Okay so, I don’t know how to start a post like this. How do you start a discussion with Lolita? I guess you just jump in and hope for the best.
Tampa made me sick. Like, physically. I have stomached American Psycho because I could sort of rest easy knowing a good chunk of the murders were not happening and were so stupidly absurd that you can’t imagine them happening, I could stomach Blood Meridian (barely) and I could stomach All Quiet On The Western Front.
I couldn’t stomach Tampa.
There’s nothing I like about the main protagonist of this book. The author stated she tried to make her funny? I chuckled once and even chuckling made me feel uncomfortable. I can’t read this character. I don’t want to go along with this kind of story, *especially* in fucking first person.
I guess that’s the point? I don’t know. Celeste is the most disgusting character I’ve ever read. I actually felt more hatred towards her than Patrick Bateman and Patrick is obviously far worse. There’s just something about her, her mannerisms, her sociopathy, that fill me with unbridled rage. Atleast Patrick is a joke that you can consistently make fun of. Celeste? She’s someone grown men will comment about with laughs and beer, talking about how lucky someone like Jack is.
Thats why I hate her.
The long sex scenes are really not fucking needed. I hated them in American Psycho too. I don’t need the mental image in my head of Celeste doing the deed with an underage boy. It fills me with disgust.
Sorry if it’s a bit unclear whether I dislike or like this book, I’m in a bit of middle. The author had good intentions and ultimately, Celeste is not glorified as a misunderstood anti hero. She’s evil. Evil incarnate. I guess it helps me be at ease.
God that fucking last line disturbs me. It’s the line that shows the reader, if they had any tiny doubt that maybe she cared about Jack, that she never did. She imagines that she kills Jack and the other boy, and that’s how she’s able to get off. What a fucking depraved monster.
The prose was really good, unnervingly enough. And I did admittedly chuckle once, as I said.
3.5/5
by EmilyIsNotALesbian