“But kids lose everything, kids have slippery fingers and holes in their pockets and they lose everything.”

Hearts in Atlantis is a weird book. It begins with “Low Men in Yellow Coats”, a wistful tale that breezes by the Dark Tower as it touches on classic Stephen King themes of childhood, magic, and the underlying menace that threatens to shatter them both. After that, the magic dissipates into a suite of stories that somberly unpack what it was like to come of age in the late ‘60s, when the war in Vietnam galvanized (and demoralized) an entire generation.

After defrocking the “Low Men” last week, the Losers reconvene to untangle what’s easily King’s most thematically knotty collection. The four stories they discuss—“Hearts in Atlantis”, “Blind Willie”, “Why We’re in Vietnam”, and “Heavenly Shades of Night Are Falling”—are diverse in style and structure, but aligned in their desire to explore a life lived in the long shadow of a pointless war.

Join Losers Randall Colburn, Mac Gerber, Dan Pfleegor, and Ana Marie Cox as they discuss the last book King published before his near-fatal accident in 1999. Topics include the King’s political evolution, the corruption of idealism, and the many ways these stories dovetail with “Low Men in Yellow Coats.” Oh, and falling pianos.

Stream the episode below and return next week when the Losers slap peace signs on their foreheads to discuss the four other stories in the 1999 collection. For further adventures, join the Losers’ Club over long days and pleasant nights via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Acast, Google Podcasts, and RSS. You can also unlock hundreds of hours of exclusive content in The Barrens (Patreon).

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