Dicing with Death. (Hearts in Atlantis - Stephen King)

Member Name: QueenElf

Product:	Hearts in Atlantis - Stephen King
Date:	26/05/08 (80 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Five great stories

Disadvantages: None, though you need to concentrate on the stories.

If I was ever tempted to write about a particular author in detail then my choice would naturally be the one and only Stephen King. I've read almost all of his books many times, leaving a few years between each reading on most occasions. I guess it's because we are almost of a similar age that I can relate to so many of his books, strange as that might sound. After all, I'm Welsh and SK is American. What we do have in common is growing up in the late 1950's and the 1960's, with all the angst that caused. I could probably even write a thesis on the comparative social and cultural similarities of those days, but that's something for the future maybe. My point is that I see the patterns in Stephen King's books and know when he is writing almost always from personal experience.
He does this in many of his books, but none so well as in his novelettes. Think of his other collections of stories, including the excellent Different Seasons which produced three of the best stories ever to become decent film versions of the stories.
He writes best when he is "filling in" between his major books. At least that's my own theory.

The collection entitled Hearts in Atlantis is quite possibly his greatest achievement, yet many readers don't see these as pure horror stories and therefore might miss this one book altogether. From my first reading in 1999, my second in 2004 and my third last month (2008), I saw something slightly different with each reading and could only marvel at his genius when he puts his heart into his stories.

~~ The Collection ~~

The whole is made up of five stories that span the years from 1960 to the late 1990's and each are firmly rooted in the childhood, the adolescent and the awakening brought about by the Vietnam war and its long-term effects on the adults who survived afterwards.
At first glance it would seem that the stories were almost unrelated, especially with the first and last stories. But one has to read behind the lines and accept the fact that King uses his own special way of intertwining fact with supernatural elements to tell his stories. The stories have to be taken in their context so let's start with the first.

~~ Low men in yellow coats.~~

Bobby Garfield is very much a child of the early sixties, his father dead and his mother struggling to bring him up on her own. As the new decade starts, so Bobby, about to turn eleven years old in the Spring, learns some harsh facts of life and growing into knowledge that is particularly painful for him. His mother takes in a lodger, an old man who has a profound effect on Bobby. He introduces the boy to great literature, the one book, Lord of the Flies, will echo on later in the other stories. The point of the story can be lessened if the reader has never read this book, but if so, it takes on real meaning.
This story has elements of King's Dark Tower series in the narrative, especially with the man, Ted Brautigan, who Bobby starts to love and trust.
At 300 pages it's almost a book in itself, but nevertheless its impact is essential in many ways.

~~ Hearts in Atlantis~~

The second story and in my mind maybe King's finest of all time. The year is 1966, the narrator Peter Riley. The place is the University of Maine where the college students are exempt from the draft into the army as the USA starts to send young men to hideous deaths and later nightmares in the war that shocked many nations, the Vietnam War. Make no mistake, this affected a whole generation of young people in the UK as well as America. But in King's magnificent story of a generation in fear and doubt, it's the small details that dominate the storyline. For the students soon get caught up in a simple card game called Hearts. When the first exams roll around though, many students are failing badly because they are caught up in the risks of the game and continue playing all day long when they should be studying. The depth of feeling in this story is hard to write down, not without giving the plot away. But it has many themes and all of them endemic to that era. In that way King's words are true. More later.
Another long story at 184 pages approximately. The link to the first story is through Bobby's first girlfriend, Carol, who attends the same University.

~~ Blind Willie~~

This is the one story that didn't seem to fit in with the rest. A version of the story was published five years earlier on its own, though it does have links to the two other stories. There is no supernatural element in this at all, just a story about a Vietnam Veteran who milks the post-war sympathies for his own gains. At just 47 pages it's still a nasty little story.

~~Why We're in Vietnam~~

A compelling but strange story, told almost completely in retrospect, twenty-odd years after the fall of Saigon. The narrator is Bobby and Carol's old friend, John Sullivan, known as Sully-John. It's partly his story and also that of several others whose names appear in the other stories. Maimed by the war but still in touch with some of the Vets', Sully is at yet another funeral of the Vets', something that is increasing among the survivors, whether by Cancer, old injuries, heart problems and even suicide. The story is another short one at 53 pages, but chilling in its impact with elements of the supernatural thrown in.

~~ Heavenly Shades of Night are Falling~~

The final story and the culmination of much that has passed before. Set in 1999 at Sully-John's funeral, Bobby and Carol come face to face after half a lifetime. Life has been hard for them both, but they survived in their own individual ways. Here is closure of a sort though the reader would hope for a happier ending. There is some link to Ted of the first story, but the ending is more a sweet sad song at the end of a lifetime of yearning for something more. That's not to say it doesn't have it's own twists, King would never cop out that easy.
At just 19 pages it's little more than a short story, though every word is used to its best effect.

~~ My Thoughts~~

I loved this book and hardly noticed the shift from one story to another, though the first and second were the main story. The character's were exceptional even for King, who has that knack of getting into the mind of children and teenagers with an ease that says he remembers how it was to be young and insecure.

The growing up themes is handled with subtlety, something few authors do well and the adult themes were also very real. This had to work or the whole concept of the book would have failed. The linking characters worked well, something new to King. But what really made the whole book for me was its humanity as well as a truthfulness that must have come from experience.

King states in his author's note that he went to the University of Maine from the dates in the book, 1966 to 1970. He says that his characters are entirely fictional, but I know these characters, I have glimpsed them in books like "it", Dreamcatcher, the Stand and many short stories. Perhaps there is a bit of us all in these characters as well. I remember protesting against the Vietnam War and arguing with those that agreed with it. None of my friends were caught up in that horrible slaughter, but I imagine that many of King's contemporaries were.

The first story starts with a young boy finding out about the savage beast that lives inside us all. The promises that adults make and fail to keep. The friendships that should last forever, but they can't.
The second is about mixed feelings and how young people can literally dice with death. It's a very powerful story on many levels. Poverty and scholarships, living on the breadline but gambling when you should be studying. As much a protest about war than the later demonstrations. The sinking continent of Atlantis that represents the whole of the American dream. Does King's story represent the hidden feelings of so many American students? The story suggests it.

Finally the stories that come from the War itself. King wasn't in the war, but his friend and co-author of other books was. I imagine that there must have been some input from Peter Straub, though this is only my own opinion.

Buy this book, or borrow it, read it and see the same problems facing young people and older ones. See your own struggles and awakenings in it. That is what makes it such a great read. You can identify with it so it touches something deep inside you. I guarantee that you will finish it with a sigh and maybe a few tears. I hope so, you'll see another side of Stephen King.

That quote from King I hinted at earlier?
" Although it's difficult to believe, the sixties are not fictional; they actually happened". I concur with that.

Book Prices: Mine is the New English Library edition priced £5.99 new from Amazon. As usual you can buy it cheaper second hand. Mine was bought new so I don't remember how much it cost.
Thanks for reading.
©Lisa Fuller May 2008.

Summary: Perhaps his best collection of Stories.