Tampa

By: Alissa Nutting

Narrated by: Kathleen McInerney

Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

Celeste Price is an eighth-grade English teacher in suburban Tampa. She's undeniably attractive. She drives a red Corvette with tinted windows. Her husband, Ford, is rich, square-jawed, and devoted to her.

But Celeste's devotion lies elsewhere. She has a singular sexual obsession: 14-year-old boys. Celeste pursues her craving with sociopathic meticulousness and forethought; her sole purpose in becoming a teacher is to fulfill her passion and provide her access to her compulsion. As the novel opens, fall semester at Jefferson Jr. High is beginning.

In mere weeks, Celeste has chosen and lured the lusciously naive Jack Patrick into her web. Jack is enthralled and in awe of his teacher, and, most important, willing to accept Celeste's terms for a secret relationship - car rides after school; rendezvous at Jack's house while his single father works late; body-slamming encounters in Celeste's empty classroom between periods.

Ever mindful of the danger - the perpetual risk of exposure, Jack's father's own attraction to her, and the ticking clock as Jack leaves innocent boyhood behind - the hyperbolically insatiable Celeste bypasses each hurdle with swift thinking and shameless determination, even when the solutions involve greater misdeeds than the affair itself. In slaking her sexual thirst, Celeste Price is remorseless and deviously free of hesitation, a monstress driven by pure motivation. She deceives everyone, and cares nothing for anyone or anything but her own pleasure.

With crackling, rampantly unadulterated prose, Tampa is a grand, uncompromising, seriocomic examination of want and a scorching literary debut.

©2013 Alissa Nutting (P)2013 HarperCollins Publishers

Disturbing book

Greag Narrator,but a dark book and very disturbing ,very gutsy of the Author fro writing this book.

Go Inside the Mind of a Female Sexual Predator

This book narrates the thoughts that display the psychological & emotional motivations that lie behind the aggressive sexuality of a female sexual predator of teenage boys. These urges lead to perilous situations that threaten the lives of all those involved. It’s a psychological high-wire balancing act of cravings and danger for those involved in these emotional & sexual situations.

woah

this is such a crazy story. although it describes some disgusting images.. it also brings to light that anyone can be a pedo in disguise.

American Psycho for the 21st Century

Oddly enough, the first book that I gave five stars to this year was My Dark Vanessa. Therefore, there is an odd bit of symmetry to giving five stars to Tampa, which stands as a sort of spiritual foe to the victim narrative. Tampa gives you the first-person perspective of a sexual predator, which may make the reader feel a sense of complicity in Celeste's transgressions, if they dare to push through the novel. Nonetheless, I am so glad that I gave this novel a chance.
Some things to know about Tampa, if you are tempted to give it a shot:
1) Like American Psycho, Tampa is a satire, and it is a damn funny novel, too. That said, like American Psycho, there is some content that may be tough for some readers to get through. Tampa is full of graphic sexual scenes between a 27-year-old woman and several 14-year-old boys, so if that is triggering for you, you might want to give this one a pass.
2) Celeste is truly a horrible human being with NO redeemable qualities. She is also a fascinating character with a wry sense of humor. If you are not offended by the novel's subject matter and enjoy dark comedies, Tampa might be right up your alley. Props to Alissa Nutting for making me laugh more than I wanted to while reading this novel.
3) This is not an action-packed thriller. That said, I was never bored by Tampa. This is a narrative about a sexual predator who is constantly manipulating everyone around her to get what she wants, giving the novel a confessional quality to it.
Tampa was brilliant, funny, and never boring. It was a breath of fresh air after reading so many slow-burn thrillers of late.

Wonderfully messed up

Perfect for people who aren't disturbed easily and find feeling disgusting to be fascinating.

Great book

The author really gets in the head of Celeste, making her seem real. She’s not a likable character, but there are times I almost root for her. The narrator did a fantastic job as well.

Tampa

Celeste is a nympho-hebephile entangled in ambiguous sexual encounters with boys and men.
unadulterated depravity,

and I liked it,

OMG! No remorse!!!

The was a very well read story of a horrible woman. I enjoyed the story but could not believe how selfish this heifer was.

The delusion the protagonist spun was beyond believable. I am overwhelmed at the lengths to obtain what she wanted. I was itching for her to what she clearly deserved. Her hunger and perverseness was diabolical to the end.
Spoiler Alert!

Right down to sitting in her cell and watching the boys in the court room. Truly one to hate.

"Things that make you go hmmmm..."

Prior to downloading this novel, I read some of the reviews (as people should). It would seem that there were some very mixed reviews, and most good novels tend to do just that.
What I liked:
I liked the roller coaster of emotions the novel gave. There were points of excitement, suspense, fear, and some arousal. Now before people start thinking I'm a pervert, please understand this IS a fictional novel, and it is designed to blow the dust off of some corners of the frontal lobe. With reading some of the reviews, I saw that there were a marginal amount of people that were so stuck on the "morality" aspect of the book to give it a chance. I would suggest those people stick to non-fiction novels about basket weaving. Just kidding, but seriously, this novel is for people who are willing to take their emotions for a ride in a vehicle they can not drive themselves...
What I didn't like:
The ending. I really felt that the author could have done a little more with how he boom ended. I was left feeling like a freight train conductor watching a tractor trailer pause on a railroad crossing as the mile long train just reached 50 mph... Also, I may be considered a bit caddy for this, but I would have enjoyed more details. Scenes that took a few chapters to build up were over in what I speculate to be a page.
Not sure I could place who would like this novel or not, but I think it was a good purchase..

A Hard Pill to Swallo

The narrator did a great job despite the content. Initially, the narration and content were pretty difficult to listen to because it was just sickening, but the author did a brilliant job of allowing the reader/listener to climb inside the mind of a sociopathic, pedophiliac woman. Still today, women are viewed differently when it comes to sex crimes. Men are automatically seen as horrible human beings when they abuse children, regardless of gender. However, women, especially attractive women, who sexually abuse children are not viewed with the same amount of seriousness. Even though the boys in the story did give consent to have sexual relations with the main character, Celeste, it doesn't excuse the crime that she committed. She was a sexual predator that sought these boys out, and she used abused, and manipulated them without any remorse or regret. This story is eye-opening for me as a parent, so even though I'm not shouting from the rooftops about listening to this novel, I'll still give it a good rating for addressing an uncomfortable issue that is so often overlooked in society.