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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
I really loved this book. (Or, technically, series of four interconnected novellas, but that's really just semantics.) It has a specific, strong, connection to the Dark Tower mythology in that Ted has apparently escaped from a mind-prison in Midworld where he is forced to work for the Crimson King as a "breaker", and therefore has yellow-coated "low men" chasing him down. But, that little plot detail taken out, the book stands up perfectly fine on its own, so don't let that stop you.
I think one of the reasons this story works so well is that the characters, especially the kid whose perspective we're usually witnessing, are so down-to-earth and ordinary that we feel the freakishness of everything that happens to them as if it's happening to us. That's great writing.
I think one of the reasons this story works so well is that the characters, especially the kid whose perspective we're usually witnessing, are so down-to-earth and ordinary that we feel the freakishness of everything that happens to them as if it's happening to us. That's great writing.
Working my way through the King short stories I missed over the years. I always skipped over this one because it sounded a touch boring. The first story is far from boring. It's very much classic King. I have only read the first book, 'The Gunslinger', in the Dark Tower series. I'm sure this has so much more meaning if I had read those novels. But, the unknowing, kind of adds more thrills/suspense to the first story.
That being said, the first story is definitely the one to take away from this collection.
That being said, the first story is definitely the one to take away from this collection.
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Surprisingly good
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Story 1: “Low Men in Yellow Coats” (5 stars)
You’ll have to forgive me, I didn’t write this when I finished it, but after I finished the second story. I think I was hoping Bobby would be part of it, so I just kept going. He isn’t though, not the second one; unsure about 3&4 yet.
Bobby is a young boy of maybe 11 or so in 1960, with a terrible fucking mother. She withholds love and affection as punishment, usually for something that wouldn’t even warrant a normal scolding. She works a lot but refuses to give him any money, I’m talking not even 50 cents to get an ice cream or go to the movies. For his birthday she doesn’t give him an actual present, but instead an “adult” library card. I went down the Reddit hole on her, and idgaf about what happened to her later in their story, that doesn’t excuse the shit mother she was. Anyway.
An older gentleman moves into the third floor of their building, and befriends Bobby. Bobby’s mother dislikes him from the start, probably because she wants Bobby to continue to be starved for affection and it’s quite clear that Ted has taken a liking to Bobby same as Bobby does for him. Ted soon enlists Bobby into “looking out” for the “low men,” men in yellow coats with flashy cars, men who communicate with “lost” posters and astronomical symbols in sidewalk chalk. Bobby figures Ted is a little kooky, but he really wants this bike and his shit mom won’t help him, so he agrees. And finds out Ted isn’t so kooky after all, and that there are more worlds than these.
I left out Carol and John, Bobby’s best friends, and perhaps they do have some bearing on the story - especially Carol and her attack - but the main of the story is about Bobby and Ted. And it’s a wonderful story; exciting, suspenseful, heartwarming, heartbreaking. Carol is featured in the second story though, and I think John will be in the third or fourth for sure.
+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
Story 2: “Hearts in Atlantis” (5 stars)
The trouble is, for the born smartass, the impulse has nine times out of ten been acted upon before the brain can even engage first gear.
- - - - -
Us class clowns aren’t wild about making friends - two or three are apt to do us for a lifetime - but we don’t take very well to the bum’s rush, either. Our goal is vast numbers of acquaintances whom we can leave laughing.
- - - - -
Anything with the power to make you laugh over thirty years later isn’t a waste of time. I think something like that is very close to immortality.
Pete Riley is a freshman at University of Maine in 1968, there on scholarships and therefore required to maintain a 2.5 GPA. All is going well enough until an outbreak of Hearts, the card game, hits the third floor of his dorm. All but 3 of the fellas spend most of their time not in classes playing for a nickel a point. Everyone’s grades begin dropping; many of them face losing their scholarships. No biggie, you think, it’s just college, freshman year at that, they can figure it out later. Except this is 1968, and men, boys really, who have no college to hide behind are sent to Viet Nam to die. For “democracy.”
