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Well I finally finished “Hearts in Atlantis” by Stephen King. An audiobook which weighs in at a 17 hr. listen, my longest listen to date. This audiobook is a series of 5 short stories that have themes and characters in common. This is a book written for the generation of people which lived through the 60’s, rather than a book that gives a glimpse into that era. Nothing expressed here is new or novel concerning the 60’s that hasn’t been beaten to death by dozens of other writers (except the “low men”). I didn’t garner any clearer idea of the ideals of that time. The 60’s were a huge time, of that I have no doubt. Just when a writer wants to “cleanse” him/her self of those memories is when I have problems. This was a time to change the world but this book failed to explain why.

Hearts in Atlantis

Authored by Stephen King

Read by Stephen King & William Hurt

The stories involve 3 close friends as they grow up, grow old and die. In the first story King kind of dips into his nom de plume of horror writing but it’s little more subtle then the stories of his I’ve read (Not that I would be an expert, the last Stephen King book I read was “It”. The ending made me so angry I never read another). Second story involved college in the 60’s, far out man. Third story involved guilt about Vietnam Vets, spare some change. Fourth was war stories and how it had been back in the “bush”. The fifth and final was a reunion and trying to get a feel good ending out of the whole thing. In this collection the stories I enjoyed most were the first and last as they were the most connected and act sort of bookends to the collection. Stephen King writes like Stephen King and his verbosity fits in the audiobook format, it’s just that the content of the novel itself wasn’t my cup of tea. William Hurt and Stephen King took turns reading the short stories. Hurt does a great job of reading after a slow start, he sounded kind of bored at the beginning, that soon changed once the characters were established. King has this voice that I find very unappealing, high and a bit nasally. Even with my comments on what was wrong with this audiobook it still was entertaining and a good accompaniment to my 50-minute commute to work (took almost a month to go through the entire thing). Can’t say that I wore an odd grin on my face during the read but it did help me keep my sanity and that’s a Good Thing.



Pros: William Hurt’s great acting ability and rich voice.

Cons: The 60’s again, Stephen King’s voice.

With the recent election and the Republican led government in place most political pundits aren’t saying IF there will be an war but rather WHEN it will start. I agree with these forecasts and I am sure that there will be many tears shed in Iraq for lost loved ones. Let’s try to keep things in perspective. Here is a cartoon to help.

The tale concerning the Japanese abductees continues. From this article, “Yasushi Chimura, one of the five Japanese abducted to North Korea in 1978 but now back in Japan, on Thursday clearly stated his wish for the first time that he and his wife Fukie want to meet in Japan with their three children, who are still in the North.” During the talks between NK and Japan it was proposed to let the families meet with their children in a third country, this request was ignored by NK. I hope that they can be reunited with their families.