Hearts In Atlantis
Sep 1999 · Simon and Schuster
4.5star
89 reviewsreport
Ebook
528
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About this ebook
The classic collection of five deeply resonant and disturbing interconnected stories from #1 New York Times bestselling author Stephen King.
Innocence, experience, truth, deceit, loss, and recovery are at the core of these five interconnected, sequential tales—each deeply rooted in the 1960s, and each scarred by the Vietnam War, which continues to cast its shadow over American lives, politics and culture.
In Part One, “Low Men in Yellow Coats,” eleven-year-old Bobby Garfield discovers a world of predatory malice in his own neighborhood. He also discovers 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 as haunted—as their own lives.
And in “Heavenly Shades of Night Are Falling,” this remarkable book’s denouement, Bobby returns to his hometown where one final secret, the hope of redemption, and his heart’s desire may await him.
Full of danger and suspense, full of heart, this spellbinding fiction will take some readers to a place they have never been...and others to a place they have never been able to completely forget. Nearly twenty years after its first publication, Hearts in Atlantis is powerful and astonishingly current.
“You will see Stephen King in a new light. Read this moving, heartfelt tragedy and weep—weep for our lost conscience.” —BookPage
Innocence, experience, truth, deceit, loss, and recovery are at the core of these five interconnected, sequential tales—each deeply rooted in the 1960s, and each scarred by the Vietnam War, which continues to cast its shadow over American lives, politics and culture.
In Part One, “Low Men in Yellow Coats,” eleven-year-old Bobby Garfield discovers a world of predatory malice in his own neighborhood. He also discovers 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 as haunted—as their own lives.
And in “Heavenly Shades of Night Are Falling,” this remarkable book’s denouement, Bobby returns to his hometown where one final secret, the hope of redemption, and his heart’s desire may await him.
Full of danger and suspense, full of heart, this spellbinding fiction will take some readers to a place they have never been...and others to a place they have never been able to completely forget. Nearly twenty years after its first publication, Hearts in Atlantis is powerful and astonishingly current.
“You will see Stephen King in a new light. Read this moving, heartfelt tragedy and weep—weep for our lost conscience.” —BookPage
Ratings and reviews
4.5
89 reviews
Carlos Garcia
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May 9, 2025
I have to say that I don't understand the love for this book. It is composed of 5 books: Low Men in Yellow Coats, Hearts in Atlantis, Blind Willie, Why Were in Vietnam, & Heavenly Shades of Night Are Falling. I can honestly say that Low Men in Yellow Coats was fantastic, the best in the book. It is a beautiful telling of growing up with friends, enemies, protectors, abilities, dangers, and love. It really was beautiful. Hearts in Atlantis was a boring story about the card game Hearts. It really was nothing else. the rest of the books were blah! Honestly just read the first and you'll be good. The other books do have one or two character that brings them all to Low Men in Yellow Coats, but that's about it. The very end of the book is beautiful, I'll give it that. *Low men in yellow coats: 4.5/5 *Heart in Atlantis: 1.5/5 *Blind Willie: 2/5 *Why we are in Vietnam: 2/5 *Heavenly shades of night are falling: 2.5/5 Overall 3.2/5.
A Google user
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June 16, 2017
Not all of Stephen King's novels are scary. Some, like this one, are heartfelt descriptions of life from a previous era that deeply define the nature of humans and politics. Most of this novel is focused around the Vietnam War and how the people responded to it ( which wasn't pleasant, to say the least). There is a more detailed story, however, that I won't mention for the sake of unwanted spoiler alerts to any soul who hasn't read this novel. All that I can tell you, with full confidence that you will adore this novel, is that to read it and be amazed by the writing abilities of Stephen King.
1 person found this review helpful
Jennifer Graziano
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May 23, 2025
Death is scheduled on the calendar; not interrupting anyone too much, creating volunteer charity work to do. Solving various problems at crime scenes and tying up loose ends in the days afterward. The victim is always the area the crime scenes are in; the deceased has a first & last name. Money is a bit separate from area company supply stores; therefore, is directly applied to a person's worth. The calendar is first priority set by companies for their supplies and employee schedule; money is for worth. Emotional language is reserved for the weather and never agrees well with characters. It usually their scene and they want to use their words for the area; weather ones just don't fit. They always lose their argument.
About the author
Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes Never Flinch, the short story collection You Like It Darker (a New York Times Book Review top ten horror book of 2024), Holly (a New York Times Notable Book of 2023), Fairy Tale, Billy Summers, If It Bleeds, The Institute, Elevation, The Outsider, Sleeping Beauties (cowritten with his son Owen King), and the Bill Hodges trilogy: End of Watch, Finders Keepers, and Mr. Mercedes (an Edgar Award winner for Best Novel and a television series streaming on Peacock). His novel 11/22/63 was named a top ten book of 2011 by The New York Times Book Review and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. His epic works The Dark Tower, It, Pet Sematary, Doctor Sleep, and Firestarter are the basis for major motion pictures, with It now the highest-grossing horror film of all time. He is the recipient of the 2020 Audio Publishers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 PEN America Literary Service Award, the 2014 National Medal of Arts, and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.
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