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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
adventurous
reflective
sad
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
This is a fairly long book. It is told in parts, by different people, that all weaves together in the end. Stephen King has a tendency to explain quite a few things that don't necessarily need to be explained but the story itself is extr extremity eamly interesting and well written.
This wasn't a typical thriller - but I really enjoyed the story. My favorite section was the first, 'Low Men in Yellow Coats'. I loved the richness of all the characters. I loved the tie-in to the Dark Tower series. I cannot get enough of Stephen King. I feel like I am running out of books of his to read. Luckily I love all of his books and will happily keep rereading them.
Low Men in Yellow Coats 5⭐️
Hearts in Atlantis 4⭐️
Blind Willie 5⭐️
Why We’re in Vietnam 4⭐️
Heavenly Shades of Night Are Falling 5⭐️
Hearts in Atlantis 4⭐️
Blind Willie 5⭐️
Why We’re in Vietnam 4⭐️
Heavenly Shades of Night Are Falling 5⭐️
Wonderful thought-out characters that circle around each other through each of the five stories. I also loved the connections to the dark tower, but they definitely still hold up without the references to it.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Re-read, starting the review over from scratch! Hearts in Atlantis is composed of 5 short stories, or more accurately 2 novellas and 3 short stories. Here's my review of each, as I read through them all.
First story: Low Men in Yellow Coats
Probably the heart of the entire book, this one starts off with little Bobby and his new neighbor Ted. Running parallel to the Dark Tower stories (sorta, and not unsurprising). At the same time, it's not really a Dark Tower story, it's a Bobby story. This is the best story to show the ever so great talent of King when he isn't doing the dark horrible supernatural that he's known for. This story is both, hopeful, and brutally realistic, and though it focuses on the baby boomer era, is still able to relate to.
This is the only story with any semblance of supernatural storyline, but manages to not invade Bobby's story. Beautiful, horrific, and hopeful, it's my favorite so far.
Story 2: Hearts In Atlantis
This novella lengthed (I think it's novella length at least), section of the book follows the Baby Boomer generation into the time of college and Vietnam. Except that's mostly just a backdrop for a different kind of coming of age story.
Low Men in Yellow Coats could be considered a story about the washing away of our naive youth into a world more cruel and sinister, but keeping alive the hope for better things. Hearts in Atlantis catches us once we're already aware of those cruel and sinister things, and drags us through it while showing us the bigger picture. Low Men went far as the neighborhood, and Hearts takes us through the world.
One of the things that many King stories seem to play with is the addiction. Be it booze, or drugs, or in this case a card game, King knows how to catch us with a simple vice and stringing it into something we can't walk away from. He knows how to relate it to people, how we all have our own Hearts we couldn't just stop from.
In this one King also includes first love, or perhaps more accurately puppy love (through Carol Gerber, our link that ties this to the last story). And he does it so wonderfully well. Lastly, King throws in the opening of the eyes for the world at large. Thinking for one's self, and gaining our own ideas and thoughts, and even the courage to admit that we don't fully know the answers right now, but damn it if this isn't what we're thinking at the moment. And like with Low Men it ends with hope. The sadness is there, the growing is there, but there's also hope for better times. And backdrop for it all is perfect, this was the time of revolution, free thought, free speech, and also the shackles of such thoughts and ideas. It's beautifully done, and really does deserve to be the title of the book.
Story 3: Blind Willie
This one is a bit different. We go back to a character from Low Men, though the link here is more at odds with Carol than with Bobbie. We even get some things from Hearts, though I won't say who. This story is far shorter, kind of slow, but only because it's so meticulous. That sort of writing fits the character well, though. Willie is a meticulous person, doing things down to an exact sort of science.
Blind Willie deals with redemption. He's gone through the war, he's been through hell and back, but some of his childhood deeds still haunt him. This causes him to go all out in earning his redemption. It didn't hook me as well as the last two, if only because Willie isn't too interesting a character. I didn't feel an investment in him. I did feel for him, and what he does, but it felt so forced, and King didn't really try to get you to feel bad for him. That I can kind of count as a good thing because I didn't really feel sorry for him, and it's nice to know that that might be how King wanted it. There's not much more to say for this one, other than the fact that it does continue to build on the era, and the chain links that hold these stories all together. It's a nice timeline, and a "the world ain't so big after all" kind of experience.
Story 4: Why We're in Vietnam
This one focused on Sully John, and even here the main thread seems less Bobby, and more Carol. I like that touch.
We get the other half of Willie's story, as well as a look on how SJ's growth differed from the others (Bobby, Carol, and Willie). It was an interesting look, and definitely focused on the more mental aspect of the war. This one really seemed to be the opposites of Willie. Where Willie focused on his redemption, this one seems more of a just living with what you were given kind of story. SJ has come to terms with the hand he's been dealt. He doesn't hate it, or love it. It's a good enough story, better than Blind Willie, with an ending that does hit where the heart is.
Story 5: Heavenly Shades of Night are Falling
The final story, the final touch. This one is so SO very relieving. After the downfall that each of these people went through, we get some actual hope. Not some, bad shit followed by some hope, but a genuine feel of "things are going to get better."
It's relatively short, so diving into it will be spoiler, and I don't like that. So I'll just say it is the perfect ending for a wonderful book, perhaps my favorite of King's.
