Hearts in Atlantis

I didn't expect to throw five stars at this one.

I remembered bits and pieces of this collection from my one and only read 25 years ago, however I do also remember truly enjoying the first story, and not being all that impressed with the ones that follow.

I was also 25 years younger, and now, some themes hit very differently.

I think the thing that bugged me the first time around was, I was expecting horror. The Low Men story delivered some, but then King seemingly eschews horror for the rest of the book...or does he?

King knows that horror can take many faces, and with this book, it's the horror of war—and the mentality of opposing war "at all costs" and what it can do to rational people—and he takes his time to examine it from many show more different angles.

And while all but one of the stories utterly captivated me, and a couple left me in tears, overall, this is King firing on all cylinders.

Just a gorgeous, terrible book. show less

I wanted to read this book because it's related to The Dark Tower series. Of the 500+ pages, only about half of it relates. And I loved that part.

The rest centers on the mid/late 1960s, Vietnam, the counter-culture, protestors, etc. As someone born in 1970, and a political conservative, I really didn't like the 2nd half of the book. Understand this isn't a reflection of King's writing. The guy's certainly one of the greatest American writers ever and certainly in the 20th Century. But I can't cheer for characters I don't philosophically respect.

If you're a child of the 60s, I think you'd "dig" the half I didn't. I'm not sure you would really get or appreciate the first part (especially if you haven't read DT) but damn, King writes kids show more well. That first section, DT-related or not, reminded me of "The Body," which of course became the movie "Stand by Me." show less

Riletto dopo tanti anni, sull'onda dell'aver rivisto il film omonimo con Antony Hopkins, ho aumentato il giudizio da 4 a 5 stelle, e deciso che questo è uno dei migliori libri di Stephen King, nonostante non abbia avuto il successo di altri titoli assai più sanguinolenti.
A tutti gli effetti è uno straordinario libro di formazione che, invece di limitarsi al momento del passaggio, esplora la vita dei suoi protagonisti dall'infanzia all'età adulta, con in mezzo niente popò di meno che il Vietnam.
Forse la mancanza di vero successo di questo libro risiede proprio nella sua dolente profondità, nella normalità delle reazioni, e della follia, di molti dei suoi protagonisti, nella certezza che ciascuno di loro alla fine tradirà, show more esattamente come avviene nella vita reale.
Splendido.

Read again after so many years, in the wake of having seen again the eponymous film with Anthony Hopkins, I increased the judgment from 4 to 5 stars, and decided that this is one of the best Stephen King books, despite not having had the success of others far more gory titles.
For all practical purposes is a unique bildungroman, that, instead of just the age of passage, explores the lives of its characters from childhood to adulthood, with in the half, unbelievably, Vietnam.
Perhaps the lack of success of this book lies in its sore depth, in the normal reactions, and madness, of many of its protagonists, in the certainty that each of them at the end will betray, just like we does in real life.
Beautiful. show less

Hearts in Atlantis has just taken its place as my favorite Stephen King novel. At first I was prepared to find this one mediocre, only liking the stories that directly related to my Dark Tower reading project. Instead I found this an incredible, melancholy lament for the children of the 60s, of the lost innocence that happened to this generation over the course of the thirty-nine years the book covers.

Not a full novel, but a collection of seemingly disparate novellas and short stories that actually all connect to one another through a series of characters. To me, the most fascinating feature of this connection is that it's not through any leading character that somehow connects all the others in some way only to tie it all together in show more the end. No, the one connecting factor in all of the stories making up Hearts in Atlantis is Carol Gerber.

Starting as a secondary character in "Low Men in Yellow Coats" (the primary Dark Tower story here), Carol flits through the lives of the main characters in some way, is either intentionally or unintentionally responsible for helping to drive their stories along. From her friendship and love of Bobby Garfield in "Low Men," we follow her to college where she falls for Pete Riley, narrator and Hearts addict of "Hearts in Atlantis." As Vietnam heats up, Carol becomes an anti-war protester and her life becomes fodder for the news, managing to unintentionally affect her former tormentor Willie Shearman as he does his penance in "Blind Willie" and childhood friend turned high school boyfriend John "Sully-John" Sullivan in "Why We're in Vietnam." The rest of Carol's strange and fascinating life as "Red Carol" remains as speculation when she reunites with Bobby in the final tale, "Heavenly Shades of Night are Falling." The Platters' "Twilight Time" is also a recurring theme in these stories.

Hearts in Atlantis is a brilliant example of a writer's use of sonder, the realization that each random passerby has their own rich and unique story. This is something I have always tried to incorporate into my own writing, using a minor character in one story as the lead in another; and this is what King does brilliantly here. Seeing other people from Carol Gerber's childhood interacting with those she knew in college, often without knowing of any actual connection to the girl herself, is one of my favorite parts of this book.

So, yes, this is one that I highly recommend if you're looking for a good cry over the lost potential of people and the loss of innocence from childhood to adulthood. show less

Did I note the poker theme in HiA and connect it to the hearts game in the other story? Does it connect more fully later?

As Hurt got settled into the book, his characterizations and nuance got even better. At first I thought his delivery would be too slow overall, but it is only that way when the story dictates a slower pace. Mostly this is with Ted's parts, but when Bobby muses something perplexing, he does the same.

I forgot about the mother-son relationship in this and it reminds me of Jack and his mother in Talisman - no father in sight and a very tense back and forth between the two. In Bobby's case, his mother is clearly hiding something and doing her best in what I think is a situation she didn't really want. So many women got show more stuck being mothers against their inclinations back then that I think ultimately it wasn't good for anyone, society included. A lot of kids got screwed up and Bobby seems to be one of them, although he's coming to grips with his situation as well as he can. It makes me wonder if she becomes clearer to us as Bobby ages. show less

Cinque stelle come la prima volta che lo lessi, ma solo perché non è possibile darne di più. Tra le cose migliori che King abbia scritto, un romanzo (seppur sia in realtà una raccolta di racconti connessi tra loro) malinconico ma di una bellezza rara. Così come Stagioni Diverse, è assolutamente da consigliare a chiunque pensi che lo scrittore del Maine sappia scrivere solo horror.

Critics have cited King's first novel, Carrie, when reviewing Hearts in Atlantis. Like Carrie, Hearts in Atlantis carries a running theme of the Vietnam War and psychological breakdowns. Like a television on in the background where no one is watching, the conflict begins as a faint constant presence, a hum, until it becomes a deafening roar by the end of the book. Despite having five separate narratives Hearts in Atlantis reads like a fragmented novel. The character narratives are sequential in nature, allowing the reading to stay connected to particular characters from beginning to end, even though the locations and stories change.
In the 254 page short novella that kicks off Hearts in Atlantis, "Low Men in Yellow Coats," eleven year show more old Bobby Garfield just wants to buy a bicycle. It is his birthday and all his mother can afford is an adult library card. This is when Bobby is introduced to William Golding's Lord of the Flies and the weird upstairs neighbor, Ted. Suddenly, adults are no longer the protectors he has always trusted. Predators lurk behind faces he has known all his life. Bobby was a good kid who slowly soured on doing the right thing. He sank lower into a life of crime - breaking windows, drinking, theft.
In the next short story, "Hearts in Atlantis," we leave Bobby and follow Pete who ends up dating Bobby's childhood girlfriend, Carol. Carol is now college-aged and she is the one who ties "Low Men in Yellow Coats" and "Hearts in Atlantis" together. In fact, she, together with the Vietnam war, are the linchpins that hold all of the stories together. show less