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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
Oops, forgot to mark I was reading this...
One of the few remaining books I wanted to read before continuing on with The Dark Tower, and a very pleasant surprise. I persist in thinking that King does better work when he limits his length. This set of interconnected short works only reinforced that thought for me.
My favorite was definitely "Low Men in Yellow Coats." This is one of my favorite King works now, for sure. I feel like King's magical little boy trope is one of his strongest, and it's wonderfully embodied by Bobby Garfield in this story. I felt really strongly for him, and was really drawn in by the story.
The other stories were also enjoyable, and I liked how they were interconnected by the same set of characters. The focus on the Vietnam War was also really interesting for me. As a reader of primarily fantasy and scifi, this isn't a topic I see explored a lot, but I thought that King took a pretty comprehensive look at it from a number of different angles, and I enjoyed it a lot. It brought to life a time period that I don't know a ton about.
One of the few remaining books I wanted to read before continuing on with The Dark Tower, and a very pleasant surprise. I persist in thinking that King does better work when he limits his length. This set of interconnected short works only reinforced that thought for me.
My favorite was definitely "Low Men in Yellow Coats." This is one of my favorite King works now, for sure. I feel like King's magical little boy trope is one of his strongest, and it's wonderfully embodied by Bobby Garfield in this story. I felt really strongly for him, and was really drawn in by the story.
The other stories were also enjoyable, and I liked how they were interconnected by the same set of characters. The focus on the Vietnam War was also really interesting for me. As a reader of primarily fantasy and scifi, this isn't a topic I see explored a lot, but I thought that King took a pretty comprehensive look at it from a number of different angles, and I enjoyed it a lot. It brought to life a time period that I don't know a ton about.
I LOVED Bobby's story in part 1 (5 stars), but wasn't a huge fan of the other stories (3 stars). I feel like King needs a more forceful editor. This book should be separated out into two separate books: Bobby's wonderful sci-fi story and then the Vietnam War story of the rest of the characters. I listened to this as an audiobook and William Hurt was such a pleasure to listen to.
I like the first and the last part of this book. The middle about the cards almost made me DNF this book it was too long repetitive and didn’t add much to the story for all the pages it took up. The ending stories (sully-John and Bobby) redeemed it and the book ended nicely
This was better the second read, but I still don't think it's his best.
[first read upon publication]
They pulled another Simon Birch/Owen Meany stunt when they made this into a movie--chopped off the last 3/4 of the book and tried to make the first part stand alone as a film. And that is mostly why the movie was so lame. The fist part of the book is about Bobby and Carol as children, and their relationship with the mysterious Ted Brautigan, who is moving between levels of the Dark Tower in order to flee the low men pursuing him. It's an intriguing story, but made so much better by the subsequent parts of the book...Carol's college days in which she becomes a hippie and hooks up with the anti-war movement, eventually becoming a fugitive terrorist...a somewhat incongruous part about their childhood bully's turn as a panhandling vet...and Bobby and Carol's eventual reunion as adults. Another fascinating level of the Tower.
[updated after 2nd reading]
OK, I get it now. It's all about Vietnam, and how that generation was laid to waste by it. Upon the first read, I thought it was just a side story, a bit of spice added in; however, it is clearly the main theme and unifying thread. Still a great story...love the spiel about how some books don't have great writing but are still great stories, wink wink nudge nudge!
They pulled another Simon Birch/Owen Meany stunt when they made this into a movie--chopped off the last 3/4 of the book and tried to make the first part stand alone as a film. And that is mostly why the movie was so lame. The fist part of the book is about Bobby and Carol as children, and their relationship with the mysterious Ted Brautigan, who is moving between levels of the Dark Tower in order to flee the low men pursuing him. It's an intriguing story, but made so much better by the subsequent parts of the book...Carol's college days in which she becomes a hippie and hooks up with the anti-war movement, eventually becoming a fugitive terrorist...a somewhat incongruous part about their childhood bully's turn as a panhandling vet...and Bobby and Carol's eventual reunion as adults. Another fascinating level of the Tower.
[updated after 2nd reading]
OK, I get it now. It's all about Vietnam, and how that generation was laid to waste by it. Upon the first read, I thought it was just a side story, a bit of spice added in; however, it is clearly the main theme and unifying thread. Still a great story...love the spiel about how some books don't have great writing but are still great stories, wink wink nudge nudge!
"It was how wars really ended... not at truce tables but in cancer wards and office cafterias and traffic jams. Wars died one tiny piece at a time, each piece something that fell like a memory, each lost like an echo that fades in winding hills. In the end even war ran up the white flag. Or so he hoped. He hoped that in the end even war surrendered." (Pg. 651)
One of Stephen King's more underrated story collections. With one exception, all of the stories in here are great. King writes in a great literary voice and gives us some great themes about innocence lost. All of the stories have their own rating below:
Low Men in Yello Coats (8/10): A great nostalgic tale about losing your innocence. Bobby Garfield is one of King's best characters and I didn't want his story to end. There's also some Dark Tower lore in this if you're interested.
