“Hearts in Atlantis” by Stephen King
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.
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I have never listened to an audio book, I really should try it but will probably get to easily distracted and start listening to music instead.