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Hearts in Atlantis

3.72 of 5 stars 3.72 · rating details · 41,033 ratings · 843 reviews

Stephen King, whose first novel, Carrie, was published in 1974, the year before the last U.S. troops withdrew from Vietnam, is the first hugely popular writer of the TV generation. Images from that war - and the protests against it - had flooded America's living rooms for a decade. Hearts in Atlantis, King's newest fiction, is composed of five interconnected, sequential na...more

Paperback, Film tie-in, 640 pages

Published 2001 by New English Library (first published September 14th 1999)

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Jan 13, 2010 Leslie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: permanent-collection, horror

What can I say about this novel? First and foremost I would say that this is not what we know as the typical Stephen King novel. The book is 4 inter-related stories that deal with the 60's and the Vietnam war. Outside of the Dark Tower tie-in and the Low Men in Yellow Coats, the emphasis here isn't on the supernatual. Instead, they focus on the very 'natural' cruelty of humanity. While not altogether necessary, I found that my experience of this book was further enriched by reading Golding's 'Lo...more

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Apr 29, 2013 Daniel rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: dessert-reading

No one has ever written the joys of boyhood better than Stephen King. That's not what people talk about when they talk about him, but it's true. It's a subject that needs to be written about entirely without pretense and absolutely free of language too large for ball games and playing in the mud. Between this one, The Body, and It, the good reader will find himself transported into the actual moments of young pleasure, before girls take over and ruin the perfect freedom of true youth. Not that g...more No one has ever written the joys of boyhood better than Stephen King. That's not what people talk about when they talk about him, but it's true. It's a subject that needs to be written about entirely without pretense and absolutely free of language too large for ball games and playing in the mud. Between this one, The Body, and It, the good reader will find himself transported into the actual moments of young pleasure, before girls take over and ruin the perfect freedom of true youth. Not that girls are bad, of course, just that something breaks at the moment when boys become aware of them and it never comes all the way back. Often, I wonder about how much of a man's life is spent trying to dance between the moment before and the excitement that comes after the discovery of girls. This small gap is the space that King covers in several of his books and all of them are delightful and thrilling in the way that only a carnival can be to a young boy. Moments of the supernatural and plot aside, it's this subject that draws me to the book.

For reasons I can't fully explain, I've read the first 200 pages of this one half a dozen times over the years but never finished it. I've purchased the audiobook twice (by accident) and bought the paperback two or three times (lost copies). I've decided to finish it this time because it's been hanging there, a desire that's been unfulfilled and dangling over me for years. Somehow, I need to be free of it, or at least have passed the experience into the history of my reading pleasures. So here I go.

William Hurt was a good choice for the audiobook. There's something about his voice that's trance-like and lulls you right in. I'm glad I've decided to finally and fully experience the book in just this way.

King himself read the the next two stories in the book. Some reviewers suggested that the other stories were boring, but that wasn't my feel at all. I quite enjoyed them, especially the title story. I can see, however, that someone whose only reason for reading King is action/horror excitement may not find much of value in a book that's mostly composed of nostalgia and a look back at the turning points that shaped us as people. It's not exactly the stuff of horror lore. If you're that sort, you might want to shuffle on and find another book because this one is far too delicate and filled with entirely too much longing for the adventure seeking reader.

Hurt returned for the final story. By now, the crossover between all the stories and characters was wrapped up tight and everywhere. It seemed almost like a novel with shifting perspectives over the years. Depending on your point of view, the interconnections could come across as overly-coincidental or just a tidy way of letting us know where things ended up with various people we'd come to know in their youth. I prefer the latter. Actually, I loved touching in on people years later, finding out how they'd turned out without the direct story of it ever really being the point of the story itself.

The plain fact is that this book got to me far more than it should have. It was a beautiful novel shaped like short stories and made of youth lost and memory unwound. Maybe it took me so long to actually read it because I needed the years between to lose more and more of my past into the old fireplace of time. Maybe I needed to remember only enough to know how much I'd lost and how beautiful so much of it had been. Maybe it's a book that can only be understood when your life has made the same sorts of strange turns and you look back, wondering, lost, wistful.(less)

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Feb 01, 2011 Wizzard rated it 5 of 5 stars

King is the master of horror. The first story hinted at great horror while including enough realism to ring true emotionally. These interlinked stories deal with the loss of innocence that comes from leaving childhood behind using the Vietnam War as a backdrop. This is not a horror story but a gripping tale that displays a deep need for healing within our nation because of our relationship to war/violence.

