Hearts in Atlantis

Ethyl acetate in the blood is a good thing for the body to have. I don’t know if it’s a bad idea for you but it is a good idea for me.

I only got this to read between Dark Tower 4 and 4.5/5 as there's a few other books with pretty big ties to the Dark Tower series that are worth reading after book 4 (Salem's Lot, Insomnia, a few others). There's also some worth reading before you even start but none of them are necessary. In fact, if you've never read the Dark Tower series before, I'd suggest just reading it alone first, and then if, like me, you want to re-read it later and get your hands on anything and everything related to it (in more than just passing references, for example The Stand/Insomnia/Salem's Lot are hugely relevant whereas The Shining is more like easter eggs [still a good book though]). The first and longest of the stories (it's about 1/2 the book) is about the Low Men and gives you some cool background about them and a major character from the later DT books. It's great. Typical Stephen King awesomeness.Then the rest is, well, just boring. I guess I'm the wrong audience/generation for the rest of the book. The remaining short stories are all about the Vietnam era, which, if you're from that generation I can see how it may be appealing. But I just found it really uninteresting. I felt like all of a sudden, I put down a Stephen King novel and picked up some random author writing a fictional but somewhat accurate history of both the lead up to and the aftermath of the Vietnam war. There's zero supernatural or surrealness or really that much intrigue. I don't know what to really say about it, other than it felt like someone needed to do some cathartic writing. Ya, I get it, there's themes of addiction, penance, regret, etc., but you can find that in all of his work and in much more fascinating ways. I finished, begrudgingly, the second and titular title, Hearts in Atlantis, but I was let down. Was it touching? Yes. But not in a way that was that interesting or great. I was way more touched by "Flow my Tears, the Policeman Said" by PKD than this (and way more entertained). I slogged my way until almost the end, about halfway through "Blind Willie" and then just said "Why am I reading this if I'm not enjoying it?" and quickly just skimmed the remaining hundred or so pages, really glad I didn't waste any more time with it. I guess it just felt more like I all of sudden picked up a history book with some fictional elements added in to make it mildly more interesting. Even the fiction though was boring.I guess the book is more of a personal journey for the author, and perhaps for anyone who either served in Vietnam, protested against it, or wasn't drafted but lived through that period. Anyway, long story short, if you're picking this up because you read that you should read this if you want more Dark Tower related content, then I'd say it's definitely worth it, but do yourself a favor and just stop reading after the first story. At least it's about half the book so it's the longest of them and is worth the price (digital at least).

I've listened to this audio book twice and I'll listen to it again. King's story telling mastery shines in this one tieing the world of the "low men in yellow dusters" (agents of the Dark Tower's Crimson King) who search for and finally catch Ted (an escaped breaker - psychics who are captured by the Crimson King and forced to aid this monster in trying to destroy the tower - the object of Roland's quest in the Dark Tower series); with the world of Bobby, a young boy just entering his teen years who lives in the same rental building where Ted takes up residency while trying to hide from the low men. Bobby strikes up a friendship with the much older and mysterious Ted who hires Bobby to read the daily newspaper to him and to watch the neighborhood for signs that the low men may be close by. When Bobby starts seeing the signs he is supposed to watch for, he doesn't tell Ted because he knows that Ted will flee the low men if they are near. Bobby's two closest young friends are Carol and Sully John who also are drawn into Ted's wierd and mysterious circle of influence. Before he is captured by the low men Ted uses his abilities to help heal the injured Carol when Bobby carries her home after she is beaten by the neighborhood bully boys with a baseball bat. In the later short stories tied into this book so smoothly by the King, Bobby and Carol are reunited during their college years after being separated following Ted's capture when Bobby's mother abruptly leaves the neighborhood for a new town and a new job after she was horribly attacked and sexually assulted by her boss and 2 of his croonies at a real estate convention where the ambitious and not so gullible mother has manuvered herself leaving Bobby in Ted's care while she is gone. Bobby's life in the college dorms is a nostalgic trip for those of us who entered college during the Viet Nam era, and his passing reunification with Carol has a striking resemblance to the ships-passing-in-the-night relationship between Forest Gump and the love of his life. The beginning and ending of this book involves Bobby's return to the old neighborhood to attend Carol's funeral. For those who are Dark Tower junkies like me, the timing of this book fills in some vital facts about what is wrong with the Tower which King has not yet revealed in the Tower series books. You can also pick up more insights regarding the cause of the problems with the tower in Insomnia, and Black House. In all this is another great story by the master story-teller of our time with magically vivid characters and richly described worlds for them to live in. NOBODY but King could take 5 short stories and tie them together so smoothly while revealing as yet untold details for an entirely different series of Books which he has been creating over the last 30+ years. Amazing.

