Book Review
Title: Tampa by Alissa Nutting
Genre: Dark, Literary Fiction
Rating: 3.75 Stars
Tampa was a novel is heard a lot of things about and not all good but it was described to me as a reverse Lolita and I knew I had to pick it up. We are introduced to Celeste Price who is married at 26 to her rich husband, Ford who’s 31. Everything seems normal on the surface but Celeste had a strong desire for young boys and sets out to become a teacher purely for the reason of getting close to and sleeping with one or more of these boys. On the first day of teaching she isn’t seeing many boys that fit her fantasy until she meets Jack Patrick who seems to fit her fantasy perfectly. One thing Nutting doesn’t shy away from us graphic description of masturbation as Celeste frequently has fantasies about these boys even going as far as drugging her husband so she has some measure of privacy. She is calculated even taken the school trailer classroom voluntarily because it is a far distance from the main building, the doors lock and not much can be heard over the air conditioning.
Celeste’s obsession with Jack quickly escalates as she discreetly singles him out and gets friendly with him. At the moment nothing is outside of the normal behaviour of a teacher and student is happening other than Celeste’s thoughts. However, this changes when she begins stalking Jack driving to his home and watching him through the window while she masturbates to fantasies of them together. After a few weeks of teaching Celeste realises that she has to be careful as her obsession and desire want her to move faster so she uses any means at her disposal including her husband to take the edge off until she can get Jack into bed. She hasn’t picked Jack because of his looks or because he is a student that has limited adults in his life but rather because of his innocence and how he seems to hover between child and man while most of the other boys are one or the other. There is another boy she sees as a backup of she can’t have Jack and that’s Trevor. Trevor seems more open to her subtle advances always spending time with her discussing books after class but she knows he is the more dangerous option not only because he has a girlfriend but because he’s got the intelligence and confidence to potential blackmail her and she sees him as the clingy type which won’t work out well for her.
After getting Jack’s trust and attention, Celeste doesn’t waste any time in making her move with him at school no less but he is definitely interested in her as any teenage boy would be. Jack also seems to come from a divided home since his parents are divorced and his dad isn’t around much because of work. After this first encounter, Celeste waits nervously the entire weekend expecting Jack to tell someone and for the police to come for her but when they don’t and they agree to meet up things get interesting. Celeste coaches Jack into having sex with her multiple times before dropping him off and this begins their affair, she also provides him with a phone to contact her that no one can know about but pretty soon Jack is getting ideas that Celeste needs to shut down. At first it is him saying that he loves her which isn’t a feeling she returns despite telling him that she does because she knows in a year or two at most he will no longer be attractive to her having grown into a man. The next comes when he is upset about having to sneak around but he understands the consequences and this becomes clear when they are almost caught by Jack’s father but they play it off as Celeste helping Jack with an assignment. Jack’s father also has a sexual interest in Celeste and Jack thinks that she can use his father in order to spend more time with him but this wouldn’t work since she is married to Ford. However, she does consider it because it allows her to have more time with Jack which is the only thing she is focusing on neglecting her friends and husband along the way.
As the affair continues more than once they are almost caught by Jack’s father, Celeste has got away with being around Jack and the house by pretending to be Buck’s friend which worked until he walked in on them in a state of undress and Celeste not thinking about it tempts Buck into bed and sleeping with her which effectively wipes the questions from his mind but this causes problems with Jack. Jack knows about Celeste sleeping with his father which only adds to the feeling on inadequacy he was feeling as his father was competing with him unknowingly for Celeste’s affection. She manages to earn Jack’s forgiveness and backs off from Buck claiming her marriage and needing some space but when he literally catches them in bed together he flies into a rage that leads to a heart attack. During these moments Celeste did nothing leading to Buck’s death and has to break the news to Jack who is obviously heart-broken but goes along with Celeste for now. However, he becomes clingy in the aftermath which is expecting from not living with his mother and only being around her but Ford is demanding more of her attention even changing to a night shift so they can spend more time together. With all these pressures on Celeste I am not sure how the novel is going to end.
After the death of his father, Jack becomes depressed and his “relationship” with Celeste suffers especially when he moves back with his mother so she finds a new target in Boyd. Boyd is more confident than Jack was despite being just as inexperienced but he comes from a stricter family so they use Jack’s empty house as a meeting place. Having a new thing with Boyd allows Celeste’s old feeling for Jack to come back but this doesn’t last. Jack ends up catching Boyd and Celeste together and he attacks the other boy screaming about how she is cheating on him and didn’t love him before fleeing. Celeste chases after him naked, with a knife, with Boyd’s blood on her leading to her arrest. The subsequent trial was interesting as she gets off without prison time because both Jack and Boyd testified saying their relationships were consensual despite them being underage but Celeste has to learn to live with being seen as a predator but very quickly she is plotting on how to get another young man in her bed making us realise she has learnt nothing and hasn’t changed at all from her experienced. I was aware of the fact throughout the book that it was inspired by the real life case of Debra LaFave who was known to the author and her trial after having sex with her 14 year old student which made it difficult to read in the more graphic sections. However, for a literary perspective the book was extremely well written and really handled the mentality of Celeste well. Much like with Lolita it is impossible to get the other side of the story because you are reading from an unreliable narrator and the events are tainted by their own thoughts and desires. I wouldn’t openly recommend this book but if you’ve read Lolita and enjoying it then Tampa follows similar themes and ideas.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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