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Sep 09, 2012 Rachel rated it 5 of 5 stars

No one would claim that King is Shakespear. That being said, SK has crafted stories like "The Body" and "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" in such a way that to dismiss the people within them as "characters" is somehow lacking. The outer novella in HEARTS IN ATLANTIS was like that for me. "Low Men in Yellow Coats" although referential to King's SF Gunslinger series is easily a stand alone. Bobby and Ted are drawn so expertly, so deftly, that as I read this book, I felt as though I was...more

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Apr 19, 2013 ↜ᙅĦɐᾖ☂єℓℓᙓ↝ rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1-own-pb-or-hb, stephen-king

Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King was a great book, in my opinion. It contains 5 short stories, from different period in Bobby's life.
The first is Low Men in Yellow Coats. In this one we learn Bobby's dad died young, of a heart attack, and loved to gamble. And he's mom's favorite saying is "your father didn't exactly leave us well off." He see a bike he really wants for his 11th birthday, but she says they can't afford it.
The second is Hearts in Atlantis. Blind Willie is third. And Why We're...more

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Apr 09, 2013 Jeremy Bates rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is one of King's books you love or hate because it's not typical King, per say. There's no Pennywise-type demon, no haunted mansion, no devil-in-an-antique-shop. Nevertheless, a lot of critics tend to agree some of King's best work is the stuff least influenced by the supernatural. I agree. One of my favorite novellas he's written is The Body--nothing but four kids going on a journey of self-discovery.

Anyway, Hearts is an engaging tale about the baby boomer generation, propagating the view...more

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Feb 07, 2013 Al rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

SUMMARY:

Stephen King, whose first novel, Carrie, was published in 1974, the year before the last U.S. troops withdrew from Vietnam, is the first hugely popular writer of the TV generation. Images from that war -- and the protests against it -- had flooded America's living rooms for a decade. 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 th...more

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Feb 02, 2013 Brian Schwartz rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

HEARTS IN ATLANTIS is one of Stephen King’s more critically acclaimed novels. Perhaps critics missed the genre references in the opening story. But they are correct to herald it. I was moved by the story and its characters.

As I stated earlier, I can’t stand to listen to hippies wax nostalgic about the 60s. I’ve read enough and studied enough and examined the decade without romantic attachment. I’m much happier to have grown up in the 1980s and Reagan’s America.

However, King does not romanticize....more HEARTS IN ATLANTIS is one of Stephen King’s more critically acclaimed novels. Perhaps critics missed the genre references in the opening story. But they are correct to herald it. I was moved by the story and its characters.

As I stated earlier, I can’t stand to listen to hippies wax nostalgic about the 60s. I’ve read enough and studied enough and examined the decade without romantic attachment. I’m much happier to have grown up in the 1980s and Reagan’s America.

However, King does not romanticize. Each of his characters emerges from the decade broken somehow. King is perhaps too hard on his generation when, as the novel winds down, he criticizes them for trading peace and love for junk bonds and cocaine. As much as I used to enjoy occasionally baiting my late mother into an argument about how her generation was the most spoiled in history, the Baby Boomers deserve credit for bringing about positive cultural, political, and social change.

King is right to not spare his generation’s most radical members in his story. The Weathermen Underground is one of the most despicable groups ever to form in the United States – and it is clearly the Weathermen Underground that King has in mind when he recounts Carol’s life journey. Perhaps their was a touch of the Symbionese Liberation Army in there, too. But as much as the sixties were about peace and love on the home front, there was as much disorder and harm created by the movement.

Certainly, we can interpret the demise of John Sullivan as the death of the Age of Aquarius as he is bombarded with household furnishings and other possessions that the Baby Boomers sought to acquire as they grew up and abandoned their ideals.

As much as Ray Bradbury chronicled pre-depression America with his tales of Greentown, IL, Stephen King is a chronicler of his generation with books such as this and It which masks a tale of growing up American in the 1950s with a horror story. Bradbury broke the barrier that has held back three generations of genre fiction writers from being recognized as “serious” writers with something important to contribute to literature. Perhaps King will one day get his due. With HEARTS IN ATLANTIS, he certainly earned it. (less)

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Sep 14, 2012 Lacie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

A very compelling and depressing book, made up of two novellas and three short stories. The first novella is what touched me the most and made me give it a five star rating. The second novella struck me as rather bland, but still readable, while the short stories picked up the feeling of the former.

