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Hearts in Atlantis (1999)


Before reading: And here we are again, knowing of a King book but knowing next to nothing about it. I'm aware of the movie, but have yet to see it (I will watch it when I finish reading). I know that this is a collection of novellas but they are all related. This will be our third novella collection but our first of connected stories. I also know that this book has Dark Tower connections. These all seem like good things to me so let's find out!

After reading: I have thoughts that I am trying to gather. As far as King's novella collections go I have to say I really enjoyed these ones all intertwining with each other here. I think it really worked to its advantage and each story seemed unique while never really leaving the overarching story. It did feel separate as each novella was formatted and structured different, but it also felt whole. I really liked the character who, surprisingly, was the one who wove all the stories together. I also, for the most part, liked all the stories individually. As a whole, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Let me share some specific thoughts I had on each novella and then I will try to tie all my thoughts together.

Low Men in Yellow Coats- Absolutely a 10/10. Had this story not been in the collection, in my opinion, it would have been...meh. This story on its own is one of my favorites that I've read and really increases my overall opinion of the collection. So so good. It reminded me so much of Insomnia which is another great story. If you are a Dark Tower fan or are reading the books, you one hundred percent need to read this story if you haven't already. Not only was this a great story with great characters and a really fun read but it is directly related to The Tower. Actually, I'm not even sure if this story would make any sense to you if you read it without being familiar with DT. I even had to pull up the DT glossary cause one of the characters was speaking mid-world. We get direct quotes and connections from other DT books (there are other worlds than this) and confirmation that the going-ons in the DT series directly correlate with this story chronologically. Additionally, we get even more information about the Crimson King. The Crimson King was introduced in the fourth DT book and will become a big bad but so far most of what we know about him comes from Insomnia and now Low Men in Yellow Coats. TL;DR do not skip out on this story if you are on your way to the Tower. 

Hearts in Atlantis- I enjoyed this novella. None of the other stories in this collection hold up to LMIYC, in my opinion, but this one was still quite good. It took a little while to piece together how it was connected but I liked how it was. Again, this was a good story with likable characters. I wish the characters in this story showed up more prominently in the others, but that is a minor thing. While the other novellas are not set in Maine, this one is, and we get some mentions of Derry. 7/10

Blind Willie- I don't have too much to say about this one, after the first two novellas the rest are quite short. This one was a little left field but it still pieced some things together. It reminded me quite a bit of King's short stories. It felt familiar. I didn't love it but I appreciated it for what it was. One big thing this novella did provide was the mention of a character, Raymond Fiegler, who is definitely The Man in Black. 5/10

Why We're in Vietnam- I wanted to like this one more than I did. I honestly found it pretty boring. The exciting parts were very exciting and interesting....and then it would switch back over to the boring stuff. My only note was, "boring, weird, sad." 6/10

Heavenly Shades of Night are Falling- This one was only twelve pages long so I can't really like it too much, but it was everything I wanted from the ending. We came full circle and it was perfect. There were revelations that were super fun and intriguing. A character alludes that Raymond Fiegler taught her to be "dim" which pretty much confirmed that he is Randall Flagg. Lots of fun, lots of Easter eggs, and overall just a really great ending. 8/10

Novella collections aren't my personal cup of tea but I did really enjoy the format of this one. There were little things that would happen in each novella that mirrored something that happened in another and it all flowed very nicely. While the stories were independent of each other they all shared overarching themes and connections. Not necessarily my most favorite tale I've ever read but something I definitely enjoyed reading. All things serve the beam. 

Put your nonfiction caps on cause up next is On Writing. 

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