There’s no way for me to adequately describe the anger you feel in every single word of this story. Pete knows next to nothing about the war upon arrival, knows nothing of the mysterious peace sign one of the boys is wearing. By the end of his first semester he may not know a lot, but he knows something is fucking wrong about the entire situation, and he’s ready to learn.
The way King offsets the “victories” the US obtained with some atrocity we also committed (from sinking boats full of refugees to bombing our own Marines) in the same sentence, almost like throwaway lines, is… gutting. My dark humor says “oh look, the US has always been shit, it doesn’t even matter who’s in office. This country was founded in blood and hate and genocide, how can it possibly get better” but my stupid hopeful heart says maybe one day we can get it figured out.
Carol is a freshman at UM as well, and she and Pete begin dating. She’s going to marches and demonstrations while Pete is playing his life away in Hearts. But the one who doesn’t make it through their first semester isn't Pete.
Idk. This one has a lot to process. It has brought up a lot of anger for me, towards the goddamn right wingers. People I’m surrounded by here in SW Indiana, my family included. It brings up the shame of buying into it as a young adult. It brings up the hope that because I, and my brother, and honestly a fair amount of people I went to school with, have been able to see through it, grow, and do better, others may as well.
+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
Story 3: “Blind Willie” (2 stars)
I didn’t love this. I’m not even sure I understood it. Maybe the light at the end of the tunnel is in the fourth and final story, but idk. Willie, ol’ “hold Carol down while she’s bashed with the bat” Willie, is married and made it through Viet Nam alive. To make penance for beating Carol up all those years ago he’s fabricated 3 identities that allow him to panhandle as a blind man, raking in up to $3,000 a day sometime in the 80’s. He is full of retrospective wonderings that seem to have little bearing on the story, or what passes as a story. His wife has to know something is up, she helps pass out the bags of money to various churches, but I’m not sure what he needs 3 identities for; possibly 4 because of the end and his plans for the cop. Idk man, lol.
+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
Story 4: “Why We’re in Viet Nam” (3 stars)
(Turns out there’s 5 stories, lol) This one is about ol’ Sully John. And it's fucking depressing as shit. We meet up with him some 30 years after the war as he’s going to a funeral of a fella he served with. There’s some flashbacks from hell and some dialogue with his sergeant or lieutenant and it just makes you want to jump out a tall building. That’s all I got, man. Except I wish we’d get an update on Bobby.
+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
Story 5: “Heavenly Shade of Night are Falling” (4 stars)
It’s Bobby. It ties up a lot of things, but I still say Willie’s story didn’t fit in here, and now I wish I’d gotten some sort of update on Pete.
You’ll have to forgive me, I didn’t write this when I finished it, but after I finished the second story. I think I was hoping Bobby would be part of it, so I just kept going. He isn’t though, not the second one; unsure about 3&4 yet.
Bobby is a young boy of maybe 11 or so in 1960, with a terrible fucking mother. She withholds love and affection as punishment, usually for something that wouldn’t even warrant a normal scolding. She works a lot but refuses to give him any money, I’m talking not even 50 cents to get an ice cream or go to the movies. For his birthday she doesn’t give him an actual present, but instead an “adult” library card. I went down the Reddit hole on her, and idgaf about what happened to her later in their story, that doesn’t excuse the shit mother she was. Anyway.
An older gentleman moves into the third floor of their building, and befriends Bobby. Bobby’s mother dislikes him from the start, probably because she wants Bobby to continue to be starved for affection and it’s quite clear that Ted has taken a liking to Bobby same as Bobby does for him. Ted soon enlists Bobby into “looking out” for the “low men,” men in yellow coats with flashy cars, men who communicate with “lost” posters and astronomical symbols in sidewalk chalk. Bobby figures Ted is a little kooky, but he really wants this bike and his shit mom won’t help him, so he agrees. And finds out Ted isn’t so kooky after all, and that there are more worlds than these.
