Tampa

by Allisa Nutting
Sept 26-Oct 13, 2013

This book should have come with a warning: Rated M for mature audiences. Seriously. But it also should have come with a lesser-known warning: this book will absolutely make you squirm. While reading I felt both criminal and twisted for continuing to turn the pages. My conscience told me to put it down. But I just couldn't. I needed to know that Celeste Price wasn't going to get away with it.

And by "it" I mean preying her on 14-year old male students. To fulfill her sexual needs. Nutting does not gloss over details; she embellishes to the point of jaw-dropping disbelief. What was going through the author's head as she penned each chapter?? Controversial subject matter is sure to sell more books, is my opinion. When I was ready to give up on Tampa, I decided to check out a few reviews on Goodreads to see if I was the one who was off-base. It seems the general consensus was that her writing was great and that was what kept readers interested to the end. I'm not sure I agree with that. Not that it was horrible, but it just "was." I suppose it if was really awful I would have been more inclined to quit. But I just had to make sure justice was served.

The official synopsis goes as far as calling Tampa "seriocomic;" yet I never once cracked a smile. And while I'm quite sure the controversy over this book will simply be because the so-called gender roles are reversed, I can't necessarily say that this was a tale that needed to be told. Getting into Celeste's mind is no place I'd ever want to be. When she described her target as an "adolescent morsel," I gagged. First because GROSS and second because I hate the word morsel. This is the point where I can chuckle. The bottom line is that reactions like mine wouldn't even occur if the teacher was a male and obsessed with young girls. We'd condemn him, yes, but it wouldn't have the same shock value.

The last few chapters were the most intriguing for me because I felt they did the best at really getting into a pedophile's mind. To explain that no amount of punishment would cure this sickness. To show that there is no remorse in the merciless. And as to whether or not justice was served... well... you'll have to find out for yourself.

It's interesting to note that Allisa Nutting is an assistant professor at John Carroll University, which many of my friends attended. I wonder if any of them ever crossed her path?! I'd love to know what is on her creative writing class syllabus.

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Everything Changes

by Jonathan Tropper
Sept 10-25, 2013

I have a friend and coworker who I consider to be extremely smart and well-read, plus he's also a writer. But for some crazy reason, he comes to me when he needs a book recommendation. I'm glad to say that I've pulled through every time. My latest recommendations for him were "anything" by Jonathan Tropper. My first suggestions were the two titles I'd already read, but from there he took it and ran. He came to me after returning from a flight and said he'd read One Last Thing... in one sitting. It made him laugh, cry and totally relate to the story. He jumped into another Tropper right away and came back to me singing its praises. That's how I came upon my third Tropper novel, Everything Changes.

Zack seemingly has everything. A rent-free house, loyal friends and a hot fiancée. When his absentee father reappears (with a perma-boner), everything ahem changes. Under it all though is a great story about friendships and the family bond. Tropper has the ability to make the reader laugh out loud in one sentence and get misty-eyed in the next. He can even make an inanimate object an important character in the story. Zack's brother Matt is a talented musician with a shaved head and an attitude. But, knowing how much his mother is disturbed by his bald pate, he wears a wig in her presence. It was amazing to me that this wig was at once both a hilarious little antidote and a poignant reminder of a son's devotion to his mother.

Truly a great storyteller, I highly recommend Jonathan Tropper.

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