Tampa

Statutory rape between teachers and students is a very uncomfortable subject that Alissa Nutting tackles head-on in her 2013 breakthrough novel.

I was impressed with how Nutting avoided sympathy for the devil. Her hebephilic protagonist, Celeste, is a terrible person who, like Richard III, conspiratorially lets the reader in on her plans to manipulate and seduce 12-year-old boys. The longer the book goes on, the clearer it becomes that Celeste isn’t some evil mastermind, just a dunderheaded rapist who gets out of trouble by virtue of being an attractive white woman.

I respect Nutting for writing this book. By staring… show more.

This was a controversial book when it was released a few years ago, with some calling it “Lolita from a Woman,” and I think the comparison is accurate.

Like Nabakov, Nutting’s protagonist is likable and compelling, and before we know it, we are drawn into her twisted world. When these characters are written with skill, it is almost jarring to the reader to realize that they are in some way rooting for the protagonist until they consider what is really happening. 

This is a seriocomic novel about a female eighth-grade teacher who sexually lures her male students. Extremely graphic and thought-provoking, Tampa also manages to be an incredibly entertaining dark comedy. Like a lot of sensationalistic books, this approaches a serious topic and turns it into a nearly absurd piece of entertainment. It’s also extremely well written. I loved it.