Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Tampa by Alissa Nutting

54 reviews

porporina's review

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

clemeslibrary's review against another edition

challenging fast-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

larzhagen's review

challenging dark funny sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

I typically don't add personal thoughts to my reviews, but I feel the need to share: Alissa Nutting taught my Literary Analysis course at Grinnell College in 2017. She was a truly wonderful professor and I look back on that class with fond memories. I did not know about her work, Tampa, until a few weeks after the course when some fellow students began whispering about it.

I've been mustering up the courage to read Tampa since, understanding the controversy behind the book and the graphic nature of it's material.

Full disclosure: I almost added Tampa to my DNF list when I was reading chapter seven. I was absolutely sickened.

Like some other readers have done, I will not be giving Tampa a star rating, as I do not want one to potentially reflect as condoning or enforcing any behaviors in the book.

However, I do believe Tampa is an important piece of literature which opens the door for uncomfortable, necessary conversations surrounding child safety laws, consent, socio-economic disparity in the justice system, etc. 

So, if you can stomach the grotesque, the vile, and read on past chapter seven... I would encourage you to do so. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual content, and Death of parent

Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Blood, Grief, Stalking, and Gaslighting

Minor: Gun violence and Police brutality

nota_candycaine's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Fatphobia, Infidelity, Blood, and Gaslighting

carleyanneh's review

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Drug use

abxgxil's review

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

I’m not going to rate this at all because I really don’t know how. Were there some good points made on the justice system and aging? Sure. Was this the most disgusting and vile thing I’ve ever read? 100% 

I’ve never read Lolita, so I can’t comfortably compare the two, but if they are at all similar, I’ll probably need a sick bag to get through something like this again.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Sexual content

Moderate: Drug use

_bxllxe_'s review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I take offense that this book tried too hard. The subject matter was disturbing, but wasn’t written well in my opinion. Dialogue sucked, characters weren’t realistic. Not sure what all the hype is about.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Blood and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use

e_gracereads's review

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Listen. This book was good. But I wish I could bleach the entire thing from my mind. I read it all in one go and I feel like I need to take a fucking shower. This book is about a female pedophile pursuing “relationships” with young teenage boys, and it’s about as gross as it sounds. Reads with the same grotesque fascination as extreme horror while somehow managing to be much more sinister and disgusting. Made me literally nauseous. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

tamz83's review

challenging dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Drug abuse and Drug use

mrsmishler's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

It feels wrong to give this book a star rating, because it is disturbing however it was very well written. 


I used to work in a jail giving medical care and so I did work a lot with sex offenders and pedophiles; and I feel like how she describes the process of her finding her victim and manipulating them was very accurate. Even inside the jails you could watch the older pedophiles slowly wiggle their way into the younger offenders minds, and it’s sickening.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, and Death of parent