As I embarked on a three day reading experience, I didn't expect to fall so deeply in love with these stories. I was simply picking up an old, worn out book, that I had found just lying around the ho...more A very compelling and depressing book, made up of two novellas and three short stories. The first novella is what touched me the most and made me give it a five star rating. The second novella struck me as rather bland, but still readable, while the short stories picked up the feeling of the former.

As I embarked on a three day reading experience, I didn't expect to fall so deeply in love with these stories. I was simply picking up an old, worn out book, that I had found just lying around the house. Just something to keep me entertained while I waited for my ride to leave. However once I started it and I became almost inseparable.

I originally saw the movie roughly a year before experiencing this book. I enjoyed it whole heartily, and gave it a solid seven rating on IMDB. However, once beginning the novel I experienced how the characters truly were, I realized that ultimately, the movie was a terrible deconstruction of what was a remarkable story full of feelings, both terrible and good.

The characters were what made the novel such an adventure. The plot got a bit confusing at times, and when somebody asked me what it was about, I was absolutely stumped. It's terrible hard to describe the plot, especially for the first novella Low Men in Yellow Hats. For me, it really wasn't what made me continue on with the story, but the characters. I loved most of them, the naive young children, the vain and troubled mother, the wise and good humored old man. The villains. . . Well, the villains are wretched, but incredible well written; and are not shown in a black and white morality system. But are different shades of gray.

In the end, the plot is confusing, hard to pinpoint exactly. There are so much subplots going on in it, more so than most novellas usually have. It's a truly remarkable story; Low Men in Yellow Hats, that is. The second novella lets me down a bit, but continuing after the first part is essential to see the return of your beloved characters from the first story.

Be warned before reading, though, that this isn't as light as a story as the title may suggest. It's dark, it's edgy, and it's depressing. But it's truly a thought provoking story, and one I would recommend to anybody who can appreciate good literature.
(less)

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Jul 31, 2012 Rebecca rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

I got hooked on Stephen King early in life. My mother is a huge fan of his and has almost every book he's ever written. One hot boring summer in high school, when it was too hot to do anything but lay around the house, I decided to start reading her copies of King's books. I started out with The Dark Tower series, and in between books 4 and 5, I took a break to check out some of King's other books. I started reading the book jacket for Hearts in Atlantis and decided to try it. I read it in one n...more

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Jul 06, 2012 Donna BookWorm rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Hearts in Atlantis
So I've been meaning to read Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King for quite some time but I never did it because A.) I have the hard cover and it's heavy and B.) Anthony Hopkins on the cover always kinda weirded me out (yea I know, stupid reason but it's the truth, and what's sad is that my copy doesn't even HAVE Anthony Hopkins on the cover). Any way basic Plot Summary: The book is a collection of 5 interconnected stories that range from 1960-1999. The first story takes place in...more Hearts in Atlantis
So I've been meaning to read Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King for quite some time but I never did it because A.) I have the hard cover and it's heavy and B.) Anthony Hopkins on the cover always kinda weirded me out (yea I know, stupid reason but it's the truth, and what's sad is that my copy doesn't even HAVE Anthony Hopkins on the cover). Any way basic Plot Summary: The book is a collection of 5 interconnected stories that range from 1960-1999. The first story takes place in 1960 and follows 11 year old Bobby Garfield, his two friends, Sully-John and Carol Gerber and his new upstairs neighbor Ted-who introduces Bobby to The Lord of the Flies. The next story is about Pete Riley in 1966 who while at college gets addicted to playing Hearts. At college he meets Carol Gerber and after he almost completely fails thanks to his gambling he gets a wake up call about both education, and the war. The next story is about Willie Sherman whom we see in the first story, but now its somewhere in the 1980s and he's a "blind" man doing penance on the streets of NYC. We see Sully-John in the next story in 1999 where he goes to a fellow Vet's funeral and reminisces about the war with his former Loot. Finally it's still 1999 and we see Bobby and Carol again and they tie up the majority of the loose ends.
What I liked:
The first story was my favorite out of all of them. It was the most involved, most developed and it was linked to the Dark Tower series.
Ted was great, he was such a great role model for all the kids, 'specially since all of them by Sully-John had family problems
Stephen King did a great job reproducing a sulky 11 year old, normally all his younger characters are too old but Bobby and his bitterness towards his mother was perfect
I liked how all the stories were interconnected-and all of them were connected through Carol Gerber-Carol was best friends with Bobby and Sully-John, Pete fell in love with Carol in college, Willie was making up for his part in dislocating her shoulder in the first story, Sully-John dated her and followed her life in the papers, and then she and Bobby reunite. There are also other character carry overs like Willie and Ronnie. And the war in Vietnam is what truly brings all theses characters together.
The story focused in Sully-John was also great-his war flashbacks were so well done and King did a great job (I think) of putting you in his head and having you feel that same anxiety that plagued the Vet's after the war
What I didn't like:
I wasn't overly fond of Pete Riley...he seemed like a weak character and he cried way too much
Willie's story was a little on the confusing side and almost not necessary, it also felt like there were a lot of loose ends at the end of the story-nothing was really resolved
Other than that it was a great read and I'm glad I finally got around to actually reading it!
Happy Readings!
<3 The Book Worm(less)

