Name: Uncommon Type
Rating: 3.373134328358209 (67 reviews)
ISBN: 9780525590507

Tom Hanks

Some Stories

Uncommon Type

A collection of seventeen wonderful short stories showing that two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks is as talented a writer as he is an actor. A gentle Eastern European immigrant arrives in New York City after his family and his life have been torn apart by his country's civil war. A man who loves to bowl rolls a perfect game--and then another and then another and then many more in a row until he winds up ESPN's newest celebrity, and he must decide if the combination of perfection and celebrity has ruined the thing he loves. An eccentric billionaire and his faithful executive assistant venture into America looking for acquisitions and discover a down and out motel, romance, and a bit of real life. These are just some of the tales Tom Hanks tells in this first collection of his short stories. They are surprising, intelligent, heartwarming, and, for the millions and millions of Tom Hanks fans, an absolute must-have!

Jennifer

Roxane Gay sums it all up in her Goodreads review of this book calling it "aggressively bland". I tried to come up with a better way to describe it and I couldn't. I jotted down notes on each chapter mostly as reminder to myself so I never have to reread this book. There might be spoilers. Is it really a spoiler if you're bored to tears? 1. Three Exhausting Weeks Energetic, controlling woman dates normal guy. She is irritating and weird. I literally said "uhhh ok" after the chapter was done. 2. Christmas Eve 1953 Well this escalated quickly. A feel good family story turned war story. Yikes. 3. A Junket in the City of Lights A peek into Hollywood life. I wonder who the inspiration for Willa Sax is in real life. I wonder if press junkets and the people and experiences in this story are based on real life. 4. Our Town Today with Hank Fiset I didn't understand this at all. There's literally a page of nonsense. idk. 5. Welcome to Mars Father and son story. Mars is a beach. Surfing accident escalated quickly + family dysfunction. This chapter piqued my interest way more than the others. Remind me to never surf or paddleboard. If I had to pick a favorite chapter from the book, it would be this one. 6. A Month on Greene Street Divorcée just moved on to this street. She starts to learn more about her neighbors. [spoilers removed] Mkay. 7. Alan Beans Plus Four Revisits characters from Ch. 1. They work on a spacecraft called Alan Bean, named after an astronaut. Uhh ok. 8. Our Town Today with Hank Fiset We're doing more of this guy?? Why??? He's a reporter going around NYC. He is corny. He was not impressed with the MoMa. Mkay. Can we never revisit this guy? 9. Who's Who? Sue Gliebe moves to NYC to become an actress. Has a hard time. Gay man Bob Roy helps her with her resume and stage name. [spoilers removed] Shoot me in the face. 10. A Special Weekend A boy hangs out with his mom and her boyfriend. Boring and uneventful. 11. These Are the Meditations of My Heart Lonely woman buys a fancy typewriter. 12. Our Town Today with Hank Fiset So mindnumbingly boring I can't even tell you what the point of this was. 13. The Past is Important to Us I did not read this. I looked at the words on the pages and wanted it to be over. I contemplated never finishing this book while sort of skimming past it. 14. Stay With Us Nope. Yawn. 15. Go See Costas Kind of interesting story about a Bulgarian-Greek immigrant making his way around NYC. Mkay. 16. Our Town Today with Hank Fiset About a woman named Esperanza who uses a typewriter. 17. Steve Wong is Perfect A dude from previous chapters bowled perfect games. No hijinks ensue. No shenanigans take place.

Tom Hanks is as charming on the page as he is on screen. While essentially a bunch of stories about not very much, he brings warmth and life to all of them. As an collection of short stories, some are more forgettable than others. 

Hardy Marwaha 

A TIMESBOOK OF THE YEAR A collection of seventeen wonderful short stories showing that two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks is as talented a writer as he is an actor. A hectic, funny sexual affair between two best friends. A World War II veteran dealing with his emotional and physical scars. A second-rate actor plunged into sudden stardom and a whirlwind press junket. A small-town newspaper columnist with old-fashioned views of the modern world. A woman adjusting to life in a new neighborhood after her divorce. Four friends going to the moon and back in a rocket ship constructed in the backyard. A teenage surfer stumbling into his father's secret life. These are just some of the people and situations that Tom Hanks explores in his first work of fiction, a collection of stories that dissects, with great affection, humour and insight, the human condition and all its foibles. The stories are linked by one thing- in each of them, a typewriter plays a part, sometimes minor, sometimes central. To many, typewriters represent a level of craftsmanship, beauty and individuality that is harder and harder to find in the modern world. In his stories, Mr Hanks gracefully reaches that typewriter-worthy level. Known for his honesty and sensitivity as an actor, Mr Hanks brings both those characteristics to his writing. Alternatingly whimsical, moving and occasionally melancholy, Uncommon Typeis a book that will delight as well as surprise his millions of fans. It also establishes him as a welcome and wonderful new voice in contemporary fiction, a voice that perceptively delves beneath the surface of friendships, families, love and normal, everyday behaviour.

