Reviews

very good series of interconnected stories, weaving together childhood trauma, vietnam, and the way people can impact others. fan of the dark tower connections.

erickibler4's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

I was always in the habit, when asked, of pointing to The Stand as my favorite King, but on rereading Hearts in Atlantis, I have to say it has edged out The Stand for the number one spot. There are five stories in this book, two of which are long enough to be considered novels on their own.

The first of these long stories is "Low Men in Yellow Coats", which is as beautiful and sad and aching an evocation of American childhood and coming of age in the 20th century as anything by Ray Bradbury. In fact, if it had Bradbury's name on it, it would be considered one of his best. If King had written only this story, he'd be a legend.

The second, "Hearts in Atlantis", is King's very personal (although fictionalized) statement on what it was like to be a college student during the war in Vietnam. Specifically, a scholarship student, for whom slippage in grades could be a life or death matter. In this situation, the peer pressure to goof off has potentially dangerous consequences. There's no supernatural stuff in this story. Just 18 year old kids making choices, good and bad.

"Blind Willie" is a story about penance, and has to do with an event that occurred in "Low Men".

"Why Are We in Vietnam" shows us what some of the characters in the previous three stories were up to in Vietnam, and finally, "Heavenly Shades of Night Are Falling" ties everything together in beautiful fashion.

"Low Men" ties into King's Dark Tower series. But it's self contained. Reading it, though, could whet your appetite to find out what all this Dark Tower stuff is all about.

Try the audiobook, narrated by William Hurt and Stephen King. Hurt gives the greatest audiobook performance I've ever heard, and that includes many by my previous favorite narrator, the late great Frank Muller.