Rating: 
Summary: Great writing, boring story
Review: Starts out great and then gets progressively bad, just like many other King books. (Remember the awful endings to Needful Things and Tom Gordon)? Also, it seems as though King is starting to recycle material--the relationship between Bobby and Ted is remarkably similar to that of the young boy and former Nazi in "Apt Pupil," one of King's best stories. Anyway, King should leave the Vietnam stuff to Tim O'Brien, a writer who was actually there. (Incidentally, he's also a MUCH better writer than King.) I have read almost every King book, but this one is mediocre at best.
Rating: 
Summary: Another good one by the master
Review: This was a super book - part stort stories, part horror, part slice-of-life. The movie they created from this missed 2/3 of the book so I don't recommend that.
Rating:
Summary: Five Books in One
Review: Hearts in Atlantis is divided into five individual books that are all linked together by the events and the characters therein. Low Men In Yellow Coats
During the summer of 1960 Connecticut, Bobby Garfield befriends Ted Brautigan, the old man who just moved into the third floor apartment in Bobby's building. Though his mother doesn't trust a man who moves in with only a few shopping bags containing all of his possessions, Bobby and Ted share a common interest: the love of reading. Between reading The Lord of the Flies and other books, Bobby hangs out with his two best friends, Carol and Sully-John. As the events of that summer unfold, it will change each of them forever. When strange messages and signs start to appear in the town, Ted knows the "Low Men in Yellow Coats" are getting close. He has something they want but they'll have to find him first to get it. The "Low Men" are something more evil than Bobby could ever imagine - something out of this world. He learns of an unknown war that is happening far away, and all things serve the Beam. Hearts In Atlantis
In 1966, Pete Riley and his friends become obsessed with a tournament of the Hearts card game. While they continuously lose money and struggle to stay in the university, the effects of the war in faraway Vietnam slowly creep into their lives. Pete's girlfriend, a good-girl turned a fanatical peace advocate, gives him a copy of her old friend Bobby's favorite book, The Lord of the Flies, symbolizing the war in Vietnam. Blind Willie
Each day in New York City, 1983, William Shearman transforms into other men as part of brilliant scheme: Bill, a family man in the business world, Willie the plumber, and Blind Willie, a beggar on Fifth Avenue who lost his sight in Vietnam. But no matter who he is, he cannot escape his penance. He must forever carry the brutal crime he committed against a little girl during the summer of 1960, the crimes he committed in Vietnam and the crime he may be about to commit. Why We're In Vietnam
In 1999, Sully John recalls the war of Vietnam where the lives of most of the novel's characters are tied together: the man who saved his life while crying out "I'm blind! I'm blind!," another man who brutally murdered the old Vietnamese mamasan (who forever haunts Sully-John) and even the lieutenant who ordered the death of one of his own soldiers. While Sully reflects upon the lives affected by the war, he realizes all have been robbed of the same important things over time. He reflects on the struggle to survive our own internal conflicts. Heavenly Shades Of Night Are Falling
After four decades, Bobby is brought back to the town where his youth ended the summer of 1960. The same year when youth ended for many of the novel's characters and their testing soon began during the Vietnam War. A time of testing some of them want to forget but can't. The theme of the sixties is brought to life once again as Stephen King takes us back to a time when the country was torn between peace and war. A time which proves that people can be chaotic or orderly depending on their given circumstances and accountability, as demonstrated brilliantly in the novel.
Rating: 
Summary: A Different King
Review: I'll start this review out by dividing my audience into two distinct groups. Some of you--I can't say how many--are King fans because that you like slightly gory horror stories. You'll want to leave now. You probably won't enjoy this book, and you certainly won't enjoy my review, since I'm not one of that number and find it difficult to understand people who are. The rest of you, I'll assume, are here either as broader King fans or just as inquisitive potential readers, and for you folks I have good news. Hearts in Atlantis is inded a very good book, and one that you should pick up now. I've read the book once, been away from it for two years or so, and just recently I've come back to it and read it again, and I'm surprised at how different it is from much of the rest of what you'll find in the King library. One reviewer remarked that this is a collection of horror stories that didn't happen, and in that sense, he's correct--in every instance in which a character has a choice, in this book, he makes the sensible one. This will disappoint the aforementioned King fans who are just looking for their next slasher fix. There isn't one here. What IS here is a very effective character examination, and perhaps a little bit of rumination about the sixties in general. Truth be told, this is one of the few books about the sixties that I can stomach at all, mostly because King is willing to admit, both to himself and to the world, that all of the protests and conflicts weren't quite the complete ideological war that some still believe them to have been. The one quality that all of the characters in this book share is their reality--even the supernatural ones (few though there might be). What moves these people is not some kind of Buck Rogers motivation for the good of all--it's true, basic human desires. It's rare that you see a cast of characters so authentically portrayed, and I'm very glad to see that King managed to turn his unique storytelling style and voice (which I have always loved) toward an effort that at least approaches "respectability" (i.e. the characters are rounded and three-dimensional). Of course, if you want to hate this book, I'm sure you'll be able to. Try though he might, King seems unable to ditch his addiction to brand names, and I don't really think that's a bad thing. The first story is exceptionally long, and will seem extremely strange at points to anybody who's not familiar with the Dark Tower series. The epilogue seems somewhat tacked on and might have been better left off. The fourth story is also somewhat out of synch with the rest of the stories in tone, pacing, and plot composition. If you go in with the intent of latching onto these shortcomings, you won't enjoy this book. If you do not, however, you'll find a rich and immersive story relating a little bit of what it was like to live in the decade that continues to define the American psyche that you probably don't want to miss.
