Rating: 
Summary: DEPRESSING, ALL OVER THE MAP
Review: I like Stephen King but I couldn't recommend this book to anyone. The first part is alright but it really leaves you hanging. I don't know if S.K. was trying to write "The Great American Novel" but he sure did jump around a lot. You will not come out of this book with a good feeling. King's short stories are great. When I finish them I wish that there was one more in the book. Hearts in Atlantis is one weird compilation.
Rating: 
Summary: Steve's Best!!
Review: Yes, I agree with most reviewers: Low Men in Yellow Coats was wonderful, chapter entitled Hearts in Atlantis a little boring, but the rest superb! If you're struggling through Chapter 2, do not despair. It gets better (a lot). Never has a Stephen King book taken me through emotional highs and lows like this. I relived the '60's and it was an enlightening journey back. The horror of that war is still upon us. Carol Gerber says that Ted Brautigan "knows how to push the right buttons." So does Stephen King, my friend, so does Stephen King. Love you, man. Wanda
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This book made me wish I hadn't already read all of SK's books so I could start from the beginning and read them all for the first time. The only thing I want to read after a SK book is another SK book.
Rating:
Summary: An amazing piece of literature
Review: Having lost my faith is King over the last few snoozy novels, I regained it back (and then some) after spending an intense day with this book. As a literature teacher, I have read some of the all time classics and some of the all time losers and this rates closer to a classic than anything else I have read by King. The characters were interestingly vibrant and the events that affected them were also hauntingly real. Having been born in 1968, I don't remember the era he recalls so affectionately in the first story, but that didn't dampen the sense of tragedy I felt as I watched the specter of the Vietnam War destroy these characters to whom I became so attached very quickly. The first story, with its supernatural edge, is a brilliant way to attact us and hook us on the lives of these kids who grow up to appear in the other stories. It was like seeing an old friend any time one of the kids from Harwich turned up in one of the other stories. This is a masterfull work; however, I am certain King's die-hard horror fans will be disappointed. Sometimes real life is more horrible than any monster lurking in the closet-which may just be the scariest thing King has ever had us consider. I highly recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: If you were in college in the late 60's....
Review: This is what it felt like watching the clock tick down. Skip all but the title story - they're like the plastic peanuts you get with a valuable shipment. Not even THAT worthy...
Rating:
Summary: It brought me back to the way I felt about the war.
Review: Bobby Garfield made me feel good about how he handled the events in Low Men in Yellow coats.What a brve kid. The story also made me love to hate his mother Liz.
Rating:
Summary: One of, if not, the best he's ever written
Review: Stephen King fans seem to be divided into two camps -- those who only want to read horror -- and those who appreciate his storytelling ability. Boy, can he write. These stories, especially the first two, are remarkable and as good as anything I've ever read. With "The Green Mile," "Bag of Bones" and now this book, he has won me over all over again. After being so terribly disappointed with some of his later works, he certainly redeems himself with this collection.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely fantastic, one of his best works to date
Review: This book, although not what you might consider a typical King work, is one of the best, most thought provoking novels he has ever written. It was like taking a trip back in time. The story line was not only wonderful, but he manages to capture the turbulance of the time and the opposing views of the war. He hits all sides of the equation with this one. The characters are so vivid and the imagery to great to put into words. I couldn't put this book down. I have read everything he has ever written and although I also love the horror, this was just as good if not better because it was so real. Thanks for a fabulous book Mr. King, I will definately read it again.
Rating:
Summary: King Writes A Non-Terror Novel, And It's Great!
Review: Kirkus Reviews has it right. This is a wonderful reflection on the innocence we lost in the Viet Nam era, with interesting, multi-layered characters you won't soon forget. There's little terror or suspense, so don't look for that here. And it's possible to find some minor quibbles (though perhaps the cartoonish nature of the characters in "Low Men" is all in Bobby's mind, a way for him to rationalize not helping his friend?). But if you like characters so real you can hear them breathing, people who are trying to deal with life's difficulties as best they can (even as you and I) and who can never escape the child they once were; if you like a story that's set against the backdrop of one of our most important and unforgettable eras, and is told imaginatively in five separate but related segments; if you like an upbeat ending that will touch your heart and raise your spirits, don't miss this book. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Now we know: Stephen King CAN write a boring book!
Review: I am a great admirer of King's story-telling abilities. The man is amazing: he can take the most unpromising premise (haunted car, haunted dog, haunted writer, etc.), and weave a compelling, scary, can't-put-down page-turner out of it. While I have found some plot turns (Pet Sematary) and features (King evidently has never met anyone, of any age, whose speech doesn't feature a constant flow of filthy language; nor has he ever met a practicing Christian), I have always marveled at his ability to weave a yarn.But not this time. The first part starts a promising story, and then drops it. The next and largest portion is a yawning, endless, go-nowhere chasm of a non-story, written as if it were a parody of all of King's pet obscenities and phrases *without* the redeeming factor of a hurtling plotline. I read it solely out of faith in King; I was sorely disappointed. Then a re-warmed short is stuck in, which goes nowhere; then the book ends, like a song dropped mid-verse. Someone may need to tell King that it's OK, he can rest and take a year off. We won't forget him. Go out, meet some *different* kinds of people, broaden your scope. Then by all means get back to it, and weave your spell again. We'll be waiting anxiously.
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