Rating: 
Summary: King Explores New Territory
Review: There's a touch of the supernatural in this offering from Stephen King, but it takes a back seat to the human element of the story, which is going to really hit home with those who were in collage-- or of that age-- in the '60s. "Hearts In Atlantis" is an especially poignant tale that follows the lives of a number of individuals in five interrelated sections, beginning in 1960 and finishing up in 1999. And, be forewarned, there is going to be no middle ground with this one; depending on where you were in your own life during the times depicted here, you're either going to love it or hate it, because quite frankly, it is so well written and so very real, that it is going to take you to a place you want to revisit, or to a place you may have spent a good deal of your life trying to forget. How you receive it is going to depend greatly on your own personal experiences and frame of reference. One way or another, it's going to take you on a journey that evokes a sense of time and place that will have an impact on you, the likes of which few novels are capable of producing. King deserves a lot of credit for this one, because even though it is a work of fiction, he obviously had to open himself up and take a journey of his own to so succinctly and honestly capture the events and lives of the characters he presents here. This is an examination of human nature that explores relationships on a number of different levels; how people relate not only to one another, but to the events of the times and the short and long term effects of it all on those involved. It's not always a pretty picture, but it certainly is real. And the characters to whom he introduces you quickly become more than names in a book. These are people you're going to care about, and you will probably find more than one with whom you are going to be able to relate and identify very closely. The single frustration I had with the story was that by the end of the first section, "Low Men In Yellow Coats," there is no resolution to the situation of one of the characters; I wanted a sense of closure to the episode that simply was not forthcoming. All I can say is, stick with it-- by the end of the book you'll know everything you need or want to know, and in the final analysis, "Hearts In Atlantis," beside being somewhat different than King's usual fare, is also one of his best. It's definitely a journey worth taking.
Rating:
Summary: Hearts in Atlantis
Review: This book held me so close I couldn't quit listening, "reading", (audiobook). Stephen King has put out so many novels, and this one truly shows you that he is thee master of the typewriter. The story does not come at you immediately, but once it bites, your are in its grips. Then I went to the Movie version of this book. How truly sad. I had to immediately go re-read, (listen), to the book again just to make sure that I had not mad a mistake and I loved it more the second time....Stephen King is great and he is training Peter Straub (who may really need no training because he is awsome), to be great. Book was A+++++
Rating: 
Summary: Skip the book, see the movie.
Review: I saw the movie first, and couldn't wait to get my hands on this book. Kings books always seem to translate very well to movies, but I have always loved the books more because of King's meticulous attention to creating a character through subtext. His characters cannot always be conveyed on screen with the same sense of three-dimensionality that he creates in the written word. So what a disappointment to find the shallow and lifeless characters who populate this book. I slogged through it, always hoping that the next page I would understand who these people were, and why the did the things they did. The plot was jointed, the tone of the story has awkward shifts and transitions. I got the sense that this book was a hurry-it-to-the editor effort. Too bad--I wouldn't recommend this one, but it won't make me skip the next King novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Not King's Best or Worst, Just not HORROR, which I miss alot
Review: I listened to this collection of Novelettes by Stephen King in the audio format. William Hurt is not one of my favorite readers but his droning voice suited the stories he narrated. King's voice is more pleasant than Hurt's to listen to (a TOTALLY scary thought) but... My biggest complaint about most recent King offerings is "Where's the Horror?" While I am a product of the "Vietnam" generation (and the war was a Horror in and of itself), I don't find it (the war) to be the cause of my own personal problems. It is simply a fact of my life. The "Magic" element within the story makes it slightly more interesting than it would have been without it, but that slight bit of magic doesn't really "save" the story. All-in-All, I was satisfied with the story, just disappointed that it was written by Stephen King and not some lesser author.
Rating: 
Summary: very good
Review: I enjoyed this book. It was a little too sprawling, but the stories were quite engrossing and there were many nifty threads that connected them all together. You have to work a bit to get there. but when you do, it is worth it.
