Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Billy Summers by Stephen King

9 reviews

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

mariahthemartian's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Pedophilia and Racism

bajablasthole's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Medical trauma, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Pedophilia, War, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Murder, Rape, Racial slurs, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, Racism, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

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

itsheyfay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Rape, Murder, Sexual assault, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Fatphobia, Trafficking, Vomit, Violence, Body shaming, War, and Pedophilia

Minor: Drug use and Racism

mewpasaurus's review

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

3.0

While I found this a pretty fast read and was enveloped in the story, I have a few issues which knocked down the rating of an otherwise okay read.

• No one calls a laptop a lappie; especially not someone supposedly as coherent and intelligent as Billy Summers is supposedly supposed to be. It just hits wrong and takes the reader right out of the story.
• Look, Mr. King. No one gives a shit about how much you hate Trump. I didn't vote for him either, but I wouldn't devote 500+ pages making constant references to his administration and how "evil" he is. This is just like Under the Dome all over again.
• The rape revenge fantasy later on the book was completely unnecessary. I get wanting to enact some form of retribution for a terrible act (I'm an SA survivor/victim myself, after all), but that scene was completely unnecessary and preposterous.
• There were some minor issues I had with the flashback stories to the character's time during his AD tour, but nothing too major.

Other than those issues, the book was mostly a pleasant read, but the above issues kept taking me out of the story and continued to annoy and plague me throughout the entire story. Shame, the writing is solid, as always.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Rape, Murder, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Child death, Racism, Violence, Death, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

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

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

sheryl_reads's review against another edition

dark slow-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? It's complicated

SPOILERS - LOTS OF SPOILERS. AND THE BIGGEST TRIGGER WARNINGS YOU CAN THINK OF. 

The things I’m going to point out aren’t down to preferences, or being sensitive to subject matter. As you read this, I would like you to bear in mind that none of this really serves the story and could have been done in any number of different ways, which still would have worked.

1. The main character has a ‘dumb self’ which is likened to being on ‘the spectrum’. Being autistic doesn’t make you less intelligent (or dumb as King insists on calling it. Billy Summers is meant to be a paid killer who is very well respected - best of the best sniper type guy. I’m not sure how believable it is that his associates (who presumably are good at reading people, to be successful criminals) think he’s not smart. 
2. Just because people are ‘bad guys’ or ‘gangsters’ doesn’t mean they have to be homophobic, racist etc. It’s not banter. It’s lazy writing and King can do better.
3. Alice’s story. I’ve put details right at the end of this review so you can avoid it if you find sexual assault triggering.  I accept the main character has to save her, thus saving himself a little. But there is NO NEED for her attack to be so brutal. And the examination of her whilst she’s still unconscious… disgusting. We all know what’s likely happened to her - there’s no need for the graphic description and further violation of that character. Frankly, I don’t understand how anyone reads this and doesn’t think ‘this isn’t right, WTF?’. 
4. The blackface (apologies if this isn’t the correct term) - Billy decides to go visit his associates and has to sneak into their compound. He decides to disguise himself as a day labourer. Who obviously must be an illegal Mexican immigrant who is a deaf/mute… I don’t care that it’s spray tan - the character is darkening his skin to disguise himself as a day labourer (who has to be an illegal Mexican? Why? Stereotypes are just lazy)
5. Throwing in an old rich guy paedophile when there could be all sorts of explanations which wouldn’t involve yet more sexual assault elements. I can think of so many other reasons why the hit had to be done, none of which would involve child abuse. 
6. Randomly mentioning that Bucky, who is Billy’s go to guy for ID and jobs etc, is probably gay, even though it adds nothing to the story or character.  It’s like a throwaway thought the Billy has, but it adds nothing to our understanding of Bucky or their relationship. 

Perhaps some people would say that the book should have come with trigger warnings. And I think it should have. But I’d also say that perhaps King should just have thought a bit more about what he was writing. There’s no need for most of the things I’ve pointed out. 

I’m a long term King fan and I have to say that this might be the end of the road for me. I’m sure his future releases will be successful, and losing one fan isn’t gonna bother him. But if he genuinely thinks that this kind of content is ok… I think he’s got a problem. And I’d extend that to all the fans out there posting 5 ⭐️ reviews of this. 

TRIGGER WARNING FOR ALICE

Alice is sexually assaulted (gang raped by 3 men) and then tossed out of a van outside Billy’s hideout. To avoid attention, he takes her into his apartment and tends to her. She’s unconscious as she’s been drugged, she’s also wet and cold. Billy strips her naked and towels her off (I accept this is probably what you’d need to do) but then proceeds to examine her intimately. We already know she’s been attacked - there’s bruises on her and he’s noted blood on her uppers legs. So, we get it. She’s been raped. It isn’t necessary for us to get a graphic description - but King insists on Billy spreading Alice’s legs and giving us the details of the damage done to her vagina. Oh, and he’s also naked cos in the rain and exertion of carrying Alice indoors his underwear fell off. 

Billy also gets revenge on Alice’s attackers - and again, this is gratuitously violent. 

I understand Billy needed a redemption of sorts. But the details of the attack on Alice, and the frankly disgusting violation when she’s unconscious doesn’t add anything to the story. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence