on individual perceptions but something not entirely ineffectual. If we take a moment to consider the plot and the innovation it involves, then the result will be far from satisfactory. A twenty-six years old, eighth-grade English teacher with a thing for and only for 14 year
..they’d never feel their libido a deformed thing to be kept chained up in the attic of their mind and to only be fed in secret after dark.

Meet Celeste Price. Or do we really want to? It’s a dicey prospect based completely on individual perceptions but something not entirely ineffectual. If we take a moment to consider the plot and the innovation it involves, then the result will be far from satisfactory. A twenty-six years old, eighth-grade English teacher with a thing for and only for 14 year old boys (that too with conditions applied). Celeste is drop dead gorgeous with hardly any scruples and her concerns exclusively demand the satiation of her obsessive need. For sex. Controversial is alright but this seemingly banal premise gets a lift by way of Celeste’s character sketch. Her unrelenting focus to think only about her seedy intentions irrespective of whatever situation she is in combined with dark humor makes it more than an ok read which draws both disgust at the content and delight at the unputdownable quality this book offers to its readers.

Its racy narrative with subtle undertones of social commentary marks the entry of debatable questions one can raise with the backdrop of this hypocritical society we’re a reluctant part of. How our argument about various forbidden subjects is governed around the elements involved in the execution of such immoral acts is highlighted with a dash of odiousness in Tampa.

“People who look like me don’t go to jail.”

Celeste is fully aware of her strengths and also about the loopholes in her usual foolproof plans to keep the dark side of her life run smoothly. In this way, she comes across as an unflinchingly shrewd and selfish person, which is not a big deal to think about but to convincingly put it on paper is a commendable feat.

Nutting’s voice is fresh and uninhibited but she falters towards the end. The climax appears to be written in a rushed manner and struggles to find a strong base to stand on amidst some superficial factors forced upon it. Moreover the explicitness of sex scenes could have mellowed down a bit in order to reach albeit shocking but an acceptable level of reality since in some instances the line of fantasy is stretched too far considering the involvement of teenage boys (or is it just another trick on part of our unreliable narrator?). Apart from this, it’s a fairly decent (no oxymoron w/r/t book’s content intended) and quick read which doesn’t purport to be a literary masterpiece but an ordinary fiction based on the confessions of a dangerous mind.
...more

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Aug 28, 2013 JaHy☝Hold the Fairy Dust added it · review of another edition

Shelves: charlies-winning-i-am-quitting, yes-i-really-did

****DEFINTELY........POSITIVELY ....... UNDOUBTEDLY........
ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY NOT FOR ME !...****

but I wish the author much success all the same.. Smiley

< ...more

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May 21, 2013 Beth rated it liked it · review of another edition

This is one of those books that's almost impossible to rate. What kind of rating do you give to a book with the most despicable of narrators, most unsettling descriptions of sex, but with the sharpest satirical descriptions, the most darkly humorous observations and a strangely engaging narrative? I was horrified and captivated by Celeste. I mean, read the summary. She's a beautiful 26 year old middle school teacher who systematically, almost psychopathically, sets out to seduce 14 year old boys This is one of those books that's almost impossible to rate. What kind of rating do you give to a book with the most despicable of narrators, most unsettling descriptions of sex, but with the sharpest satirical descriptions, the most darkly humorous observations and a strangely engaging narrative? I was horrified and captivated by Celeste. I mean, read the summary. She's a beautiful 26 year old middle school teacher who systematically, almost psychopathically, sets out to seduce 14 year old boys. She's unapologetic about her proclivities, and it's flat out gross being in her head.

But the writing is beyond compelling. I "really like" books that make me think and are crazy well-written, but I don't want to give this one a four star rating and admit I "really liked" a book about pedophilia. Granted, Lolita is one of my all time favorite books, but it's more about compulsion and obsessive love than about systematic grooming and stalking and sexual fetishizing of a certain type of child. Give Humbert Humbert the personality, wit and satirical worldview of Amy from Gone Girl and you have Celeste Price. She's diabolical, disgusting and kind of completely intriguing.

This book gets you directly into the head of a sexual predator, which I can't imagine anyone WANTING to be. She holds nothing back: not her darkest fantasies, not her most debauched hobbies, not her deepest compulsions. If you don't find the book offensive, then you are either not being honest, or not quite right in the head. I think even the author would say you are meant to be disturbed. I think being horrified by Celeste is a psychological boon. A self-edifying "Hey, I'm so glad I don't think like that."

But this book is about things that really happen. Beautiful people often get away with murder (or in this case, sexual battery). Women are sometimes the predator and not the prey. What our society means by consent is murky when it comes to gender and age and reputation and attractiveness. So I'm glad I read it, though I might wish I could forget it.
...more

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May 06, 2013 Jenn(ifer) rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: one-star-sucked, xx, read-in-2014

What a shit show!

There are very few books out there that I actually capital h hate. To be precise, I can think of six. American Psycho (what a snooze-fest; I don't give a shit about what he's wearing or eating or whatever the fuck else Ellis went on and on about), The Silver Linings Playbook (seriously, I want to know who the author slept with to get this thing published), Bad Marie, New Moon, My French Whore and this here.

Let me just say first that I have absolutely no problem with gratuitous ...more

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Oct 31, 2016 Natalie Monroe rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Fans of Lolita and Gillian Flynn

Recommended to Natalie by: Shelby Suderman

Shelves: dysfunctional-relationships, bubbling-under-5-stars, possible-creepers, creepy-yet-entertaining

4.25 stars

"Though I didn't yet know which of my male eight-grade English students would be my favorites, I guessed based on name and performed a small act of voodoo, reaching up my dress to the clear ink pad between my legs, wetting my fingertip, and writing their names upon the desks in the front row, hoping by some magic they'd be conjured directly to those seats, their hormones reading the invisible script their eyes couldn't see."

Tampa has a pretty low average rating. 3.32 at the time of ...more

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Goodreads România: Citește cu mine: Tampa, de Alissa Nutting	4	33	Nov 19, 2020 05:11AM
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Male pedophiles are loathed and female pedophiles are drooled upon!	30	395	Apr 22, 2017 09:09AM
Around the Year i...: Tampa, by Alissa Nutting	5	37	Nov 01, 2016 01:47PM
Transgressive Rea...: Male/female reading perspective	2	17	Dec 01, 2015 05:51PM

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“I found that sometimes it was a relief to do something unattractive in private, to confirm that I’m deeply flawed when so many others imagine me to be perfect. People are often startled by my handwriting; because I’m pretty, they assume everything I do is pretty. It’s odd to them that I write like I have a hook for an arm, just as Ford would be startled to learn I have a hook for a heart.” — 50 likes

“His eyes took in the details of my body with a conflicted gaze that I knew well: even having seen all the facts of the case, he still wanted me. He wanted me despite knowing what that meant about him.” — 16 likes

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