First story: Low Men in Yellow Coats
Probably the heart of the entire book, this one starts off with little Bobby and his new neighbor Ted. Running parallel to the Dark Tower stories (sorta, and not unsurprising). At the same time, it's not really a Dark Tower story, it's a Bobby story. This is the best story to show the ever so great talent of King when he isn't doing the dark horrible supernatural that he's known for. This story is both, hopeful, and brutally realistic, and though it focuses on the baby boomer era, is still able to relate to.
This is the only story with any semblance of supernatural storyline, but manages to not invade Bobby's story. Beautiful, horrific, and hopeful, it's my favorite so far.
Story 2: Hearts In Atlantis
This novella lengthed (I think it's novella length at least), section of the book follows the Baby Boomer generation into the time of college and Vietnam. Except that's mostly just a backdrop for a different kind of coming of age story.
Low Men in Yellow Coats could be considered a story about the washing away of our naive youth into a world more cruel and sinister, but keeping alive the hope for better things. Hearts in Atlantis catches us once we're already aware of those cruel and sinister things, and drags us through it while showing us the bigger picture. Low Men went far as the neighborhood, and Hearts takes us through the world.
One of the things that many King stories seem to play with is the addiction. Be it booze, or drugs, or in this case a card game, King knows how to catch us with a simple vice and stringing it into something we can't walk away from. He knows how to relate it to people, how we all have our own Hearts we couldn't just stop from.
In this one King also includes first love, or perhaps more accurately puppy love (through Carol Gerber, our link that ties this to the last story). And he does it so wonderfully well. Lastly, King throws in the opening of the eyes for the world at large. Thinking for one's self, and gaining our own ideas and thoughts, and even the courage to admit that we don't fully know the answers right now, but damn it if this isn't what we're thinking at the moment. And like with Low Men it ends with hope. The sadness is there, the growing is there, but there's also hope for better times. And backdrop for it all is perfect, this was the time of revolution, free thought, free speech, and also the shackles of such thoughts and ideas. It's beautifully done, and really does deserve to be the title of the book.
Story 3: Blind Willie
This one is a bit different. We go back to a character from Low Men, though the link here is more at odds with Carol than with Bobbie. We even get some things from Hearts, though I won't say who. This story is far shorter, kind of slow, but only because it's so meticulous. That sort of writing fits the character well, though. Willie is a meticulous person, doing things down to an exact sort of science.
Blind Willie deals with redemption. He's gone through the war, he's been through hell and back, but some of his childhood deeds still haunt him. This causes him to go all out in earning his redemption. It didn't hook me as well as the last two, if only because Willie isn't too interesting a character. I didn't feel an investment in him. I did feel for him, and what he does, but it felt so forced, and King didn't really try to get you to feel bad for him. That I can kind of count as a good thing because I didn't really feel sorry for him, and it's nice to know that that might be how King wanted it. There's not much more to say for this one, other than the fact that it does continue to build on the era, and the chain links that hold these stories all together. It's a nice timeline, and a "the world ain't so big after all" kind of experience.
Story 4: Why We're in Vietnam
This one focused on Sully John, and even here the main thread seems less Bobby, and more Carol. I like that touch.
We get the other half of Willie's story, as well as a look on how SJ's growth differed from the others (Bobby, Carol, and Willie). It was an interesting look, and definitely focused on the more mental aspect of the war. This one really seemed to be the opposites of Willie. Where Willie focused on his redemption, this one seems more of a just living with what you were given kind of story. SJ has come to terms with the hand he's been dealt. He doesn't hate it, or love it. It's a good enough story, better than Blind Willie, with an ending that does hit where the heart is.
Story 5: Heavenly Shades of Night are Falling
The final story, the final touch. This one is so SO very relieving. After the downfall that each of these people went through, we get some actual hope. Not some, bad shit followed by some hope, but a genuine feel of "things are going to get better."
It's relatively short, so diving into it will be spoiler, and I don't like that. So I'll just say it is the perfect ending for a wonderful book, perhaps my favorite of King's.
I liked the first story the most of the 5 linked novellas that make up this book.
For once, the Dark Tower theme was necessary, but not overwhelming and didn't get in the way of a good story that *wasn't* really about the Dark Tower.
The second story was quite mythopoeic--touching, fantastical, and human. The last three were good, but seemed almost afterthoughts, but the *feeling* you get from reading King stories set around the 1950-1960s and from the POV of nascent adolescents is just so good.
I can see why they filmed "Low Men In Yellow Coats" and chose to keep the name "Hearts in Atlantis" for the movie, though.
For once, the Dark Tower theme was necessary, but not overwhelming and didn't get in the way of a good story that *wasn't* really about the Dark Tower.
The second story was quite mythopoeic--touching, fantastical, and human. The last three were good, but seemed almost afterthoughts, but the *feeling* you get from reading King stories set around the 1950-1960s and from the POV of nascent adolescents is just so good.
I can see why they filmed "Low Men In Yellow Coats" and chose to keep the name "Hearts in Atlantis" for the movie, though.
I wanted to like this book so much. I was completely captivated by the first story and then struggled through the rest of the book, completely uninterested with what it was offering me as a reader. The second story particularly just dragged on and on, and I had no reason to care for really any of the characters.