Rating:
Summary: Hooked on King
Review: I have always been wary of reading Stephen King. In the past I've been very selective in what I choose to read by him: THe Stand, IT, Green Mile serial...then the Gunslinger series. The Gunslinger series is what really hooked me in. When I found out that other books were "related" to the Dark Tower, I dove right in to Kings books. This one, Hearts in Atlantis is fantastic. Each story is unique in its own way. By the last story, Heavenly shades of Light are Falling, I could not tear myself away from the book. Very moving. Now I am addicted to Kings writing. Currently reading The Talisman and not long ago finished Insomnia (which is also VERY good)
Rating:
Summary: Can't put it down!
Review: I'm normally not a King fan, except for The Stand, but Hearts in Atlantis is great. I started it on a Saturday and contemplated calling in sick to work on Monday to finish it!
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Haunting--In a Completely Nonsupernatural Way
Review: I have to agree with G Cone from Texas--I, too, have read plenty
of King books and not wanted them to end, but when they do, you
move on to the next. This one, though, I couldn't imagine it
ending and when it did, I couldn't--CAN'T--seem to forget it. It's been almost a week since I finished it and I just want to
read it again and again, especially Hearts in Atlantis, the story. I don't know if I could ever even put into words why this
one book--and this one story, especially--has me so hooked but it does. A wonderful, truly exceptional piece of work and worth
the read if only for the very outside reference to King's "Eyes of the Dragon" (another of my favorites) in "Heavenly Shades of Night are Falling" when Carol speaks of someone teaching her "a long time ago" to become dim. Could Flagg still be around stirring up trouble? :) Read this book!
Rating:
Summary: King is reinventing King
Review: I have been reading Stephen King for nearly 17 years. Every time I read another author and return to King, I'm reminded of how remarkable an author he truly is. Sure, he has had some missteps (Rose Red, anyone?), but when he's on his game, he's damn near perfect. Hearts In Atlantis is, in my opinion, King on his game. Or better yet, it's a older, mellowing King re-inventing his game (kind of like what Michael Jordan has done during his stint with the Wizards.) Alternatingly poignant and creepy, mesmerizing and callous, King knows how to capture his readers and keep them enthralled. While it's not the type of story that most are accustomed to reading from the master of the macabre, it is one that I find elegant and literary -- with just the right touch of that supernatural element that only King can deliver. So while I'll always enjoy reading diverse authors, for me it's good to know that King is there when I need a "sure thing."
Rating:
Summary: Hearts In Atlantis
Review: Quite a bit different from most SK novels. It doesn't depend on a supernatural plot (though obligatory supernatural elements do appear). It's tough to describe why it's so good. On occasion, we have all met strangers from far away who, to our amazement, co-own little pieces of our past. Maybe they went to summer camp with someone who would become your college roomy, or maybe they married your 4th grade sweetheart. It might have made you wonder how many such connections you never quite stumble onto. Hearts in Atlantis is an exploration of that kind of interconnectedness in the lives of three childhood friends who go very separate ways. It's a bittersweet reflection on paths not taken, on what might have changed had we been just a little better or a little wiser. King usually holds my interest, but this is the first time one of his books wouldn't let go after I'd finished it. Very different from the movie, though I enjoyed both.
Rating:
Summary: An Offbeat King
Review: Hearts in Atlantis is an offbeat novel by King. In this novel King skilfully weaves a childhood story about Bobby and his group of friends, living in the 60s. Bobby befriends Ted an elderly man who introduces him to serious novels such as Lord of the Flies. Ted apparently is a Breaker - a character from the Dark Tower series. His telephatic powers can be transferred temporarily to another person and it happended to Bobby on a few occasions. During one such occasion, Bobby glimpsed into his mother's humiliating rape by her boss. The next chapter tracks Bobby childhood sweetheart's passage through college. In this chapter, Carol was not the primary character. Her boyfriend was the main character and it intensely described his addiction to the card game Heart's and how his college eductaion was almost forsaken because of it. This chapter tugged my heartstrings because I was addicted to Hearts when I was in college too. The other 2 chapters spins on to describe Bobby's other childhood acquiantances and how they are affected by the Vietnam war. One became a successful schizophrenic beggar and the other living with the ghost of a Vietnam village massacre. At the end of the story Bobby and Carol were briefly reunited, with Bobby's baseball glove turning up as a reminder of their past. It was a beautiful story which I thought could be improved without requiring the addition of characters from the Dark Towers. This proved to be a distraction to an otherwise offbeat but masterful King novel.
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