Audiobook version. I loved, loved, loved, William Hurt's performance. Although he doesn't put much effort into creating different voices for all the characters, he reads the story with such passion and... rhythm. That's the only word I can think of to describe it. The only two stories that I really enjoyed were Low Men in Yellow Coats and Why We're In Vietnam. The rest I could do without, but the others were classic King. ( )

I've read this book twice in the past 20 years, and enjoyed it immensely both times. There is so much here to think about and enjoy, there's no way I can do it justice with a review until I read it again. ( )

I wanted to read this book because it's related to The Dark Tower series. Of the 500+ pages, only about half of it relates. And I loved that part.

The rest centers on the mid/late 1960s, Vietnam, the counter-culture, protestors, etc. As someone born in 1970, and a political conservative, I really didn't like the 2nd half of the book. Understand this isn't a reflection of King's writing. The guy's certainly one of the greatest American writers ever and certainly in the 20th Century. But I can't cheer for characters I don't philosophically respect.

If you're a child of the 60s, I think you'd "dig" the half I didn't. I'm not sure you would really get or appreciate the first part (especially if you haven't read DT) but damn, King writes kids well. That first section, DT-related or not, reminded me of "The Body," which of course became the movie "Stand by Me." ( )

*All reviews come from online reviews*

Hearts In Atlantis is composed of five interconnected, sequential narratives set in the years from 1960 to 1999. Each story is deeply rooted in the sixties, and each is haunted by the Vietnam War.

In "Low Men in Yellow Coats," eleven-year-old Bobby Garfield discovers a world of predatory malice in his own neighborhood and that adults are sometimes not rescuers but at the heart of the terror.

In the title story, a bunch of college kids get hooked on a card game, discover the possibility of protest...and confront their own collective heart of darkness, where laughter may be no more than the thinly disguised cry of the beast.

In "Blind Willie" and "Why We're in Vietnam," two men who grew up with Bobby in suburban Connecticut try to fill the emptiness of the post-Vietnam era in an America which sometimes seems as hollow and haunted as their own lives.

And in "Heavenly Shades of Night Are Falling," Bobby returns to his hometown where one final secret, and his heart's desire may await him.

Full of danger, suspense, and full of heart, Hearts In Atlantis takes some listeners to a place they have never been...and others to a place they have never been able to completely leave.

I didn't know Hearts In Atlantis was five interconnected stories when I started reading this book. I loved the first half, which was the first story. I was racing impatiently through it to learn Bobby and Ted Brautigan's fate when it ended abruptly with no actual resolution. The proceeding stories plunge into a deeply disturbing (yet entertaining) trip through the 60s. I lived through them myself, so I enjoyed revisiting the past. I think the author named every single song I used to listen to on the radio in high school. (96 Tears—loved it!) A massive chunk of the second half expounded on the vices of gamboling—college kids playing hearts instead of studying—with the Vietnam War's terror looming over them. Although Mr. King's writing is always equal parts hilarious and horrifying, the characters introduced in the first half were only a tiny part of the following story's narrative. It left me wanting more. I did love the references to The Dark Tower series, which I think are some of Mr. King's finest work. ( )