I left out Carol and John, Bobby’s best friends, and perhaps they do have some bearing on the story - especially Carol and her attack - but the main of the story is about Bobby and Ted. And it’s a wonderful story; exciting, suspenseful, heartwarming, heartbreaking. Carol is featured in the second story though, and I think John will be in the third or fourth for sure.
+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
Story 2: “Hearts in Atlantis” (5 stars)
The trouble is, for the born smartass, the impulse has nine times out of ten been acted upon before the brain can even engage first gear.
- - - - -
Us class clowns aren’t wild about making friends - two or three are apt to do us for a lifetime - but we don’t take very well to the bum’s rush, either. Our goal is vast numbers of acquaintances whom we can leave laughing.
- - - - -
Anything with the power to make you laugh over thirty years later isn’t a waste of time. I think something like that is very close to immortality.
Pete Riley is a freshman at University of Maine in 1968, there on scholarships and therefore required to maintain a 2.5 GPA. All is going well enough until an outbreak of Hearts, the card game, hits the third floor of his dorm. All but 3 of the fellas spend most of their time not in classes playing for a nickel a point. Everyone’s grades begin dropping; many of them face losing their scholarships. No biggie, you think, it’s just college, freshman year at that, they can figure it out later. Except this is 1968, and men, boys really, who have no college to hide behind are sent to Viet Nam to die. For “democracy.”
There’s no way for me to adequately describe the anger you feel in every single word of this story. Pete knows next to nothing about the war upon arrival, knows nothing of the mysterious peace sign one of the boys is wearing. By the end of his first semester he may not know a lot, but he knows something is fucking wrong about the entire situation, and he’s ready to learn.
The way King offsets the “victories” the US obtained with some atrocity we also committed (from sinking boats full of refugees to bombing our own Marines) in the same sentence, almost like throwaway lines, is… gutting. My dark humor says “oh look, the US has always been shit, it doesn’t even matter who’s in office. This country was founded in blood and hate and genocide, how can it possibly get better” but my stupid hopeful heart says maybe one day we can get it figured out.
Carol is a freshman at UM as well, and she and Pete begin dating. She’s going to marches and demonstrations while Pete is playing his life away in Hearts. But the one who doesn’t make it through their first semester isn't Pete.
Idk. This one has a lot to process. It has brought up a lot of anger for me, towards the goddamn right wingers. People I’m surrounded by here in SW Indiana, my family included. It brings up the shame of buying into it as a young adult. It brings up the hope that because I, and my brother, and honestly a fair amount of people I went to school with, have been able to see through it, grow, and do better, others may as well.
+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
Story 3: “Blind Willie” (2 stars)
I didn’t love this. I’m not even sure I understood it. Maybe the light at the end of the tunnel is in the fourth and final story, but idk. Willie, ol’ “hold Carol down while she’s bashed with the bat” Willie, is married and made it through Viet Nam alive. To make penance for beating Carol up all those years ago he’s fabricated 3 identities that allow him to panhandle as a blind man, raking in up to $3,000 a day sometime in the 80’s. He is full of retrospective wonderings that seem to have little bearing on the story, or what passes as a story. His wife has to know something is up, she helps pass out the bags of money to various churches, but I’m not sure what he needs 3 identities for; possibly 4 because of the end and his plans for the cop. Idk man, lol.
+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
Story 4: “Why We’re in Viet Nam” (3 stars)
(Turns out there’s 5 stories, lol) This one is about ol’ Sully John. And it's fucking depressing as shit. We meet up with him some 30 years after the war as he’s going to a funeral of a fella he served with. There’s some flashbacks from hell and some dialogue with his sergeant or lieutenant and it just makes you want to jump out a tall building. That’s all I got, man. Except I wish we’d get an update on Bobby.
+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
Story 5: “Heavenly Shade of Night are Falling” (4 stars)
It’s Bobby. It ties up a lot of things, but I still say Willie’s story didn’t fit in here, and now I wish I’d gotten some sort of update on Pete.
