Hearts in Atlantis

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Hearts in Atlantis (1999), is a fictional work by Stephen King.

This book is not quite a novel, but not quite a short story collection either. It consists of five stories, each connected to the next by recurring characters and taking place in chronological order.

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The first part, "Low Men in Yellow Coats", takes place in 1960. Bobby Garfield is eleven, and his biggest trouble is a bike his mother won't get him. His mother however, does not want to get him the bike, claiming that his father died leaving them no money, and therefore no luxuries. Bobby thus decides to earn the money for the bike himself, which later results in a few incidents concerning money. We can see from here the coming of age of this boy, who hasn't had a father since he was young. This charming tale of childhood adventures shows his sudden maturity. From a boy who spent his days hanging out with his friends John Sullivan and Carol Gerber and basically doing what normal kids do, to one who has to earn money, and face bullies, and help keep his friend safe from low men.

This process of maturity starts when Ted Brautigan moves into an adjacent apartment on the floor above Bobby and his mother. It is obvious from the start that she doesn't like Ted, but Bobby does. Ted spends a lot of time discussing books with Bobby and gives him Lord of the Flies, which makes a huge impression on him. Bobby's mother is worried that Ted is abusing Bobby and tries to keep the two apart.

Ted proves to be eccentric. He claims to be hunted by low men in yellow coats. He doesn't say too much about them, but he asks Bobby to keep an eye out for them and to let him know when they are near. Bobby agrees, as he is saving up for his bike, and Ted Brautigan is offering to pay him. He thinks that Ted is only imagining them, but he dutifully looks out for the warning signs that they are close, such as lost pet posters or kite tails without kites in the trees.

He does see the signs, but refuses to believe them, which later leads to Ted being caught by these low men, later revealed in "The Dark Tower Series" to be servants of the crimson King, and Ted is revealed to be a breaker of the beams which hold the Dark Tower, and the universe up.

Ted Brautigan later appears in "The Dark Tower" the final book of The Dark Tower

This early part of the work was made into the movie Hearts in Atlantis. It is an adjunct to King's Dark Tower series of novels.

The next part, "Hearts in Atlantis", takes place in 1966 and is about Peter Riley who has just started at the university. He has been a good student before, but now he's drawn to the interminable card games in the communal room in the dorm where he lives. He succeeds in making money, but his studies quickly fall behind. Failing is not an option because if he fails he will be drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. He meets up with Carol Gerber from "Low Men in Yellow Coats" and falls in love with her, and with her help tries to cure himself of the card game, though Carol herself starts to get caught up in something else. To begin with, no one knows what the symbol on the back of one student's jacket means, but soon the peace symbol has spread to almost everyone. More and more people are starting to question what the United States is really doing in Vietnam. Carol is drawn to an activist group and is soon taking part in bloody demonstrations.

The last three stories are shorter. "Blind Willie" is about a Vietnam veteran's penance after the war. "Why We're in Vietnam" describes a reunion of two vets at the funeral of a third and recounts an incident that almost escalated into a My Lai. In "Heavenly Shades of Night are Falling" Bobby Garfield returns to his hometown after almost forty years, and finds closure to his relationships with Carol Gerber and Ted Brautigan.

The plots in the different stories are connected, though they don't seem to be. The stories may not be connected by events, but they are connected by characters. There is always at least one previously familiar person in each story. A supporting character in one story may be the protagonist of the next. Towards the end of the book one has a more complete picture of the lives of the different characters and what has made them the people they became.


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ISBN numbers

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See also


Stephen King short story & novella collections
Night Shift - Different Seasons - Skeleton Crew - Four Past Midnight - Nightmares & Dreamscapes
Six Stories - Hearts in Atlantis - Blood and Smoke - Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales

it:Cuori in Atlantide (libro) ja:アトランティスのこころ no:Hjerter i Atlantis

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