Free shipping on orders over $99
Uncommon Type

Uncommon Type 2

Some Stories

by Tom Hanks
Paperback
Publication Date: 18/10/2017
4/5 Rating 2 Reviews

Share This Book:

 
$32.99

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 Type is 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.

ISBN:
9781785151521
9781785151521
Category:
Contemporary fiction
Format:
Paperback
Publication Date:
18-10-2017
Language:
English
Publisher:
Penguin Random House
Country of origin:
United Kingdom
Pages:
356
Dimensions (mm):
213x136x37mm
Weight:
0.52kg

Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks has been an actor, screenwriter, director and through Playtone, a producer.

His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker.

This is his first collection of fiction.

Click 'Notify Me' to get an email alert when this item becomes available

Reviews

4.5

Based on 2 reviews

5 Star
(1)
4 Star
(1)
3 Star
(0)
2 Star
(0)
1 Star
(0)

2 Reviews

If you like short stories, this book is highly recommended. Initially there is the novelty value of reading stories written by such a famous actor (who knew he could write, right?) but you soon forget that and read them for what they are. There are a couple that are a bit too sentimental (like the recurring newspaper column) but three or four are absolutely excellent - particularly a surprising one about time travel. Well worth reading.

Contains Spoilers No
Report Abuse

Uncommon Type: Some Stories is the first print book by American actor, filmmaker and author, Tom Hanks. This is a collection of seventeen quite diverse stories. They vary not only in subject matter, but also format. Many are straight narrative, but there’s also a screen play and a series of newspaper columns from the Tri-Cities Daily News/Herald entitled Our Town Today with Hank Fiset. Hank muses on modern news consumption and production compared with that of fifty years ago; he shares his opinion of New York City; he reminisces on significant moments in his life as punctuated by a typewriter bell; he describes a return to analog by a typewriting evangelista.

Typewriters feature heavily: there’s a typewriter on the cover; there’s an image of a different model of typewriter at the beginning of each chapter; sometimes, a typewriter is an integral part of the story, sometimes it has a minor role, and sometimes it just gets an incidental mention. Many of the characters are appealing and a particular quartet who reappear twice after their initial tale might be well suited to have their own novel (in fact, one of their stories was published in a separate volume in 2014).

The stories are an ideal length for dipping into, but also interesting and different enough to read without pause. Topics are many and mixed: refugees in the present day (or near future) and from a half a century ago; travel by car and plane as well as time travel, space travel and travel down memory lane; ten pin bowling; surfing; motel accommodation; moving house; the public relations junket; making it on the stage; the heavy toll of wartime service.

Hanks gives the reader laughter and romance, loyal friends, wise words and plots that aren’t entirely predictable. It’s easy to imagine Hanks himself as the narrator in many of these tales: his voice is really there, even in the print version. This is an outstanding debut, and if Hanks ever tires of Hollywood, he can certainly direct his energies to the keyboard (whether a typewriter or electronic), as more tales of this ilk would definitely be welcome. Very enjoyable.

Contains Spoilers No
Report Abuse