Rating:
Summary: The movie is better
Review: At a time when the vanishing World War II generation is paid tribute through books and films, HEARTS IN ATLANTIS is Stephen King's homage to his (and mine), the Vietnam generation. HEARTS is a series of stories that take place, respectively, in 1960, 1966, 1983, and two in 1999. All are loosely connected through characters we meet in the first, 11-year old Bobby Garfield and his best pals Sully-John and Carol, and one from the group of slightly older boys who torment them, Willie Shearman. Each of the storylines otherwise stands alone, more or less. In 1960, Bobby, a fatherless boy living with an uncaring mother, becomes attached to the world-wise Ted, an old man renting the rooms upstairs who is being hunted by sinister "low men in yellow coats". In 1966, new character Pete is on the verge of flunking out of the university because of his preoccupation with an addictive card game. More important to the book's overall plot, he falls in love with a fellow student, Carol from Story One, and through her discovers the anti-Vietnam peace movement. In 1983, Willie Shearman, a Vietnam veteran, continues to pay a bizarre penance for past sins, chief of which, apparently, was the wrong he did Carol as a boy. In 1999, emotionally and physically scarred Vietnam vet Sully-John remembers his time "in the green". Also in 1999, Carol and Bobby stumble across each other after leading separate lives for almost 40 years. The threads between all five plots are Carol and a beat-up old baseball glove once belonging to Bobby. This is not one of King's more lucid works. Indeed, the Willie Shearman episode of 1983 needed much more explaining. (My reaction to it was just short of "Huh?!") However, a mediocre book by King is a gem by other standards, so it's impossible not to recommend it on some level. The point the author is trying to make, I think, is that the memories from our formative years, however deformed by succeeding events - in this case the Vietnam conflict - stay with us as powerful emotional catalysts, and perhaps as crippling psychological scars, even unto our twilight years and old age. The film version of HEARTS IN ATANTIS, based almost solely on the first chapter dealing with the events of 1960, was magical in its use of visual and aural images to evoke that period in the mid-twentieth century when those in childhood, and middle-class America as a whole, were on the verge of losing their innocence. Because both I and the fictional Bobby turned eleven in that year, I could relate. And, I think the book will stir up memories in anyone of my generation, whether he/she fought in Southeast Asia or demonstrated at home. Not a great book, but worth a read. Definitely see the movie for a more intense burst of the book's flavor.
Rating:
Summary: Three Story Pawned Off As One
Review: Very disappointing. This is really a book of 3 stories VERY loosely linked togather by one or two overlapping characters. The first part of the book is very good and typical King (though the movie did not do it justice!) Unfortunately, the second part is about an entirely new character with a secondary character from the first part as a secondary character in the second part. The third part was about mostly about another secondary character from the first part of the book and some almost unrelated new characters. Confusing? It is as if King had 3 short stories in mind but wanted to write a lengthy book. I felt somewhat deceived. He does, rather weakly, try to tie the parts togather at the very end. Net, net. Borrow the book and read the first part and the last several pages! Sorry to be so hard on a writer I usually love.. but not this time!
Rating:
Summary: Stephen King still has it
Review: With Hearts in Atlantis, Stephen king takes a step towards a more theme based type storytelling. Whether it is the story or the theme that is the focus of a Stephen King novel, Stephen King always delivers. Of the 5 stories, I found the cover story "Hearts in Atlantis" to be the best. It tells the story of how college students go from conservative and clean cut kids to war protesting liberal hippies. This book will make you laugh and cry. Most people seem to like "Low Men in Yellow Coats", but that was acutally my least favorite. King should have been a bit more descriptive on what the Low Men actually wanted and who they were. But overall, this collection was great. You will find yourself asking yourself whether the Vietnam war was justified. This book really makes you think about the morality of war and whether or not it is worth it, and also the crippling effect that war can have on peoples lives. Hearts In Atlantis will also answer some of the questions you might have about The Dark Tower Series. So read this book. I did, and it was worth it.
Rating:
Summary: Very Disappointing for a Stephen King Book....
Review: I enjoy reading Stephen King and was very pleased to receive this book as a gift for my birthday. Right away I bonded with the main character Bobby and then Ted, the old man who befriends him. What a delightful story full of imagination with a little bit of real life thrown in this was. I was very disappointed to get 322 pages into Bobby's "adventurous" life only to be taken away to a college where all the guy (who was not related to Bobby but knew Carol) did was play cards for 300 pages! I never read the back of the book first so I had no idea this was three stories in one. The third short story took us back to a grown up Bobby but it just wasn't enough to draw me back into the book and I can't get over how poorly it ended. Buy it for the first story if you enjoy Kings books and skip the second chapter unless you're still in college and can possibly relate to whatever is happening for those 300 pages.
Rating:
Summary: Two great stories, three passables.
Review: This collection of five linked stories that try to chart the birth, growth, and death of the sixties hulla-baloo starts off strongly with two great tales. Low Men in Yellow Coats is not only a parallel chapter in the long running Dark Tower series, one that drops hints and clues about the coming battle to right the incorrect turn the world has made, but it is also a cynical turn on King's earlier coming of age tale The Body. The second tale, Hearts in Atlantis, is another coming of age story set in college, and is a beautiful yarn of how King's generation woke up, tried to change the world, and then 'blew it', choosing instead to live the good life while striking a pose. Both tales feature King at his most emotionally powerful but sadly feature weak endings, not surprising considering that each tale is meant to be a part of a larger patchwork narrative. The remaining three tales, while well written, are poorly focused and come nowhere near the emotional wallop of either Low Men or Hearts in Atlantis. As the tales converge and close with a blurry whimper instead of a focused bang, the over all vision of the patchwork is lost. But despite the book's many weaknesses I still feel that the first two remain required reading for King fans.
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