Hearts In Atlantis

Rating:
Summary: glimpse back into the 60's compelling for all readers
Review: Let me begin by saying I am sixteen years old. Obviously, I did not experience the sixties, so this novel had no chance from the beginning to strike a chord within me or launch a wave of nostalgia. However, as I'm sure other non-sixties readers have experienced, this novel neevrtheless transported me back into that era, particularly during the first two sections. Its keen character development and plots that were thought provoking, wildly funny, satirical, and just flat out fun to read all at once were at a level elevated even from King's usual grandeur.
The first section of the book, novel-length in its own right, details the experiences of twelve year Bobby Garfield living with his bitter single mother and his mysterious old friend, Ted Brautigan. Ted is a character similar to The Green Mile's John Caffey, in that he has mysterious mental powers that transform Bobby's life.
The true gem of this novel, however, is the long middle section entitled "Hearts in Atlantis". Though the name suggests some profound plot or content, it should be taken literally; the story is about college boys who become hooked playing hearts at the University of Maine while under the constant shadow of the Vietnam War and flunking their courses. There are many reasons why I love this section; mainly, it is just so much fun to read. The characters, from the obscene and sarcastic Ronnie to the wise voice of Nate become developed and fimiliar to the reader, to the point wherethe reader truly feels like part of the action. The plot is often hilarious, as conflicting attitudes and people within the dorm lose their collective mental sanity while playing the addictive game. however, there are also many throught provoking and meaningful scenes, especially those involving Stokley the cripple's opposing the war. The section is especially entertaining for Hearts enthusiasts, due to the countless references to nuances of the game.
Ultimately, Hearts in Atlantis is a strange novel that is a departure from the usual King theme of Horror. However, in this case I believe he came through beautifully; even the mini sections I didn;t mention in this review were good. Definitely pick it up or rent it if you get the chance; you don't have to be an avid reader, King fan, or survivor of the sixties to enjoy it thoroughly.

Rating:
Summary: If Not for the Rest of the Stories...
Review: See, I has read part of this book and then lost it. I then saw the movie, then I picked up the book again. See, the book consists of 5 novellas (Low Men in Yellow Coats,Hearts in Atlantis,Blind Willie,Why We're In Vietam,and Heavenly Shades of Night Are Falling). The 1st and last are what became the movie.
Now,here's the synopsis of LMIYC:
Bobby Garfield lives with his stuck up mother Liz in Harwich,
Conneticut. He has two friends named Carol and Sully. A man by the name of Ted Brautigan moves in and Bobby and Ted become friends. Bobby then finds out that Ted is being chased by otherwordly beings called the Low Men (the Low Men's story is
continued in "Song of Susannah" but when you find out what they are it takes away from their creepiness). This novella really took ahold of my emotions, it was very sad and turned out to some of Kings best writing. I give LMIYC an A+. Now, it's onto
the second novella "Hearts in Atlantis". I didn't like it when it started but it gradually got better. It's about Pete Riley,
who attends college in Maine, who along with some of his friends become obsessed with a card game(Hearts) which begins to screw up their potential. Carols (Bobbys friend in LMIYC) story is continued as well.Hearts in Atlantis, B-. Now "Blind Willie".
What is there to say about BW? For some reason BW is haunting.
It's just strange and i'm not going to get into it.C-.
Now. Why We're in Vietnam. This is the worst novella in the book.
I found it equally annoying,haunting,and boring. This concludes
Sully's story. D. Now Heavenly Shades of Night Are Falling. This
turns out to be the second best novella which concludes the story of Bobby Garfield.A-. Now, had this book been just LMIYC
and HSONAF, this book would get an A+. Had it been those and HIA.
It would have been A-. But due to the other two novellas it gets a B-, which if you look at it, really isn't that bad.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic & Original!
Review: This book is simply amazing. I took it on holiday and read the whole doorstop of a book in 2 days. Firstly this could be the best characterisation king has done since, er let me think,yeah! thats right 'the dark tower' (what do you mean you havent read it....go on, get off your arse and go buy it) as you feel the characters come alive you the more the story progresses. As many know these are a series of interlinked stories, the emphasis on quantity & quality lies within the first two main stories 'low men in yellow coats' and the second 'hearts in atlantis', the last three are relativley short by S. King's standards and generally tie up events that occured within the first two tales. Low men in yellow coats is a tale I cant wait to read again, I mean there is so much in there, you've got bobby, a wonderful little boy who makes a strange friendship with the new lodger in his mothers rent house, a fantastice bully avenging sequence and loads more. It grows progressivley more supernatural as it develops, and although essentially this book is no where near a horror novel, there is one dream sequence that will certainly have some people widening their eyes and putting their hands over their mouths and saying ,'jeeesus'. I will say no more. Humour is ever present and there is also a 'dark tower' tie in which will leave readers of this book and dark tower fans none the wiser..........cheers steve!. Now on to Hearts in Atlantis. I couldnt help but feel that King put his all into this story as it almost flawless. All the way through this tale I kept thinking back to J D Salinger's 'Catcher in the Rye' as it makes a point of telling us how important it is to get on with the things that matter and growing up, rather than dropping out and thinking that loser behaviour is ok and remaining immature. After finishing this tale I said to my girlfriend, "Darling, our children are to read this when they are 13 yrs old!", (she rolled her eyes to the heavens and carried on reading 'Last Chance Saloon'). The other three as I said earlier tie up the lose ends and if there is a duff tale here its got to be 'blind willie' but its only 10 pages so I refuse to let it spoil the overall quality of the book. Yeah, so thats that, and when I finished this book I started on 'Needful things', which was absolutley brilliant.........what you havent read this either...........!!??

Rating:
Summary: There Are No more Hearts
Review: This is really a mixed bag. I would definitly read this before I bought i so I wouldn't be dissapointed. This is a collection of interconnected Novellas. The first story, "Low Men in Yellow Coats" is easily the best. It is the story the movie Hearts in Atlantis was pretty loosly based on. Young Child Bobby Garfield is having a hard time as a kid growing up in the 60s. He is a poor kid living in an apartment with his mom. A mysterious old man moves up into an apartment above him. He spends a lot of time with him, talking about books and the such. This story is really about growing up, and how people change, the loosing of firends and the such. With a supernatural twist. King mixes in the Dark Tower and we learn a little more about the old man, he comes from that place, he's a breaker for the Crimson King. The story is reall sad, but very good.

The seconf story, takes place when Bobby's childhood girlfriend goes to college. It takes place during the Vietnam era. There's a bunch more new characters. The story shows two things, how a game of hearts can make many kids fail out and be drafted, and they show the protesting side. This story was sad because Bobbies Girlfriend is not with bobby anymore.

The third and fourth story were pretty terrible. They were about some of the bullies that Bobby grew up with and were darn near unreadable.

The fifth very short story is a tying together of loose ends. IT brings back Bobby and his childhood sweetheart as seniors back in the old hometown. It wasn't really that satisfying. I would get this used or just baoorow it. If you like it, that's great. But I thought this was too much of a mixed bag.