Hearts in Atlantis (8/10): Another great novella, this time focusing on a student at the University of Maine. In this story, we see the antiwar perspective, and how it affected those who came of age during that turbulent time.
Blind Willie (5/10): In my opinion, the weakest of the bunch. This focuses on a character from the first story and his regret about an incident from that same story. An out of left field tale that is honestly a bit boring.
Why We're in Vietnam (7/10): This focuses on Bobby's childhood friend from Low Men, and his dealings with PTSD from Vietnam. A bit heavy handed with it's themes, but wonderfully written.
Heavenly Shades of Night are Falling (9/10): A great epilogue to this collection. We follow a middle aged Bobby and his return to his hometown. It's a sweet and emotional story.
One of Stephen King's more underrated story collections. With one exception, all of the stories in here are great. King writes in a great literary voice and gives us some great themes about innocence lost. All of the stories have their own rating below:
Low Men in Yello Coats (8/10): A great nostalgic tale about losing your innocence. Bobby Garfield is one of King's best characters and I didn't want his story to end. There's also some Dark Tower lore in this if you're interested.
Hearts in Atlantis (8/10): Another great novella, this time focusing on a student at the University of Maine. In this story, we see the antiwar perspective, and how it affected those who came of age during that turbulent time.
Blind Willie (5/10): In my opinion, the weakest of the bunch. This focuses on a character from the first story and his regret about an incident from that same story. An out of left field tale that is honestly a bit boring.
Why We're in Vietnam (7/10): This focuses on Bobby's childhood friend from Low Men, and his dealings with PTSD from Vietnam. A bit heavy handed with it's themes, but wonderfully written.
Heavenly Shades of Night are Falling (9/10): A great epilogue to this collection. We follow a middle aged Bobby and his return to his hometown. It's a sweet and emotional story.
This story collection was an easy way to get back into the world of Stephen King, and some of it worked, especially the first two stories, but ultimately the threads didn't work for me.
One of the reasons I enjoy Stephen King as a writer, is that he doesn't have one set approach to narrators. Or two approaches. Or three. I would have no problem believing that [b:The Eyes of the Dragon|10611|The Eyes of the Dragon|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1430121758s/10611.jpg|3083085], [b:Misery|10614|Misery|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1270545451s/10614.jpg|3230869], and [b:The Gunslinger|43615|The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, #1)|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1375776480s/43615.jpg|46575] were written by three different authors. Sometimes, even his short story collections could believably be anthologies by dozens of writers. And in Hearts Of Atlantis, King writes four stories with overlapping characters,and it feels like a four person writers' group was given the task of telling a story. They were given a very vague outline, and complete creative freedom. It's almost cool.
The first story of this book, and to a slightly lesser degree, the final story, are the real heart of this book, which is tightly connected to The Dark Tower, despite featuring no familiar characters or locations. It's a coming of age story that features a built-in readers guide, as the two main characters discuss books. It makes up almost half of the book, and it's easily a five star story.
The second, third, and fourth sections of the book aren't bad. But we're introduced to new perspective characters, and I spent each of those sections waiting to see how they'd lead back into the main story rather than being engrossed by the characters and being pleasantly surprised when they wove back into the first story.
The fifth and final section does make the read worth it, as all the events do align and give us a satisfactory ending.
I believe one of the reasons I found the changes in narrative voice and character perspectives so disappointing, is that I just finished [b:Wizard and Glass|5096|Wizard and Glass (The Dark Tower, #4)|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327946510s/5096.jpg|750558] before this, where King flawlessly changes narrative voices and genre, mid-book.
The first story of this book, and to a slightly lesser degree, the final story, are the real heart of this book, which is tightly connected to The Dark Tower, despite featuring no familiar characters or locations. It's a coming of age story that features a built-in readers guide, as the two main characters discuss books. It makes up almost half of the book, and it's easily a five star story.
The second, third, and fourth sections of the book aren't bad. But we're introduced to new perspective characters, and I spent each of those sections waiting to see how they'd lead back into the main story rather than being engrossed by the characters and being pleasantly surprised when they wove back into the first story.
The fifth and final section does make the read worth it, as all the events do align and give us a satisfactory ending.
I believe one of the reasons I found the changes in narrative voice and character perspectives so disappointing, is that I just finished [b:Wizard and Glass|5096|Wizard and Glass (The Dark Tower, #4)|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327946510s/5096.jpg|750558] before this, where King flawlessly changes narrative voices and genre, mid-book.