Uncommon Type: Some Stories by Tom Hanks
As an actor, Tom Hanks has an understated performance style; the hard work seems to get done under the surface, where we can’t see it. All we see is the truth of the character. The same goes for the 17 short stories in this thoroughly engaging book , Hanks’ fiction debut. Here are stories about friends who become lovers and then decide that wasn’t a good idea; about old war buddies whose Christmas Eve conversation sparks some powerful memories; about a movie star enduring a press junket; about a billionaire and his assistant on the trail of acquisitions who find in America’s heartland a humanity very different from their glass-tower world. The stories are brief and sometimes seem abbreviated, but they possess a real feel for character and a slice-of-life realism that combine to deliver considerable depth beneath the surface. A surprising and satisfying book from a first-time fiction writer.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Hanks is both much loved and often criticized as an actor; his writing, however, may well cross that divide with its undeniable craft and plainspoken insight. — Pitt, David (Reviewed 8/1/2017) (Booklist, vol 113, number 22, p27)