This was the fascinating part, the 1-star part. It doesn't only talk you through all that, it shows you, through deviant devilish EVIL thoughts, actions, so much manipulation. 'Is it really pedophilia if the 14-year-old wanted the teacher?' Yes. you expect it from men but not from women. It started with pointing out beauty privilege (and did so throughout the book), as well as the misogyny behind pedophilia. Starting this book, the 'promising' idea, if I may call it that, is that this book makes you realize so many things can be wrong if you're not looking closely. I knew what this book included, the 1 star is actually, surprisingly, because of the plot. Evil pinkie twist, right? So therein lies my own biases.ĭon't get me wrong, I read the blurb, I read reviews with no spoilers. Conversely when an older man seduces a sweet young thing, it had to be planned with a Dr. What's disturbing is that when this has made news in the past, it never occurred to me that the female teacher planned it-of course it just happened. Of course, on the ARC there's this big 'CAUTION EXPLICIT CONTENT' on thee front so I sure as heck didn't read this at the pool.

It's just that I don't think women will read this for a thrill, especially anyone with school-aged sons. So here's 3 stars because there's nothing technically wrong with it and let's face it, I've read criminal thrillers where the crimes were much worse The Silence of the Lambs so it's not so much the subject matter. It's not funny, it's not a psychological thriller, not a crime who-dunnit, I don't even know how to classify it. To me, there's not enough depth-Nutting could have followed up more with the other women characters or even finished it off as Celeste was facing her first sags and bags, oh say around age 50. But no, she wants to be the yardstick of how they measure other women as long as she's always the gold-winner champion. I thought maybe she thought she'd be 'enry 'iggins of My Fair Lady in reverse, a cougar training these young boys how to be the perfect lovers as they got older. It's not a satire, there's absolutely no redeeming features, no romance (Ha, this is the anti-romance! How do you get rid of a Valentine's Day card? Burning?) This English teacher for 8th graders knows what she wants and how to get it, down to the fruit flavored shampoos and creams. I don't know how seriously this book will be taken. This book is all about sex, bamm!, in your face, just about every single page Nutting is either writing about how great it is (with boys who are 14 and don't look like men yet), or how great it isn't (with men, or you know, husbands.) The last book I read was On Chesil Beach which was a lot about sex, but very little happened. I've picked books that I remember instantly when I look through the list, either because the plot was great, the subject matter was different or the writing was excellent. Updated 12-20-13, this is in my 10 top reads for 2013.

Tampa by Alissa Nutting