Rating: 
Summary: Hearts is lost
Review: This book was a great read if you know the style of Stephen King. Since this was the
first Stephen King novel I have ever read I feel that I missed an important part to the
reading.
The beginning of the story is about a young boy, Bobby Garfield, who's mother has very
relentless feelings toward him. She seems to ruin his life without even trying. It was very
captivating with the many adventures that he encounters. Then the story switches gears
to a new character. At this point of the story I was real perplexed about who this Pete
Riley was. I began to think that it was Bobby a few years later. It turns out that it is
about an man in his late teens who goes to college but ends up getting addicted to
gambling with his roommates. Although it did have some connection to the first story.
Carol Gerber was Bobby Garfield's first love. She ends up being great main character
throughout the entire book. King uses great description of the sixties and the Vietnam
war. He seems to bring the past to life. He uses the many peace rallies and the draft
vividly. He connects each character to the war.
The next mini story takes place with a character from the first story. He turns out to be
someone that he is not. He has many personalities and it was very confusing to see where
King was coming from.
The end of the book refers to the first story and towards the end he had lost my interest to
keep reading.
It was disappointing that Carol Gerber seems to be the main character. She does not have
much depth to her. She is the character that everyone can relate to, but she does not keep
the reader interested as a main character should.
These stories are very loosely tied together and that is was makes it confusing. I think
that King had many meanings to the story, but they were very hard to grasp. This book is
a great read if you understand Stephen King. Hearts in Atlantis is not good beginner
book, if you do not read Stephen King.
Rating: 
Summary: King vs. Reality... King comes out on top!
Review: I liked this book. No, I loved this book. It did human nature justice, and for that, I applaud Stephen King. Life does not always end in closure for those of us here on earth, so why
should every book end leaving you feeling calm and complete? If life didn't seem to go the way you want it to, you can't just hang it up and go to bed. Things will leave us puzzled and baffled for years to come. Hearts In Atlantis essentially takes the reality of life and slaps it in your face. The truths and bad-natured flaws shown in each situation; Bobby with his pent-up anger and spiteful vengeance, and Peter with his motivational weakness as well as his natural sadistic yet incredibly accurate response to Rip-Rip's misfortune, all reflect the reality displayed in King's writing. Hearts In Atlantis is truly a work of art and I highly recommend it to any reader who's looking for perspective.
Rating:
Summary: TAKES YOU BACK TO A TIME NOT FORGOTTEN
Review: THIS BOOK IS A MUST FOR ANYONE WHO LIVED AND LOVED THROUGH THE 50'S AND 60'S, AND THE VIETNAM WAR. IT WILL BRING BACK MEMORIES YOU HAD STORED AWAY AND IT WILL BRING THEM BACK TO YOU IN LIVING TECHNICOLOR IN YOUR MIND.I CRIED, I LAUGHED, I SIGHED AND HURT, REMEMBERING A TIME NONE OF US HAVE FORGOTTEN. A TRUE STEPHEN KING MASTERPIECE.
Rating: 
Summary: Really not that good...
Review: I, like many of the other reviewers, was disappointed in this book. The first story was interesting and I enjoyed it, but it went down hill from there. I kept waiting for him to tie it all together at the end, and it seemed like he was going to, but it just didn't happen; At least not for me. There were just too many unanswered questions... like who were the breakers? Who were the "low men"? How did the glove go from "Blind Willy" to Sully? What did Willy ever do about the cop?
Rating: 
Summary: A new low for King
Review: I thought The Tommyknockers was his worst book until this came out. If not for the reference to his Dark Tower series, I would have never believed Stephen King had written something this bad. The only story that isn't completely awful is the first one, which the movie was based upon. The rest are beyond terrible, especially the title story. Read at your own risk and have your vomit bag ready!
Rating:
Summary: not exactly a tour de force
Review: This book is disjointed somehow. It consists of 5 novellas that are loosely tied together. The first part, on Bobby Garfield in 1960, is the best of the lot, almost magical, and the most Steven King-like--but then the book shifts abruptly to another time and place in a whole different genre (introspective realism, for lack of a better term) and bores the reader with page after page of card games and cafeteria food. The 3rd novella didn't make a whole lot of sense and didn't come to "closure." Finally, in the last part, King tries to sew all this together, but there are so many loose ends it's impossible (just who were the Breakers supposed to be?)Plus, King never really gets inside the heads of these characters to provide insight into their motivations. Where the main female character, Carol, is concerned, that's a real shame. I grew up in the 60s in the area where this book takes place and I can tell you it completely misses the spirit of the times. Despite my disappointment, I'll still remain a Steven King fan.
Rating:
Summary: Not his best
Review: The first story about Bobby and Ted is the most fulfilling. The characters and situations are compelling, but its supernatural elements are vague and never explained, and then the story simply ends. The rest of the book is forgettable, and only tenuously tied into the first story. I kept wanting the book to come back around to Bobby and Ted, to understand the mystery hinted at in the first section, and some satisfactory closure. At the very end, Bobby does resurface but it's far too little (still no resolution to the mystery) and far too late.
Rating: 
Summary: Did I miss something??
Review: I liked this book. It had several different stories. I liked them all, I just didn't get how they related. I kept waiting for them all to come together. I feel like I missed a chapter or something. Worth the read, just expect to be confused at the end!!
Rating:
Summary: King Explores New Territory
Review: There's a touch of the supernatural in this offering from Stephen King, but it takes a back seat to the human element of the story, which is going to really hit home with those who were in collage-- or of that age-- in the '60s. "Hearts In Atlantis" is an especially poignant tale that follows the lives of a number of individuals in five interrelated sections, beginning in 1960 and finishing up in 1999. And, be forewarned, there is going to be no middle ground with this one; depending on where you were in your own life during the times depicted here, you're either going to love it or hate it, because quite frankly, it is so well written and so very real, that it is going to take you to a place you want to revisit, or to a place you may have spent a good deal of your life trying to forget. How you receive it is going to depend greatly on your own personal experiences and frame of reference. One way or another, it's going to take you on a journey that evokes a sense of time and place that will have an impact on you, the likes of which few novels are capable of producing. King deserves a lot of credit for this one, because even though it is a work of fiction, he obviously had to open himself up and take a journey of his own to so succinctly and honestly capture the events and lives of the characters he presents here. This is an examination of human nature that explores relationships on a number of different levels; how people relate not only to one another, but to the events of the times and the short and long term effects of it all on those involved. It's not always a pretty picture, but it certainly is real. And the characters to whom he introduces you quickly become more than names in a book. These are people you're going to care about, and you will probably find more than one with whom you are going to be able to relate and identify very closely. The single frustration I had with the story was that by the end of the first section, "Low Men In Yellow Coats," there is no resolution to the situation of one of the characters; I wanted a sense of closure to the episode that simply was not forthcoming. All I can say is, stick with it-- by the end of the book you'll know everything you need or want to know, and in the final analysis, "Hearts In Atlantis," beside being somewhat different than King's usual fare, is also one of his best. It's definitely a journey worth taking.
Rating:
Summary: Hearts in Atlantis
Review: This book held me so close I couldn't quit listening, "reading", (audiobook). Stephen King has put out so many novels, and this one truly shows you that he is thee master of the typewriter. The story does not come at you immediately, but once it bites, your are in its grips. Then I went to the Movie version of this book. How truly sad. I had to immediately go re-read, (listen), to the book again just to make sure that I had not mad a mistake and I loved it more the second time....Stephen King is great and he is training Peter Straub (who may really need no training because he is awsome), to be great. Book was A+++++
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