Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King

[gilda_elise]

Hearts in Atlantis, King's newest fiction, is composed of five interconnected, sequential narratives, set in the years from 1960 to 1999. Each story is deeply rooted in the sixties, and each is haunted by the Vietnam War.

In Part One, "Low Men in Yellow Coats," eleven-year-old Bobby Garfield discovers a world of predatory malice in his own neighborhood. He also discovers that adults are sometimes not rescuers but at the heart of the terror.

In the title story, a bunch of college kids get hooked on a card game, discover the possibility of protest...and confront their own collective heart of darkness, where laughter may be no more than the thinly disguised cry of the beast.

In "Blind Willie" and "Why We're in Vietnam," two men who grew up with Bobby in suburban Connecticut try to fill the emptiness of the post-Vietnam era in an America which sometimes seems as hollow -- and as haunted -- as their own lives.

And in "Heavenly Shades of Night Are Falling," this remarkable book's denouement, Bobby returns to his hometown where one final secret, the hope of redemption, and his heart's desire may await him.

Full of danger, full of suspense, most of all full of heart, Stephen King's new book will take some readers to a place they have never been...and others to a place they have never been able to completely leave.

Like many other readers Low Men in Yellow Coats was my favorite story. I loved the relationship between Bobby and Ted, the older man who moves into the building where Bobby and his mother live, and the slightly supernatural element that plays a huge part in both their lives.

Bobby’s relationship with Carol, his friend, or “girlfriend,” also adds much to the story. It’s their first love, both lovely and heartbreaking.

I enjoyed the book, but I know I would have enjoyed it more if the focus had remained on Bobby Garfield, Carol Gerber, and Ted Brautigan. Instead, three of the stories focus on other people; Hearts in Atlantis, in fact, focuses on people they mostly didn’t know (Carol has a small part in it, but doesn’t really do much.) I never did get what was going on. It was hard to imagine so many boys throwing away their college scholarships over a card game.

Both Blind Willie and Why We’re in Vietnam brings things closer to home, but still don’t have the magic of the first story. Even Heavenly Shades… isn’t all I would have hoped for.

So, basically, the four stars are because of the first story, which would have earned five if it had been a stand-alone. I would have loved more about Bobby, Ted, and Carol; what their lives were, and what they would become.






Mount TBR 2025 Book Links


Links are to more information regarding each book or author, not to the review.

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32. Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King










Katsu, Ketchum, King, or Koontz
1. You Like It Darker by Stephen King
2. Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King




JUN- “No Biz Like Show Biz”: Read a book in which the character(s) is involved in some aspect of the entertainment industry OR read a book that has been turned into a tv show or movie.

Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King

Hearts In Atlantis: 2001
Director: Scott Hicks
Writers: Stephen King, William Goldman
Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Anton Yelchin, Hope Davis