Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Billy Summers by Stephen King

13 reviews

gethin_burke's review

dark emotional hopeful 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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia

Moderate: Rape, Cursing, and Violence

akvolcano's review

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

---

Content Warnings

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

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

marine2907's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Grief, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Alcohol, Body horror, Physical abuse, Violence, Medical content, Pedophilia, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Gore, Vomit, Cursing, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Sexual assault, War, Child abuse, and Kidnapping

readerette's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

3.5

There were a lot of distractions from the story for me, though I wouldn't necessarily disrecommend the story. Basically I could have done without the whole first half with all the minutiae of Billy's daily life leading up to the hit and his "dumb self" writing. There were so many Trump references (as if King were using this book to process his despair over Trump becoming President). The only gay person identified in the story got an extremely stereotypical portrayal. I couldn't get over the unbelievable amount of bungling Billy did given his supposed reputation as an excellent assassin. And then there was Alice: the use of a horrific crime to bring her into Billy's life (couldn't possibly have given him a sidekick any other way, of course), she didn't seem to have all that much trouble with what happened to her (outside of nightly panic attacks), and the characterization of the relationship between Alice and Billy disturbed me given the circumstances under which King had them meet. Billy as a character also felt overworked to me, like in an attempt to make him seem as complex as a real human, King have him one or two too many quirks. The Easter eggs were distracting to me, but bigger fans might appreciate them.

All that frustration for me as a reader, and it seems Alice will not even publish Billy's opus because she's worried about repercussions, but for whom? Billy's dead, and she can change any names or events she wants, and leave out anything that seems overly incriminating. So... I'm confused.

The last 50 pages were pretty great, though. The ending was somewhat predictable, but not its details. In that part of the book I finally felt enough for Billy and Alice that I hoped everything would turn out for them (all the distractions mentioned above stopped and it just came down to the core of the story and the people in it). If you like thrillers and "bad people" getting what's coming to them, you could do worse than this one. But it's not The Body, which I consider a far superior Stephen King story (also far more concise).

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Cursing, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, War, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Death, Vomit, and Murder

Minor: Racism, Racial slurs, and Confinement

kshertz's review

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

I read this because somebody told me that it is not scary at all and I was interested in what Stephen King was writing nowadays. I feel like it is an interesting adventure but could have been a lot shorter. I also realized I have a big trigger warning about old white dudes writing about young girls and how they think they’re so hot and what they wanna do to them. That felt really gross and was hard for me to get through the book because of that. But you do get invested in Billy Summers and his whole adventure. I definitely wanted to keep reading until the very end

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Child abuse, Murder, Blood, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Rape, Sexual content, Violence, and Sexual harassment

our_bookish_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Alcohol, Rape, Sexual assault, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, Violence, and Child death

kcbbooks0125's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, and War

nebulasaurus's review

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

---

Content Warnings

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

imstephtacular's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Overall, I really enjoyed the story in this book. However, I was very put off by some problematic content (lots of fatphobic language, one particular scene of questionable choices around race). I wanted to like this book much more, but I could not ignore these instances. I liked the characters and the plotting overall, it’s just unfortunate that a lot of little moments built up and left a bad taste in my mouth and overshadowed the storytelling. I will say that I did like the ending of this one. King is hit or miss with endings and I thought this was handled well. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Death, War, and Violence

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, Body shaming, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Alcohol, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, and Rape

Minor: Suicide

fartandsoul's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and War

Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Child death, Cursing, Gun violence, and Islamophobia