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May 02, 2012 Ernie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Karen K. recommended this, in part, because I enjoyed SKs book on the JFK assassination. I liked this one too. Previously, I avoided Stephen King because "Children of the Corn" and such things creep me out. I don't do horror and SK seemed to be a horror writer. Apparently not always.

I liked this book. I don't understand it. I don't know why the story was crafted the way it was. But I enjoyed it and that was enough. Understanding can come later if not at all when reading for pleasure. But I am...more

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Jan 17, 2012 Richard Barnes rated it 3 of 5 stars

It is as well written and engaging as any Stephen King book, which gives it a solid 3 stars, but it doesn't rate up with 5 star King like Misery, Different Seasons or Salem's Lot.

This book is made up of five linked stories - the main story, "Low Men in Yellow coats" is the best, being the coming of age story of Bobby, a 12 year old who gets to know a mysterious older man over the course of the summer, while dealing with local bullies, first true love and his difficult, widowed mother. The old ma...more

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Nov 16, 2011 Mary_stephens rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is quite atypical for King. Despite this, I was pleased with the outcome.
First of all, normally whenever I get myself one of his books, then I want to read something in genres like horror, supernatural... or something else that scares the hell out of me. This book is different.
At first I din't even want to read this book, I just lend it from the library because I needed something to read and after 15 pages I was hooked.
It admittedly is a rather unusual book itself, in that it is an ant...more

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Oct 06, 2011 Max rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is really split into three sections, with a very thin line of connection between them.

The first section was really cool. It describes a trio of youth and how one of them is helping an older man, who has moved into their upstairs apartment, look at for "men of low character" (especially ones wearing yellow coats). It was built-up well and had a good flow, and had an ominous foreboding of what could happen and hinted at a larger conflagration between two (assumed) extraterrestrial groups...more

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Jul 18, 2011 Dominica Phetteplace rated it 3 of 5 stars

Hearts in Atlantis is a collection of two novellas and three short stories. The first entry is the novella “Low Men in Yellow Coats.” It is the longest piece, about 250 pages and nearly half the book’s entire length. It is also the best, and the rest of the book suffers by comparison.
“Low Men in Yellow Coats” is set in the summer of 1960 and tells the story of eleven-year-old Bobby Garfield. It starts out nostalgic, there is baseball, b-movie matinees, a day at the carnival and a cute girl that...more Hearts in Atlantis is a collection of two novellas and three short stories. The first entry is the novella “Low Men in Yellow Coats.” It is the longest piece, about 250 pages and nearly half the book’s entire length. It is also the best, and the rest of the book suffers by comparison.
“Low Men in Yellow Coats” is set in the summer of 1960 and tells the story of eleven-year-old Bobby Garfield. It starts out nostalgic, there is baseball, b-movie matinees, a day at the carnival and a cute girl that has a crush on Bobby. There is a creeping dread around the edges, brief appearances from neighborhood bullies and whispers about pedophiles and the “Low Men” and the dread begins to build and build. Speculative elements are introduced, and magic begins to feel real and dangerous. Ray Bradbury is self-consciously namedropped. And then everything changes in a single, horrifying day. When it was finally over, it felt too short and I wanted more. It would turn out to be a long wait.
The next novella is “Hearts in Atlantis.” It’s the account of Pete Riley’s first year at the University of Maine in 1966. It mostly has to do with his gambling addiction (“Hearts” refers to the card game) and the anti-war sentiment that is beginning to spread around campus. I suspected that this was part memoir, and Stephen King hints as much in his afterward. It has, disappointingly, only a single character from the first novella. But there is no magic, no alternate realities, no dread, no nostalgia or even anti-nostalgia. It’s literary fiction. “Hearts” might have been a good read on its own, but it suffers by being placed after “Low Men.” Similar things can be said about the two short stories that follow that follow “Hearts.” It’s not until the last story that we get another look at Bobby Garfield, and by then it feels like too little, too late.
A character in the “Low Men” novella makes a mention of something called the “Dark Tower.” This drove me to wikipedia to confirm that, yes, this novella ties in to King’s Dark Tower series (which is described as a high-fantasy mix of Tolkien and the Wild West). Now I’m thinking about jumping in, even though the series is at eight books and counting, with a related Marvel Comics series with dozens of issues. Intriguing, and intimidating. But I really did enjoy “Low Men” a great deal.
(less)

