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Summary: Prisoner in '66?
Review: Halfway through the book, and it is a fun read. King gets better and better at telling a story in a simple, matter of fact manner. The one thing that keeps haunting me are the references to THE PRISONER television series. HEARTS IN ATLANTIS is set in 1966, yet characters are remembering the series, despite the fact that it would not be televised for another year! Perhaps King will resolve this by the end of the story, but as an avid PRISONER fan (and child of the '60s), I have a hard time getting past this.
Rating: 
Summary: "Hearts" promises much but delivers much less
Review: This book began with a bang and ended with a whimper. The novellas got progressively shorter & progressively weaker & more confused. I enjoyed the tie in of the first novella with the Dark Tower series & fully expected the rest of the book to continue in that vein & bring all the disparate threads together. Instead, King just drops the Dark Tower references & comes to a much less than satisfying conclusion. If you are expecting the typical King neatness & continuity, this book is particularly disappointing. Taken individually, the novellas, especially the first two, are not bad, but together, they lack cohesiveness & direction.
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Summary: Come back, Carol
Review: Before staring "Hearts," my previous two King reads were "Bag of Bones" and "The Green Mile." Both are about as different as you can get, and "Hearts in Atlantis" proved to be different still. While I enjoyed the first segment, "The Men in Yellow Jackets," I thought it dragged. But, in retrospect, I appreciated it more in relation to the other segments that followed. But my favorite, without a doubt, was the title segment. King vividly describes college life in the '60s, making me wish the the entire novel centered around the two central characters, Carol Gerber and Pete. King's description of the interplay between Carol and Pete is so telling, as Pete talks about "that smile," .. that "look" she had. It made me think of a woman in my own life as a teenager -- blonde, blue-eyed, and with a smile that was just so. Carol truly came to life for me in that segment, and I only wish King could have been more clear in the end when Carol -- or her vision -- reappears. I wanted Carol and Pete to be together in the end, but see what King was trying to do in describing the confusion of being an 18 year old .. and the added dynamic of being that age at the height of the Vietnam War. In the end, Carol and Pete were going down differnt tracks (as she tells Pete), but later in life, there is profound sadness in her remembering and losing him from her life, and her own reflection of what was and what might have been.The central segment of the book could easily be adapted into a movie. Call me a hopless romantic, but I want more Carol! LOVE + PEACE = INFORMATION
Rating: 
Summary: Rather borrow than buy.....
Review: Errrr..... I might be out of line here, but how can the first part in this novel('Low men in yellow coats') be compared to earlier works of Mr. King exploring the theme of kids growing up, like 'IT' and 'The Body' from 'Different Seasons'? It seems to me that Mr. King might be losing his touch and I SERIOUSLY doubt if this novel would have sold this well under another author's name.... Still, it has its moments, I suppose (the final part is the only part which gave me goosebumps). And, of course, if you're an avid follower of the brilliant 'Dark Tower' series, you just can't skip it....
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Summary: For your information: Hearts in Atlantis is a winner!
Review: For one who swore off Stephen King after Gerald's Game, Hearts in Atlantis brought me back into King's fan club. The combination of William Hurt's narrative coupled with King's imaginative descriptions made "Low Men in Yellow Coats" my favorite. When Stephen King's voice began telling me about college life at Chamberlain Hall in l966 I was hooked like Pete Riley and the card game. King's Foghorn Leghorn imitation alone is worth the price of the audiobook. I remain confused with "Blind Willie" and hope someone will explain it to me. Perhaps I'll "start to understand it in time" as Sully John did the old mamasan. Hearts in Atlantis is 21 hours of entertainment and years of thoughtful enjoyment. This review refers to the unabridged audiotape version.
Rating:
Summary: An Uneven Collection.
