Rating: 
Summary: A little on the heart-wrenching side...
Review: As you start off and meet everyone, you can quickly say that this is one of King's more heart-wrenching novels, and as I recall... he doesn't have that many, :)The reader quickly becomes attached to the characters emotionally, feeling sorry for events that happen to them, alost to the point of wanting to reach into the pages and compfort them... and yes I am still talking about a King book! There were some things I couldn't quite get a full understanding of... the men in yellow coats... for one thing. Then afterwards I found out that this was also a "Gunslinger tie-in"... after smaking my head and reading those I finally understood.
Rating: 
Summary: The rebirth of a King fan
Review: I had really lost all hope of ever reading another Stephen King book after trying to attempt reading "Dolores Claiborne", which was the worst of his.
Well, some ten odd years later, I picked up "Hearts in Atlantis" at a yard sale. I had heard it was a good book, and that the movie was great. I always have to read the book before seeing the movie, so opted for the written page.
It was awesome.
"Hearts...." is a book broken down into five separate stories that all have a connection is some form. The first story "Low Men in Yellow Coats" is the longest and best of the group. It is set in the Summer of 1960, Bobby Garfield, Carol Gerber, and Sully John are all 11 yrs. old and enjoying their youth in adventurous ways. Enter Ted Brautigan, who is an older man. He takes a room in the house that Bobby and his not so nice mother live in. He becomes Bobby's father figure, and the boy becomes emotionally attached to Ted much to his mother's chagrin.
He askes Bobby to read to him, pays the kid for it, and thus they begins their bonding.
It is extremely well written and the characters just burst with life. I felt as if I really knew Bobby, who was my favorite character in the book. I am glad that this story dominates the pages of this thick novel because it is the best work of fiction here as it's the most endearing.
The four stories left, "Hearts In Atlantis", "We Were in Vietnam", "Blind Willie", "Heavnely shades of Night falling" all have a character in them that appeared in "Low Men". This is the connection of them all. In some stories, they are older, and the men have seen the horrors of Vietnam, and they have all had the war effect them in some way. Carol becomes a protestor in "Hearts in Atlantis", which is set at a college in Maine. This was my second favorite.
The book certainly doesn't have much closure, as some reviewers were looking for, but I don't think that this is what King wanted with this work. He is just showing how life was in the 60's, and how the Vietnam war shaped the lives of the characters in the stories, which span from the summer of 1960 up til 1999.
There is a lot of sadness, humor, and realism to this piece of writing.
Worth reading!!! Just skip "Blind Willie" as I don't think it adds anything but just annoys. I hated it but read the whole thing anyway. It was annoying and boring. We get to see how the bad kid from "Low Men" turns into a bad man basically. Highly recommended!! Eileen Famiglietti
Rating:
Summary: King is King
Review: Stephen King has definitely moved from mainstream horror he was famously known for. This trend must have started off with Bag of Bones and ever since then, King has been delving deeper into the literary aspect of writing. It may seem incredulous to think of him as the modern day Charles Dickens, but I won't be surprised to see his work being studied in a century or so from now. In his novel, which is more of an anthology of 5 stories (the first two of novella length) span the time period of nearly 40 years. All the major characters in each story have a mention in the next, but one thing remains constant, the Vietnam War. The first novella, "Long Men in Yellow Coats" has got to be the best of all the five stories. Same novella in which the movie "Hearts in Atlantis" was based on. In it, King depicts the ramblings of aten year olds perfectly. The only person able to do such a thing in modern times would have to be director Steven Spielberg. The story has a lot of drama between the characters and it's just peppered with a mist of mystery that is vintage King. His descriptions of the sipernatural character and their cars are downright eery. You couls swear that you can see what he tells you in your mind's eye. The display of the right amount of ingredients truly shows that the author is a master of such story telling. Perhaps the highlight of the novella happens when you read how The main character Ted Brautigan is related to King's sci-fi series, the Dark Tower. Excellent display. Excellent approach. Suredly to send shivers down people's spine. The other remaining 4 stories revolve around the same charcaters as the first, but takes into the theme of how each other's lives have been altered by the Vietnam War. Even in the last story set in 1999, the theme is just as strong as ever. Though the connection is intact, the integrity of teh story is just not there anymore. With an excellent beginning, King's writing and the way the novel is going just seems to frizzle. All in all a good book with a good beginning and dealing with an adult theme at the same time. Not as great as some of his other works, Bag of Bones being my own personal fave, but at least you get introduced to a major character in upcoming Dark Tower stories.