Cristian Garcia

Atta boy! what a great set of stories. Some of them got me melancholic and others were absolutely funny (specially the ones with MDash, Steve Wong and Anna).
Completely recommended. Hanx is a natural born storyteller.

Hussein Mahran

3 stars just because I like Tom Hanks and I enjoyed his narration, nothing super here, a few stories that a couple of which are really nice, but don't expect deep intellectual ideas.

Michael Pejin

I really wanted to love this, as in movies, I'm a huge fan of Tom Hanks. It's clear he has ability when it comes to the written word. His characters were believeable, and felt like they came from somewhere. Unfortunately though, there wasn't a lot to them. They all had the same speech patterns in the end, and were mostly bland and uninteresting. Hopefully he keeps at it though, and grows his craft like we know he can. If he can bring his writing up to where his acting is. We are in for a treat.

Papéis Diferentes - Algumas histórias

Magda Pais

Tom Hanks será, para mim, sempre o Walter. A cada filme que vejo dele - e apesar de ter deixado as comédias há séculos - eu encontro um sorriso, um olhar, uma expressão que me lembra a primeira personagem do primeiro filme que vi dele. Curiosamente em Papéis Diferentes aconteceu-me exactamente o mesmo, Walter andava por ali, a rondar cada uma das histórias.

Como qualquer livro de contos, há alguns que nos atraem mais, que nos apetecem, enquanto outros nos são mais indiferentes. Outros que achamos que mereciam mais umas páginas (ou mesmo um livro inteiro) e outros que demoram a acabar. Mas todos com o sentido de humor, o carinho, a ternura e a credibilidade que, vá-se lá saber porquê, Tom Hanks me inspira. Ou será Walter?

Nestes Papéis Diferentes Tom Hanks mostra que a sua genialidade não se fica pela representação. Desconfio que ainda vamos ouvir (ou mais, exactamente, ler) sobre esta nova faceta deste versátil actor (e autor). E venha eles (os livros dele) que eu pelo menos cá estarei.

courtney garrison

First Impressions of this one, I love that tom hanks himself narrates the audiobook, but this is way out of my comfort zone. He doesn’t follow traditional writing styles, he’s more of just a storyteller throughout this and I can appreciate that.

Okay, now that I’m finished with this book overall it doesn’t do it for me. The writing and overall book just are meh. The book has no form or organization or plot to it, its just full of random stories. I think for me if it would have had a theme to it at least I would have enjoyed it better.

There were a few stories that stick with me, especially the military one because my grandfather and great grandfather were military. My husband also has military in his family.

Overall there were good and bad ones here, it just didn’t meet the expectations I had for it. There are also a few things I could live the rest of my life and not hear out of tom hanks mouth ever again. Listening to the audiobook and hearing him say certain parts of this were cringy…I mean it is tom hanks.

2.7 stars for me

Robin M Cabana

Tom Hanks collect typewriters and the machines are mentioned in all of these stories, some of which are connected. I liked some of these stories more than others. Most of them were cute, funny or touching. I was also not surprised to find stories about space, war and lots of nostalgia. My favorites were the stories involving a foursome of friends, Christmas Eve 1953, These are the Meditations of my Heart, and Stay With Us. Tom Hanks narrated the audiobook, which he does with his usual brand of charm.

Simran Kalkat

Read this by listening to the audiobook that was narrated by Tom Hanks himself, and really enjoyed the experience! Most of the stories aren’t crazy and fantastic tales but I think that is what makes them such enjoyable reads.

Kimberly

I enjoyed the majority of the stories and the rest I was just not interested in. Nothing I was just obsessed with, however Tom pleasantly surprised me. You go Tom Hanks.

Anika | @chaptersofmay

This book was my first to have short stories, and I like Tom Hanks so I though I'd give it a chance. Overall, the stories are a little dull and I found it a struggle to finish them. Some really grabbed my attention, and I liked the appearance of a typewriter to link them together, but I wasn't that impressed. I had to push myself to finish the book and the tales aren't that memorable.

Zoe Stanford

There are a couple of really lovely little stories in here, but some were more like writing exercises added to pad out the page count.

Amy Buckle

I’ve always loved Tom Hanks as an actor, so when I saw that he had published a collection of short stories, I immediately wanted to read it. I’ve always had a love for short stories after reading Raymond Carver’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Love and really... read the full review here: https://www.amybucklesbookshelf.co.uk...

Uncommon Type Some Stories

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