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Jun 10, 2011 Tommy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 11th-grade-4th-quarter

this book counts as 3

this is my first time reading a book from the great Steven King. his writing is so detailed that you actually seem like your there and it seems like your watching a movie that's how detailed it is. for me it was a hard read. i understood a lot of the book and also didn't understand a lot of the book. im guessing its because it was so long that a lot of info slipped out of me.

hearts in altantis has a lot to the story, it was 700 pages!!! the reason why this book was named h...more

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Apr 08, 2011 BarkLessWagMore rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobook, horror

I read this in its unabridged audiobook format and was initially held spellbound. At first glance, this isn't a book I'd pick up and read on my own which is is probably why I didn't purchase it before now but I always enjoy Stephen King's voice and the first story "Low Men In Yellow Coats" is no exception.

It clocks in at 320+ pages and is a novel in and of itself. "Low Men" tells the story of Bobby, a young boy growing up in the 60's with a bitter, angry mother who claims to love him but who de...more

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Mar 05, 2011 Kathleen Dienne rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

There's a scene in one of the novellas, where the college kids are punch drunk and feeling wild, and one of the other students (a handicapped boy) is splashing and sliding on his crutches through ice and slush. Eventually he falls over. Total pandemonium breaks out. Everyone is laughing hysterically, and the laughter doesn't stop even as they're carrying the guy to the health center.

This is not funny. This is also one of the funniest sections of the book, for me.

We've all had a moment in our li...more

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Jan 31, 2011 Alex Telander rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2002

The book Hearts in Atlantis was published a few years ago, and the movie came out last year with Anthony Hopkins. Now it is possible to listen to the entire story on audiobook, read by the soft, deep tones of William Hurt and the sharp but familiar nasal spats of Stephen King; complete and unabridged.

The first story is “Low Men in Yellow Coats,” read by William Hurt, it is essentially what the movie version of Hearts in Atlantis was based on. Though some prior Dark Tower knowledge is recommended...more

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Jan 29, 2011 Tancredi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, statunitensi

"Sometimes when you're young, you have moments of such happiness you think you're living in someplace magical, like Atlantis must have been? then we grow up and our hearts break into two."

Cuori in Atlantide è il primo libro di Stephen King che ho letto. E' anche il primo libro in inglese che leggo, fuori dai doveri scolastici ed escludendo la saga di Harry Potter.
Stephen King è un autore estremamente - ed esageratamente - prolifico, oltre che noto in tutto il pianeta, e certamente non necessita

...more

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Dec 18, 2009 Hassan Chaudhry rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 9th-grade-advisory

