Hearts in Atlantis discussion

The next part of the book, Hearts in Atlantis, takes place in 1966 and is narrated by Peter Riley, who has just started at the University of Maine. He has been a good student before, but he is drawn to the interminable card game of Hearts that is going on in the common room in the all-male dormitory where he lives. This marathon of Hearts is initiated by Ronnie Malenfant, a young man with poor hygiene and a corrosive personality, but a whiz at the game; ironically, it is a game he plays with Riley that begins "the mad season." The games are frowned upon but allowed by the dorm's floor-proctor, David Dearborn, derogatorily called "Dearie" by the dorm boys.

The story explores how the university of the 1960s was an Atlantis, an imaginary kingdom isolated from the troubles of the world. The young men's student draft deferments are shielding them from serving in the Vietnam War. However, as more and more of the students become addicted to playing Hearts, their grades begin to suffer and they are putting themselves at risk of losing their deferment. Peter Riley quickly falls behind in his studies, but even though he knows he might flunk out, he is unable to stop himself. Meanwhile, he meets Carol Gerber, Bobby Garfield's friend and childhood sweetheart from Low Men in Yellow Coats. Peter Riley falls in love with her, and with her help tries to cure himself of the addiction to Hearts. However, he is too self-involved and therefore unaware that Carol herself has become caught up in an escapist addiction of her own: student activism, her own attempt to pay tribute to her friendship with Bobby Garfield and a call to action to stop the war. Stokely "Stoke" Jones, a firebrand activist who cannot get around without crutches, introduces the "peace sign" to Peter and his friend, Stanley "Skip" Kirk, by displaying it on the back of his jacket. As Peter Riley and his friends' self-destructive addiction to Hearts continues, the Vietnam War grows closer, and signs of defiance appear in the hearts and minds of the students, even in Riley's room-mate Nathan Hoppenstand, a shy pre-dent student struggling with doing what he feels is right and just or disappointing his parents.

One event catalyzes the resistance to the war, when a message spray-painted on a campus wall contains a (then-scandalous) suggestion to "FUCK JOHNSON" and a call for the U.S. to leave Vietnam. It is flanked by peace signs, which draw the attention towards Jones, who is apparently trying to wake up the students to the atrocity of the war. Riley and his compatriots in the dorm, which has been suffering a rash of student failures and withdrawals due to failing grades (by this time, he says, they were "majoring in Hearts") and Riley is taken by surprise when Carol announces she will be leaving school. She explains by telling him about Bobby, what he did for her, and that her decisions are forever influenced by what Bobby did for her. She and Riley make love for the first time in his car, and she leaves the next day, leaving a note describing why she did what she did, and that what happened the previous night was special for her...and a warning: "Get out of that card game." He reads the note, then breaks down; despite Carol's firm belief that "hearts don't break...they only bend," Peter wonders about the hearts of those who were still protected in innocence: "What about hearts in Atlantis?" After Thanksgiving break (where Peter consciously joins the anti-war movement by drawing the peace sign on the back of his high school jacket), Peter tries to pull himself away from the Hearts games already starting by returning students, but is roped in by Ronnie, and loses himself in the games as he did before. As the games continue, a massive thunderstorm approaches the campus and soon freezing rain and hail descend. As Peter plays a game where he holds an apparently superior hand and intends to sink Ronnie once and for all, Jones is spotted on the commons by one of the players, and soon all the players watch as he tries to make his way across the rain-slickened walk. As they watch, then begin to poke fun at Jones' seemingly self-destructive charge, cheering him on, and suddenly Peter hears Carol in his head about the boys that beat her up...about how they were laughing as they did it. Even with this, he can't stop himself: "Man, we just couldn't stop laughing."

in conclusion, this book is very good at least what i have read so far i would like to reread it another day but now i have to read another book and i am hoping that i can read such a great book as this one.

I'm not sure what you are looking for as far as discussion, but if you enjoyed this book I must recommend other books by King. I really liked The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. Freakin Loved that book!! And some others to put on your radar..Tommyknockers, Carrie(duh) and the shorts collection Full Dark,No Stars.

.......okay then?

This is less a review and more of a synopsis of the book. Its not even a discussion question so why is it here?