by Stephen King
from Pocket
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Editorial ReviewAlthough it is difficult to believe, the Sixties are not fictional:
THEY ACTUALLY HAPPENED.
No matter the format, Stephen King's work is spellbinding because the author himself is spellbound. The first hugely popular writer of the TV generation, King published his first novel, Carrie, in 1974, the year before the last U.S. troops withdrew from Vietnam. Images from that war -- and protests against it -- had flooded America's living rooms for nearly ten years. In Hearts in Altantis, King mesmerizes readers with fiction deeply rooted in the Sixties, and explores -- through four defining decades -- the haunting legacy of the Vietmnam War. As the characters in Hearts in Atlantis are tested in every way, King probes and unlocks the secrets of his generation for us all. Full of danger, full of suspense, and most of all full of heart, Stephen King's new book will take some readers to a place they have never been able to leave completely. With his idiosyncratic blend of patrician airs and boyish charm, narrator William Hurt provides a wonderful complement to this wildly imaginative collection of short stories by author Stephen King. Hurt carefully weaves the disparate elements into a cohesive whole, embracing the subtle complexities of each character; one moment a wizened sadness leaks into his voice as a haunted old man, pursued by demons, asks his 11-year-old lookout, "You know everyone on this street, on this block of this street anyway? And you'd know strangers? Sojourners? Faces of those unknown?" Then, in a profound yet almost imperceptible switch, he exposes the boy's naive enthusiasm, "I think so." Right about here your neck hairs will stand at attention. Hurt's peculiar vocal style is in perfect pitch to King's dark, surreal vision of growing up amid the monsters of post-Vietnam America. (Running time: 21 hours, 20 CDs) --George Laney
Customer Reviews:
- Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
- Your "Hearts" Will Be Touched By This Novel
The 1960s were a very troubling decade for many (most?) U.S. citizens. With a war raging overseas in Vietnam, the "old guard" was pitted against the "new generation" in a clashing of ideals that shaped our nation from that point forward.
Those turbulent times are the setting for Stephen King's wonderful novel "Hearts In Atlantis". Technically, one almost can't even call this work a "novel", as it consists of five different stories from five different time periods, but it is the broad spectrum the book... more info
- Not Free SF Reader
A collection of sorts, based around the sixties experience and Vietnam, from early teenagerhood to many years later, following some people intersecting paths over the years. Maybe a touch autobiographical from what the author says in the intro.
The supernatural bad guys in the first long novella I think are likely from The Dark Tower series, which I have not read a lot of beyond some novellas that make up the first book.
Hearts In Atlantis : Low Men in Yellow Coats - Stephen King
Hearts In... more info
- Odd yet mesmerising reading
This reading, which is also the Audible reading, may take some getting used to. Stephen King does relatively little acting here, while William Hurt apparently does none at all, yet by the end of the book I thought it was one of the finest dramatic readings I had ever heard.
Unlike what you may hear from Frank Mueller or Jim Dale, both readers seem to believe the text itself is sufficient to invoke the reader's emotion. King does this through a reading that sounds like his natural speaking voice. Yet,... more info
- LOW MEN PART OF DARK TOWER SAGA
Low Men in Yellow Coats, the first long (300+ pages) story from Hearts in Atlantis, is a story I've wanted to read ever since hearing about it in The Dark Tower Concordance. If you are a King fan, you already know about his epic series of seven novels, which starts with The Gunslinger, and continues with The Drawing of the Three, The Waste Lands, Wizard and Glass, The Wolves of the Calla, The Song of Susannah, culminating in The Dark Tower.
Since finishing the series and the Concordance, I've enjoyed... more info
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