Rating: 
Summary: Definetely not the best by King.
Review: I was very disappointed when I read this book. None of the stories really caught my attention, and none of them was interesting enough to make me rush through the pages, like many other Stephen King books did. The first story, "Low men in yellow coats" is the best one, but only because of its link with the Dark Tower series. Someone who doesn't know those books won't find it as appealing. As for "Hearts in Atlantis", is also a little bit interesting, but it doesn't justify its excessive length. The same thing happens with "Blind Willie". As for the two final stories, "Why we're on Vietnam" and "Heavenly Shades of Night are falling", well... they just bore me to death. I guess even the King can fail sometimes. Better luck on the next book, Stevie.
Rating:
Summary: the supernatural within actual history
Review: Stephen King starts this book with three friends -- Bobby, Carol and Sully-John --- at age 11 in 1960 in Connecticut. During this time, Ted, a mystical old man, moves to the top floor of Bobby's apartment house and the two become friends -- much to Bobby's mother anger. From him, Bobby starts to grow up and learn more about the world and its ways than he had ever thought possible .... The book is written in four parts, with different voices, and moves from 1960 all the way to 1999, with each part capturing a specific time period with a different main character. But it all comes full-circle in the end. This is a great book that captures the many viewpoints on Vietnam --- veterans and protestors alike -- from someone who was around for it, while interlacing an intriguing plot throughout. A good and engaging read.
Rating:
Summary: Two books for the price of one
Review: This book starts out with one story, tells another, and incorporates both. After this book, I rented the movie and was deeply disappointed. It starts with a story of a young boy and a friendship with an older man who has a supernatural connection. You start to wonder as the book seems to end half way through. You are then introduced to new characters and events. Some of the characters are continued in the second half and tied into the rest of the book. The main character of the second half gets involved in a card game addiction almost causing him to flunk out of college. I felt myself identifying with the "one more hand and I'll go study" ploy. Around this character the Viet Nam war is happening. The book ties all the characters together at the end, some rather loosely. King narrates some of this audio book which adds to the enjoyment. After reading the book, don't bother renting the movie.
Rating:
Summary: Don't see the movie!!
Review: All I can say (again) is don't see the movie!! The book was great. It was amazing how all of the stories finally came together. The movie takes only one of the stories & then leaves you hanging--completely! Don't even bother. Read the book
Rating:
Summary: Don't bother seeing the movie
Review: I am a Stephen King fan, although I don't like everything he writes. I thought this book was very interesting. I like the way he ties all the characters together. It was well read by both Hurt and King. After the book I rented the movie and was very disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Uninspired story, but well-executed
Review: I was vastly disappointed with this book. I went through high school voraciously reading every Steven King book I could afford. When he started writing series, I became disinterested. I looked to this book to pique my interest in his work again. But it hasn't. Hearts in Atlantis tells the story of some friends who grew up in The Sixties, fought in the Vietnam war, and came back to find eachother. This seems like a great recipie, but the plot is left hanging at nearly every point because nothing happens to resolve the characters and their problems. What of the low men? Why did Blind Wille do what he did? What really became of the middle-age of the veterans and their friends? Steven King still writes very, very well, but there are flaws emerging. He relies on allusion to music more than ever in this book. The story is well-told, but it's not a very good story to begin with. Perhaps the problem is that the story is well told and _too_ vivid; maybe there are too many details, leading you to expect to a more involving resolution for each of the characters. That just doesn't happen, though, and the reader is left hanging as a result.
Rating:
Summary: William Hurt's reading is wonderful...
Review: I'm not a regular reader of Stephen King's work, but I wanted to read the book after seeing the movie. It was so much "my" era, it touched many chords in my memory. This version (the audio) of Hearts in Atlantis was recommended to me as the best way to experience the book. I wasn't going to listen to the entire thing -- just the first story, which was mostly what the movie was based on, and is by far the longest (8 tapes). William Hurt "becomes" 11-year-old Bobby Garfield as he reads the story. He's terrific. And I went on to listen to the rest of the stories -- I had difficulty stopping. It drew me in. Some parts are not easy to listen to, going back to Vietnam as they do, but I recommend it. The parts of the book that are not read by William Hurt are read by King, and he does an excellent job as well.
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