Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Tampa by Alissa Nutting

53 reviews

praevalesco's review

The writer seemed a little too comfortable writing this book. You can make your point about women also being able to be sociopathic predators without spending over two hundred pages fantasizing about children in graphic detail.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Pedophilia

vrsmith0429's review

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

1.75

This was well written but the content was just too heavy

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, and Pedophilia

riahisreading's review

dark mysterious 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

4.0

This book is so messed up. I hated reading it, it made me really uncomfortable! But that is the point of it so kudos to the author for finding a way to make me both like and hate a book at the same time! 

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Content Warnings

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

madelinequinnee's review against another edition

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 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Incest, Pedophilia, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Alcohol, Child abuse, Death of parent, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

xdawnsii's review

challenging dark emotional sad 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

3.0

I'm giving Tampa 3 stars because I honestly don't know how to rate a book like this.

I read this book in one sitting, mostly because I didn’t want to have to pick it up again. This book makes you feel absolutely awful while reading it. It is disgusting and tragic. I can’t recommend this book, because it is such a challenging read.

The end of this book is infuriating. You spend 200+ pages reading the main characters deranged and demented thoughts, holding your breath and continuing to read this book solely for the satisfaction of Celeste Price ending up in prison. This book is a painful commentary about how male victims & female offenders are not taken seriously.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Death of parent, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Grief

evdark's review against another edition

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Death, Sexual violence, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Gaslighting

jrprkr's review

dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Death of parent and Stalking

melissa_h's review

Too explicit and it feels gross. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, and Toxic relationship

abstractedal3x's review

It was disgusting, I get that is the point of the book though. It’s written really well and I think that’s why I cannot continue, this is the only book I can’t get myself to finish. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Stalking, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Sexual harassment

formerbookclubpresident's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

i won't be rating this book because i honestly don't know how to feel about this. 

is it a well-written book? yes. does it make me want to gag at all times? also yes. 

i understand that the point of the book is a critique on how men who are predators get much severe punishments when women offenders cause just as much harm, but i don't feel like i needed to read so much smut to achieve that result. idk, this was on my bucket list for a long time so i'm happy i read it but i don't know if i would recommend this to anyone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Infidelity