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The novel Hearts in Atlantis is a magnificent book due to Stephen King’s ability to create a great exposition, the way the characters relationships with other characters develop, and the writing style of the Stephen King which enhances the reading experience of the book. If your familiar to many other Stephen King novels such as Carrie and Misery you will enjoy this book even though it is not of the same genre.
Stephen Kings Hearts in Atlantis portrays a great deal of descriptive detail. In the...more The novel Hearts in Atlantis is a magnificent book due to Stephen King’s ability to create a great exposition, the way the characters relationships with other characters develop, and the writing style of the Stephen King which enhances the reading experience of the book. If your familiar to many other Stephen King novels such as Carrie and Misery you will enjoy this book even though it is not of the same genre.
Stephen Kings Hearts in Atlantis portrays a great deal of descriptive detail. In the first story you see the life of Bobby Garfield, an average eleven year old boy, who is living during the 60s a kid who still experiences the death and mystery behind who his father is. His mother’s differences and mostly the new pellicular neighbor next door. While reading Hearts in Atlantis you can feel like you are right next to Bobby living in the 60s walking down the streets of Bridgeport to his later years of his life. In the second story you could especially feel the life of Peter Riley, a college student, living in the confusing times of the Vietnamese War era and its impact on him and his fellow students. Everyday scared, Peter Riley tries his best to prevent going overseas to the war. Reading his college experience Kings precise details on Peter Riley’s challenge to live, the life of his roommates, the danger of the draft, and of course, the game of Hearts. Hearts in Atlantis description of the time period is simply magnificent.
Another reason the book was superb was the way King develops the characters relationship and how much he makes you able to understand them. For example in the story Low men in yellow coats in Hearts in Atlantis King crafts a relationship that continually builds as Bobby soon learns more and more about the deep secrets of his new friend and neighbor Ted. As they bond more Bobby learns not just new things but more on his family and changes himself from the secrets he learned being with Ted. It is easy to imagine Bobby Garfield as a real human being since his character is so well depicted by the author.
An additional reason why Stephen King’s novel is spectacular because of Stephen Kings writing style. The way King writing compliments the characters faultlessly and makes them seem much more alive rather then stiff intangible characters. Such as the way they have the college kids make them actually have a real conversation like how college students had vulgarity in the way they talk rather then have them say something idiotic. This again shows how much of an exceptional piece of literature.
Overall I found Hearts in Atlantis to be incredibly magnificent and an amazing read. Stephen King’s ability to tell a story is always the best and this book is another example of how great of a writer Stephen King is and how the book Hearts in Atlantis is a book worth your time reading. (less)

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Dec 17, 2009 Hassan rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Draft #4
The novel Hearts in Atlantis is a magnificent book due to Stephen King’s ability to create a great exposition, the way the characters relationships with other characters develop, and the writing style of the Stephen King which enhances the reading experience of the book. If your familiar to many other Stephen King novels such as Carrie and Misery you will enjoy this book even though it is not of the same genre.
Stephen Kings Hearts in Atlantis portrays a great deal of descriptive detail...more Draft #4
The novel Hearts in Atlantis is a magnificent book due to Stephen King’s ability to create a great exposition, the way the characters relationships with other characters develop, and the writing style of the Stephen King which enhances the reading experience of the book. If your familiar to many other Stephen King novels such as Carrie and Misery you will enjoy this book even though it is not of the same genre.
Stephen Kings Hearts in Atlantis portrays a great deal of descriptive detail. In the first story you see the life of Bobby Garfield, an average eleven year old boy, who is living during the 60s a kid who still experiences the death and mystery behind who his father is. His mother’s differences and mostly the new pellicular neighbor next door. While reading Hearts in Atlantis you can feel like you are right next to Bobby living in the 60s walking down the streets of Bridgeport to his later years of his life. In the second story you could especially feel the life of Peter Riley, a college student, living in the confusing times of the Vietnamese War era and its impact on him and his fellow students. Everyday scared, Peter Riley tries his best to prevent going overseas to the war. Reading his college experience Kings precise details on Peter Riley’s challenge to live, the life of his roommates, the danger of the draft, and of course, the game of Hearts. Hearts in Atlantis description of the time period is simply magnificent.
Another reason the book was superb was the way King develops the characters relationship and how much he makes you able to understand them. For example in the story Low men in yellow coats in Hearts in Atlantis King crafts a relationship that continually builds as Bobby soon learns more and more about the deep secrets of his new friend and neighbor Ted. As they bond more Bobby learns not just new things but more on his family and changes himself from the secrets he learned being with Ted. It is easy to imagine Bobby Garfield as a real human being since his character is so well depicted by the author.
An additional reason why Stephen King’s novel is spectacular because of Stephen Kings writing style. The way King writing compliments the characters faultlessly and makes them seem much more alive rather then stiff intangible characters. Such as the way they have the college kids make them actually have a real conversation like how college students had vulgarity in the way they talk rather then have them say something idiotic. This again shows how much of an exceptional piece of literature.
Overall I found Hearts in Atlantis to be incredibly magnificent and an amazing read. Stephen King’s ability to tell a story is always the best and this book is another example of how great of a writer Stephen King is and how the book Hearts in Atlantis is a book worth your time reading. (less)

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Jun 20, 2009 Diamond rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone

Shelves: horror_supernatural, stephen-king

An excellent book, and one that is easily in my top three for Stephen King's work.

