Hearts In Atlantis
1999 • 621 pages
Ratings54
Average rating3.9
15
Ratings54
Average rating3.9
Hearts in Atlantis (1999) is a collection of two novellas and three short stories by Stephen King, all connected to one another by recurring characters and taking place in roughly chronological order.
The stories are about the Baby Boomer Generation, specifically King's view that this generation (to which he belongs) failed to live up to its promise and ideals. Significantly, the opening epigraph of the collection is the Peter Fonda line from the end of Easy Rider: "We blew it." All of the stories are about the 1960s and the war in Vietnam, and in all of them the members of that generation fail profoundly, or are paying the costs of some profound failure on their part.
In this collection:
- Blind Willie
- Hearts in Atlantis
- Heavenly Shades of Night Are Falling
- Low Men in Yellow Coats
- Why We're in Vietnam
Reviews with the most likes.
I know Stephen King and I have a love hate relationship but this book was good, as was the payoff of many short stories across many pages. Loved the connections! The backdrop of the Vietnam war was a powerful one and I would recommend.
This has convinced me to go full steam ahead on Dark Tower series now...
3.5 STARS!!!!!!!
the first section of the book was my favorite and it just went downhill from there
The Low Men In Yellow Coats is 50% of this book and it's excellent. King at his best.
The next story was kinda boring but I think King being the narrator just put me to sleep. The third story was I think the shortest and I skipped it because King was again the narrator. The fourth story was incredibly average.
So I'm not sure what an appropriate rating is for this. I'll give it 7/10 because the first half was fantastic.