I may sound critical about Mr. Kings book Hearts in Atlantis but I am no critic . The story begins with three youngsters, two boys and one girl growing up in small town America. Their ages were eleven years old. The kids were involved in softball , summer camps, and typical adventures to and from the ballfield where children tend to find themselves in trouble with slightly older and meaner kids. The horror twist begins with a older gentleman who moves in the same apartment house complex as one of the eleven year old kids. The older senior gentleman is running from his past assignments from a sinister group who uses coded ways to find their Lost friends. This part I found fascinating as expected from Mr. Kings experiences in writing. The story continues as senior is caught and thus begins the interconnected sequential narratives that Mr. King describes inside of the dust jacket of the book. The remaining stories or narratives deal with the three eleven year old kids as they mature into adulthood, go their separate ways and deal with their present situations. The story starts to become muddied with too much reflecting on subject material coming past, present, and dreamlike states that may leave the constant reader with a headache trying to comprehend the underlying meaning and what is going on here ? Their are many references to the war in Vietnam as well as a contrasting involvement with the protestors of the time period against the war. The characters , the original three come to their destiny as only two are left to meet in a rightful and sad sweet ending. Overall, a good story , but lacked cohesion that I have always looked for in any ones artistic works.

The book is split into two timelines if you like, the first is when Bobby Garfield is an 11 year old kid, a bit miserable but ok with his lot. When he gets a new neighbour, Ted Brautigan, things change for him. His mother, a very unlikable character although I did feel sorry for her for a wee bit, judges Ted quickly although happy to let her dislike slide when she needs a babysitter, honestly not a fan of that woman, at all! Anyway Bobby goes through a lot in a short space of time, love of books, realization of his mothers character, first attration/kiss, first heroic action and a glimpse of some of the horrors out there.The other parts of the book split into short stories looking at characters who were in Bobby's childhood, college, addition, post war and then bringing them full circle to Bobby coming home. The book has nods to some of the happenings in other King's books and I always find that genius considering how many he has written and managed to intertwine or just brief inclusion/reference. If I am honest the men in yellow coats, first story, was my fave of the lot, the others were ok and it isn't until you get to the end you get the others, well that was how it was for me.I read this years ago and re read it because I actually remembered very little of it, I think I will watch the movie too and see how that fares. 3/5 for me this time, I love King, he introduced me to reading and horror as a kid, I have keepers of most of his books and some still to read. This isn't a keeper, nor one of my faves but I am glad I read it.

I love this books so much. I have even got my partner reading it this very moment. The stories and the progression of them is great. I love how the characters we see as kids and their bond and then as they grow older and we hear about their individual paths, we still have that connection even if at times their actions are the complete wrong decisions. Great book. And if you haven't ever read it. You darn well should! :)

I found this book very interesting the first story was really good the rest is up to the reader but as always it's worth a read it is a Stephen King book after all

King paints pictures with words, his characters come alive whether they be heroes or villains. This book telling the story in 5 parts of a group of kids through to middle age in America during and after Vietnam is well worth a read. King's description of life in the Vietnam jungle is particularly graphic. Only a short section but a reminder of those scenes of horror shown on TV at that time. There is a nod to time travel and to the underbelly of society, to the scammers and to some very ordinary people trying to make the best of their lives.

Any story that goes into The Dark Tower saga is fine with me. Little off shoots from the ST universe just pass out the whole thing and I love it. I don't want to give too much away so I'll just say...read it!