Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - Tampa

Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

enchantressreads's review

Go to review page

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Content Warnings

madelinequinnee's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark fast-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

5.0

Wow, that was truly disgusting.

Tampa does a great job showing the realities of female predators, and how their gender and looks can make them go about their ways completely unseen, and once they’re caught, getting lighter punishments purely because they’re women. This was horrific and hard to read, but I also think really important.

The writing was impeccable, and the portrayal of an unreliable narrator was done really well.

Please check trigger warnings before reading because this is very dark and explicit

Content Warnings

enkiiii's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny tense fast-paced

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

3.0

uhhh what a book.

Celeste Price is the hot teacher Alissa Nutting has plucked from the fantasies of straight men, given a life outside of pornography and led to a spectacular demise. And well, it turns out that woman is a psychopath, and her antisocial behavior is encouraged by some aspects of our culture. And also, while this fact is frequently glossed over in porn, isn’t it kinda fucked up that she’s having sex with children?

I wouldn’t call this book a good social commentary on sexual violence and consent. Rather, it’s more concerned with femininity. Celeste’s story exposes the contradictions that arise from the way women’s personhood and sexual autonomy are negated under patriarchy. How can a woman be both a placid sexual object and a predator? Perfect and a monster?

The premise wears thin really fast though, and the novel doesn’t have any compelling characters or a very good plot to make up for it. Celeste’s single minded obsession with teenage boys as well as the preservation of her own youth is all there is to her disordered personality. And the handling of the subject of sexual violence against minors was too callous in my opinion. Celeste’s desires are intense to the point of making her act compulsively which is a classic defense used to justify rape culture. I wish the author fully committed to the satire instead of leaning into psychological thriller territory, because that aspect of Tampa was executed less successfully.

So yeah this is not my favorite novel with a depraved protagonist. Lolita is a better psychological thriller and Boy Parts did the same kind of gender commentary and both are a better read than Tampa.

Content Warnings

evdark's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

3.5

The writing was gripping, and the reason the book was written was important, but the author absolutely failed to deliver the message she set out to achieve. It is based on a true story of a teacher that had sex with her 14-year-old pupil in 2005. Nutting wants to make a point that young men are never seen as victims of sexual assault, and it is too easy to forgive the woman in the situation. Which is exactly how I felt after reading the book. Having just read Lolita, the standard might be set a little high. Psychologically, I can tell this author wanted to be provocative and maybe even erotic but did not truly understand the mindset she was trying to convey in the female pedophile and ended up taking a very male stance to this. Stalking. Obsession with semen. Souvenirs and pornography. It didn't feel authentic to a female pedaphile and this author was just winging it. It was well-written but poorly crafted, and it made me feel icky after reading it even though I have no problem with any of the graphic sex, I had a problem with almost everything else. It did the worst thing a book can do. It wasted my time. The ending was downright awful.

Content Warnings