Tampa

De: Alissa Nutting

Narrado por: Kathleen McInerney

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

It had potential

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The ending... to start with.
The first half of the book you think that Celest is a highly intelligent female willing to do anything to satisfy her obsession: teenage males. Her wishes are crazy, but very enthralling as well. She's an interesting character to say the least.
Second half of the book she becomes stupid and arrogant and other people like her even more for that. It was annoying and it didn't fit with the character created in the first half. Is like the author wanted us to hate her. And that's cheating.
I would have enjoyed the rational, pervert feminist much more than the beautiful sheltered pedophile. Also, the idea that beautiful people have it easy... don't really dig it. I've seen lots of beautiful people get bullied and ugly ones as well. It's about character. That is what brings you to the top of the chain. And by the end of the story our character completely looses that side and just plays the damsel in distress. And people actually believe her? We're talking about adults here, right? I can't accept that people can be that stupid.

Has Tampa turned you off from other books in this genre?

Not really. A good book will be a good book regardless of the genre. I was never really into this type of books, but I heard this one was better so I decided to give it a try. Not sure how soon I'll return to this genre though, based on my friend's recommendations I guess.

Have you listened to any of Kathleen McInerney’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I did, in Night Road and Just One Day. She's into character and she's good at what she does. If I wouldn't have looked at the list with the books she read I would have never guessed the 3 books have the same reader. They are all 3 very different genres.

Was Tampa worth the listening time?

To be honest, I don't think so. Second half bored me to death.

Any additional comments?

It's a good book for an erotica lover, but not a moralist.

Glossy mag story

Any additional comments?

Celeste Price became a teacher with the sole purpose of seducing teenage students. I usually roll my eyes when I hear people complaining that a book is controversial just for the sake of controversy, but found myself thinking something similar with this. It was just a bit too shallow and frivolous. Had it’s moments, but at times, it reminded me of a story you might come across in a bad waiting-room magazine. I still love the cover (though I made the classic mistake of judging a...). And I was amused by the ever present subtext that if this book was about a male teacher, there would probably be book burnings across the States.

A sick and yet inthralling topic, well written

This book has been a hot topic for sometime now. It's storyline is morbid, and sadly true. Yet, I couldn't tear myself from listening to it. Nutting's allusions are astounding. She really makes you want to keep listening. I ate this book up! Get past the it all and dive in, you won't regret it.

Masterful narration and excellent writing.

A difficult subject presented in a wonderfully crafted novel. Inspired by a real life court drama, Nutting creates a fictional sexually obsessed protagonist and shares insights into possible motivations and complexities. McInerney provides a peerless narration and I will be listening to more of her work. Highly recommended.

Great book. Very dark.

The most disturbing book I've ever read. Genuinely disgust inducing and a very good portrayal of an irredeemable sociopath and all the horrific harm they can cause. Very good read but not for the faint of heart or anyone with a lot of sympathy towards children.

Based on a true story

This is loosely based on the Debra Lafave case in my town here in Tampa. A lot of this really happened. It’s a great read for those into the taboo and erotica. I really enjoyed it and wish Alissa had more titles with this same vibe.

Tampa

What did I just read!?!? Crazy! A truly twisted tale that I couldn’t stop reading!

cringry look into the head of an entitled chomo

I really like the book. I liked it because it made me feel gross to like it. The narrator is absolutely deplorable, but stunning and young, so there are no consequences of what she does. which is basically true to life.

the author definitely has balls for writing this the way she did, which I also applaud.

while reading the other reviews, I knew I'd enjoy this because I like to really push the envelope of uncomfortably with content I read/watch/listen to in terms of fiction and horror. this definitely did that. I also figure that many of the people who didn't like the story maybe missed the point of the 'smut'. which, in this instance I believe, is rich, beautiful privilege. (j. epstein ....)

so, proceed with caution. it's hard to listen, and heartbreaking. the wreckage left behind is disastrous

gross, but I couldn't stop listening

This book is exceptionally well written. it made me very uncomfortable, the author is a fantastic story teller

Never a dull moment

I know a lot of people didn’t like the subject matter of this book and where I can see that’s understandable, the writing and narration is literally perfection. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, even though you can kind of tell where the stories is going, the descriptions and analogies and the author’s ability to create such realistic fantasies this woman is having is absolutely incredible. Now I know the subject matter is Comparable to Lolita or American psycho but I find this much better because it’s really about how this author creates so many alternate realities and possibilities at all times.