Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Billy Summers by Stephen King

5 reviews

breezrose's review against another edition

The story took a marked shift about halfway through when a character was introduced who was the victim of SA. The way King had Billy react to the character and her situation was disturbing and difficult to read. I was a bit surprised (maybe I shouldn't be?) that King didn't a. ask why an abused woman needed to serve as a plot point and b. if it was absolutely necessary to the plot (?) why he didn't attempt to handle it with more care. I immediately put the book down during a particularly disturbing passage.

Billy Summers was also a veteran, and while I don't mind hearing about those experiences to an extent I could have done without the xenophobia. I definitely wasn't the target audience for this book.

I was invested in the story up until that point, so I was disappointed. Billy Summers was devoid of personality and....an aspiring writer, but the hit man's "last job" plight had me turning the page. Based on reviews I read about the direction it took I made the right choice to stop reading when I did.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Sexual assault

Moderate: Xenophobia

Minor: Pedophilia

rnbhargava's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This mostly character based crime story about a former army sniper hit man is surprisingly quite charming and tender in some aspects, tense, hard boiled and action packed in others. Excellent read. I’m glad this is my first Stephen King. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

There’s child death, rape, various abuses and war throughout the story as key elements. There’s also a pedophile that’s a target in the story. They share base information about his heinous acts to fully condemn him. This is a crime story so many characters are unsavoury in varying ways. I may have missed some triggers.

akvolcano's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

Honestly I expected more from Stephen King. There is so much hype about him. This book is  messed up, and there is a lot of dehumanizing/gross parts that are unnecessary. The story was interesting, but it was due to the multiple personalities. I think out of all the book, I only enjoyed three or four chapters. I kept hoping it would get better, but it never really did. The writing itself wasn’t that great….I don’t see myself reading any more books from this author. He is a sick man. Don’t really recommend. #disappointedanddisgusted

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and War

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and War

chaotic_aesthetic's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.5

I wanted to love this one so bad, but I'm gonna have to quote Edward Lorn: "I kinda just wanna forget it even exists". I'm giving it 1.5 stars instead of 0 cause it had such a promising plot but it just went nowhere, and lets not mention the second story that didn't have anything going for it :(

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fatphobia and Xenophobia

nebulasaurus's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail