Hearts in Atlantas   by Stephen King

June 2004     on loan from my colleague's boyfriend, Tobias.

I was surprised by this book, and pleasingly so; I started reading it, because I lacked other easy material, to lightly amuse me. So, I thought I'd read it, even if it is horror. (At least it should be well written horror.) And in was catching, and addictive. I found myself reading it at every spare moment, and I miss it now: Indeed, at this precise second, I would be reading it, if it weren't already finished.

This was a book about an age. (At least, how the age was for a certain middle class of Americans.) It was not about terror, fear, blood, and so on... (although these things couldn't be left out: Viet Nam was a big part of that time. With the blood and fear that went with it.) There were also some weird monsters from another dimension near the beginning, but they only threatened, and never actually hurt anyone. (Why they were there at all, I couldn't say, but I liked them, and thought they were well developed. I just didn't feel that they contributed anything to the rest of the tale.)

Personally, I think that those creatures would have done better, off somewhere in a short story of their own. There IS the chance that they were very symbolic, and had some meaning that I missed. But, well... I missed it. So there's nothing I can say about it. It does feel like they SHOULD be a reflection of some other character, or facet of society, and make a statement about some trait... But they didn't (for me.)

That aside, the whole book was good. There are some rather odd characters, and some things just a little disturbing. King doesn't hide the darker sides of human nature (Gambling, addiction, violence and killing,) but nor does he play down the better aspects (Compassion, love, peace, anti-militarism, honour...) What I found most thought provoking, was the description of college students, getting totally addicted to playing Hearts (the card game,) in the dorm. It goes to the extent of cutting classes, and not studying, and dropping out of school. And only because it's there; because they sit down to relax for a few hands, and simply can not stop.

This rang true for me, because just here on my computer, I know how that is: When I will just play ONE more hand, because it was only bad chance that I got those cards -or so that I can get back on top, and be in the lead, or because I did so well, and I want to do that again. (But really... only because I get addicted to it.) And hopefully, now, that I've read about it, and understand that I'm not alone, and that it really can be an addiction, just like so many other things... Hopefully, now I will be better able to control it (control myself.)

Anyhow, it's a good book, and I like to read other things by him... so long as it's not Horror (which I just don't have a passion for.)

M.