It's a collection of stories that interweaves through the lives of several characters and tells how events early in their lives affected everything that happened after. It flows easily from one story to the next, even though they are almost all told from a different character's point of view. However like most of King's work, it is the characters themselves that makes the stories come alive, and also in this parti...more An excellent book, and one that is easily in my top three for Stephen King's work.

It's a collection of stories that interweaves through the lives of several characters and tells how events early in their lives affected everything that happened after. It flows easily from one story to the next, even though they are almost all told from a different character's point of view. However like most of King's work, it is the characters themselves that makes the stories come alive, and also in this particular case, the setting of the stories themselves.

For me it was a story of how some things can change the course of not just one life, but the lives of everyone that surrounds that person. It's about how sometimes in our lives there are places and times that we never really leave, and that leave an imprint on our souls. It is a story that I know I will end up reading again and again.

Favorite quotes/passages:

..."The Simak book id a great story", he said. "not such great writing, though. Not bad, I don't mean to say that, but take it from me, there are better."
Bobby waited.
"There are also books full of great writing that don't have very good stories. Read sometimes for the story, Bobby. Don't be like the book-snobs who won't do that. Read sometimes for the words--the language. Don't be like the play-it-safers that won't so that. But when you find a book that has both a good story and good words, treasure that book."

Dearie looked at Skip, also mute. Then he looked at me. His face was expressionless, almost dead, but I wished I had for once forgone the smartass impulse. The trouble is, for the born smartass, the impulse has nine times out of ten been acted upon before the brain can even engage first gear...

I started on my way, nettled in spite of my nine bucks. Us class clowns aren't wild about making friends--two or three are apt to do us for a lifetime--but we don't react very well to the bum's rush, either. Our goal is vast numbers of acquaintances whom we can leave laughing.

...Anything that has the power to make you laugh over thirty years later isn't a waste of time. I think something like that is very close to immortality.

..."Hearts are tough, Pete. Most times they don't break. Most times they only bend."

...It had been in their hands then; he was quite sure of it. But kids lose everything, kids have slippery fingers and holes in their pockets and they lose everything.(less)

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Jun 05, 2009 Amanda rated it 3 of 5 stars

I really loved the first story, but really couldn't get into the other ones. I don't know why, only I found myself skimming. The first story, the one of Bobby Garfield's childhood, had this Bradbudy-esque feel to it(not the first time I'll compare S.K. to Ray B.-look at "The Body"). It's the kind of childhood I always wished I could have. Well, minus the Low Men and the scary mother and the violent bullies. It was the only story that really shined for me. The next one, about the college kids and...more

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May 23, 2009 Jessica rated it 3 of 5 stars

Didn't realize when I picked this up that it had started out as a collection of short stories. I spent some time being frustrated and confused by the direction of the book, only to realize that it was supposed to be that way because of how they were written.

In reality, the only story that I really enjoyed was the first one, about Bobby's youth. I liked the interaction between Bobby and Ted, and the psychic connection that the two shared. For me, this short was conveyed the best, and kept me capt...more

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May 19, 2009 Lindsay rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Lindsay by: Ben Harris

Shelves: feels-like-summer

There are actually five interconnected stories here of decreasing length and quality. The first story, “Low Men in Yellow Coats,” is the longest (and the one on which the movie [which I haven’t seen:] was apparently based). It is also the best (independently I would give it a 4). I tend to enjoy child protagonists and coming-of-age stories, add in a supernatural element and it’s pretty much a recipe for A Story Lindsay Will Like as long as it’s decently written, so this worked for me. Next comes...more

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Aug 22, 2012 Stupidusatmaildotcom rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: oh-the-horror

Remember enjoying it.

But I must say that I hate authors making references to past stories they've written inside another story.