Review: A 250+ paged "novella"? We're in King country, folks. Though not as beautiful or as successful as his collection of novellas titled "Different Seasons," Hearts in Atlantis has its moments, and it has King writing some of the best prose of his life. We're talking "literary" here -- shoo away that bad ol' King who clinked and clunked over his choppy sentences. Really, all kidding aside, there are some gorgeous moments in this novel, moments that King should really be proud of. Let's take this baby in order: "Low Men in Yellow Coats" -- the most recognizable King. Kiddie protagonist, bad supernatural dudes, tie-in with other King work (The Dark Tower series). This section was just mediocre until we hit the last twenty pages, the final chapter. Then something amazing happens: Bobby Garfield grows up and there's so much sadness in his growing up, the way he so quickly learns the ways of the world, that it almost breaks your heart. And talking about hearts...(segue music, please) "Hearts in Atlantis" -- the strongest section. Like "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption," there's not a hint of Kingish horror to be found anywhere. This is a regular story, and nobody can tell a better regular story than Stephen King. The people are real, the main character is as American as apple pie and as everyman as Big Mac. From start to finish, a great story; the last line will almost have you in tears. "Blind Willie" -- tries to be a bit too artsy and fails. Everything seems a bit too much and a bit too unbelievable, heavy-handed. Didn't buy it. Weak. "Why We're in Vietnam" -- ibid. Was King trying to do a bit of magical realism himself, a la Tim O'Brien? Doesn't work. "Heavenly Shades of Night Are Falling" -- nice to see Bobby again, but that's about it. Really quite unnecessary. Felt tacked-on, like the way the last chapters of "It" and "The Tommyknockers" felt tacked on, to make sure you feel good about everything. So all in all, it's an uneven mixture. Worth your time, though, just for the last part of "Low Men" and "Hearts" in its entirety. - SJW
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Summary: Hearts in Atlantis - Great stories with a common thread
Review: "Hearts in Atlantis" starts with the childhood memories of an eleven year old. As King writes of the friendship that develops with an adult, it is done in a way that touches the heart. As a fan of the Dark Tower series, the references to the the 'Beam' and other things from that series certainly left me thinking (and hoping) that we will see more of Ted Braughtigan, the adult the youngster befriends. The second story, set a few years later in the Freshmen college years during the era of the Viet Nam war also brought powerful memories back. This book may not be a favorite for all King fans. It is not steeped in the grim tension that is felt in some of the stories that has made the author popular. But certainly, anyone growing up in the 60's and 70' would have a difficult time not getting something from this book.
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Summary: More of the same formula
Review: I have just read thru some of the other reviews for this bookand people seem to love or hate it. I must be the odd one out as itleft me feeling neither one way or the other. I agree with a lot of people who said the first section of the story is the best, very straightforward King. I felt the book lost the thread way half way through and never regained it. I was waiting for a revalation at the end, some point to the story and it never came. I might be missing the point myself, but I don't thnik so. I have been a huge fan of Stephen King since Carrie & Salems Lot, but I'm finding his books increasingly formulaic and predictable, almost repetative in style if not content. He seems to be leaning more towards 'normal' stories these days, I think Insomnia was the last King book I really enjoyed reading. By normal standards Atlantis is a good book, but for Stephen king just good is well below average.
Rating:
Summary: A literary time capsule
Review: This book is a departure from King's more mainstream work, choosing to focus on drenching the author and the reader in an atmosphere, an unsettling ambiance where all is not quite as it should be. The book encompasses four decades, although is largely two earthquakes with three minor aftershocks. Low Men In Yellow Coats, the first and longest of the entries, discovers the approaching darkness that, while personified in the form of the low men in mustard yellow coats, is more wide-reaching, encompassing the civil unrest of the years immediately prior to Vietnam, even in the quiet town of Harwich. King once again shows us his remarkable insight (memory?) of childhood, deftly balancing the needs and wants of your average 11 year old with the bigger picture being forced on them too early during the decade where innocence was lost. Hearts in Atlantis, set in 1966, shows the gradual political and social education of college grads who most visually reflected the conflict of the times, from their days and nights of intoxicating Hearts games to their realizations that maybe rebellion only becomes valid when one knows what one is rebelling against. The other three stories are served up more as codas to the first two books, offering conclusions for minor and major characters from the first two. They are effective, but not essential. Tying up loose ends more than standing in their own right. Still, it put to rest some of the tantalizing little asides that King is so effective at dangling in front of his readers, earlier in the book. Richly textured, this is an excellent, thought provoking take on an era where it wasn't so much about what you thought but whether you stood up and said anything about it, written, no pun intended, from the heart.
Rating:
Summary: A good one!
Review: Its five storys about Bobby, Carol and Sully John, three childhood-friends who after a while discovers that they really are very different from eachother. Its a story about growing up, that after a while the children inside you dissapers completly. The story is also a part of the dark tower series, something that makes it very powerfull. Sceary: Abit, but no horror. Funny: Not much. Stephen Kings best? NO!, but it a relly good one. Read it!
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