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Enjoyed much more on the reread, but still low on the pantheon of King novels. A cool experience, the tying in of the separate stories and characters. Remains a must read because of Low Men in Yellow Coats.
7 missing pet posters out of 10
7 missing pet posters out of 10
This book is a collection of 4 stories the longest being the 1st story Low Men In Yellow Coats. All four stories connect to one another in some way and follow the lives of three child friends Bobby Garfield, Carrol Gerber, and SJ (Sully John). This book has strong ties to The Dark Tower series especially the first story. Ted is a breaker who is running from the low men in yellow coats who are sort of a police force for the Crimson King, Bobby is a twinner of Jake in Mid-World who is apart of the Rolands Ka Tet. If none of this makes sense read The Dark Tower series and it will. The Hollywood movie is based mostly on this first story.
Personally I love this collection. I know a lot of people don't, the reason I am told most often is because every story ends sadly and the book is such a downer. Two things that I have heard SK say that always stuck with me were, you don't always get the ending you want but I give you the ending you deserve. The second being, don't compare my movies to the book you will be disappointed because the movies are not made for the constant readers they are made for a broader audience. I don't remember exactly when or where I heard him say these things, an interview on late night TV, a magazine interview or one of his college tours. The point is I agree with him and looking back at this book like all his books it is true. This is book is so many things rolled into one. On one hand it is a coming of age story of 3 friends, on the other it is a protest of the Vietnam War and a generation. It was a sad time in our history and these stories I feel reflect the times and even though they end on a downturn and are sad stories they are just.
This is a great read and a must for any Dark Tower fan. You will laugh, you will cry and in the end you will want more.
Personally I love this collection. I know a lot of people don't, the reason I am told most often is because every story ends sadly and the book is such a downer. Two things that I have heard SK say that always stuck with me were, you don't always get the ending you want but I give you the ending you deserve. The second being, don't compare my movies to the book you will be disappointed because the movies are not made for the constant readers they are made for a broader audience. I don't remember exactly when or where I heard him say these things, an interview on late night TV, a magazine interview or one of his college tours. The point is I agree with him and looking back at this book like all his books it is true. This is book is so many things rolled into one. On one hand it is a coming of age story of 3 friends, on the other it is a protest of the Vietnam War and a generation. It was a sad time in our history and these stories I feel reflect the times and even though they end on a downturn and are sad stories they are just.
This is a great read and a must for any Dark Tower fan. You will laugh, you will cry and in the end you will want more.
Don't get me wrong, I didn't hate this book, but as with many Stephen King's, at the end I couldn't help wondering what it was actually supposed to be about. This is a collection of stories that are linked only by the characters, and while there might be a theme in there somewhere, I don't know what or eased.
Political works aren't my style, but King's writing about the '60's usually works for me. So for Hearts In Atlantis, there are some things I like and dislike.
Like: Do you like dark tower stories? Great, then you should read at least the first story in this work, and if you finish the rest, the last one will be worth it.
Dislike: Military memoire? Wasted youth? These are themes that kill me as a reader, and the middle section of this book is replete with these.
Make no mistake, I love me some Stephen King. And the bookends of this work are him at his finest. There's an argument to be made that you need to read all of the stories to appreciate the last one... I won't argue. But if you're truly trying to get the most out of your reading time, In the words of Ken Kesey, I'd say "Take what you need (the first story!) and let the rest go by".
Like: Do you like dark tower stories? Great, then you should read at least the first story in this work, and if you finish the rest, the last one will be worth it.
Dislike: Military memoire? Wasted youth? These are themes that kill me as a reader, and the middle section of this book is replete with these.
Make no mistake, I love me some Stephen King. And the bookends of this work are him at his finest. There's an argument to be made that you need to read all of the stories to appreciate the last one... I won't argue. But if you're truly trying to get the most out of your reading time, In the words of Ken Kesey, I'd say "Take what you need (the first story!) and let the rest go by".