It's cute for a 15-year-old, but in King's case just smells like a marketing ploy.

"Ok, so you didn't really like this story that much? Oh you hated it? Oh, I'm so sad to hear that. But listen, I have these other stories that are pretty good. No, I said better. Yes, you must have heard me wrong. You really, really should read them. Because they are awesome! Yeah, I've act...more

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Jul 19, 2012 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

I found this collection of interconnected short stories irresistible.

"Low Men in Yellow Coats" I enjoyed mostly for the connection to "The Dark Tower" series as a side adventure of Ted from Thunderclap, but also for the heart breaking lose of innocence portrayed. .

"Hearts In Atlantis" hit close to home as far as the degeneration of academic spirit in the light of "distractions" and other college freshman tomfoolery. The 3rd floor lounge brings back memories of my first semester of college spen...more

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Oct 14, 2012 02DonovanP rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Hearts in Atlantis is a book about the good and bad times of the Nineteen-sixties.

The story starts with a little boy named Bobby Garfield who meets an elderly man named Ted. As Bobby and Ted get to know each other they develop a spiritual bond. Soon enough Bobby and Ted move away from each other. Ted gets captured by "low men in yellow coats" and is imprisoned. Bobby moves away from his hometown and gets into a lot of trouble. Bobby and his mom start to hate each other. One day Bobby gets a lett...more Hearts in Atlantis is a book about the good and bad times of the Nineteen-sixties.

The story starts with a little boy named Bobby Garfield who meets an elderly man named Ted. As Bobby and Ted get to know each other they develop a spiritual bond. Soon enough Bobby and Ted move away from each other. Ted gets captured by "low men in yellow coats" and is imprisoned. Bobby moves away from his hometown and gets into a lot of trouble. Bobby and his mom start to hate each other. One day Bobby gets a letter from Ted filled with rose petals letting Bobby know that he is free. Bobby decides that it is time to act like a man.

The book then switches to a man in college named Pete Riley. In college he meets peonle like Skip Kirk, Stoke Jones III, Nate Hoppendstand, and Ronnie Melanfant. But no one had such an influence on Pete like Carol Gerber. At first Pete tries to stay away from Carol because he has his own girlfriend at home, but he finally talks to her and asks her out to a date. Carol an Pete soon fall in love. One day Carol finds out she has to leave so she can take care of her alcaholic mother. As you can imagine Petes was crushed by this news. The story gets depressing after Carol leaves. Pete tries to keep good grades to graduate but he struggles because he has to get over Carol and is addicted to a game called Hearts, but he pulls through with his best friend Skip. The ending is a little bland but not much. It ends with Skip Kirk in the hospital because of a heart attack. He tells Pete to never forget that they tried.

After that, the book ends with three short stories. The first is about Willie Sherman (a.k.a Bill Sherman and Blind willie garfield) and a day in the life of the man who, as a child, helped beat Carol Gerber up. Then the second story is about John Sullivan (the best friend of Carol and Bobby) and his time in Vietnam as a soldier. Lastly, the third story goes back to Bobby visiting his hometown.

I reccomend this book to anyone who can handle it. Hearts in atlantis is a very depressing and vocabulary heavy book so it is not for the faint of heart. I thought that Hearts in Atlantis is a really good book considering that Stephen King is usually a Horror writer. It got really confusing and boring at times but overall it was a good book. (less)

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About Stephen King

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947, the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his parents separated when Stephen was a toddler, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family...more Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947, the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his parents separated when Stephen was a toddler, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of the elderly couple. Other family members provided a small house in Durham and financial support. After Stephen's grandparents passed away, Mrs. King found work in the kitchens of Pineland, a nearby residential facility for the mentally challenged.

Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and then Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional. He graduated from the University of Maine at Orono in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level. A draft board examination immediately post-graduation found him 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums.

He and Tabitha Spruce married in January of 1971. He met Tabitha in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University of Maine at Orono, where they both worked as students. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men's magazines.

Stephen made his first professional short story sale ("The Glass Floor") to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men's magazines. Many of these were later gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies.

In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching high school English classes at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels.(less)

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Quotes from Hearts in Atlantis

“Hearts can break. Yes, hearts can break. Sometimes I think it would be better if we died when they did, but we don't.” — 590 people liked it

“Friends don’t spy; true friendship is about privacy, too.” — 238 people liked it

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