Uncommon Type - Some Stories

by Tom Hanks
403 pgs

Who knew Tom Hanks was a writer? I didn't. I guess it makes sense though. As an actor and a director, telling stories is what he's been doing for years. Why not write them as well?

Uncommon Type is a collection of short stories written by Hanks that all share a common element or theme: an old-fashioned typewriter. Typewriters make appearances in each of the stories. Sometimes it's a small cameo, other times the typewriter is a major character in the story. But it's always one of those old, built-to-last-forever machines for which Hanks must possess a strong feeling of nostalgia for.

The stories in Uncommon Type are each heartfelt and charming, two words I don't think I've ever used individually, let alone in the same sentence together. But that's really the best way to describe them. Take the story "The Past is Important to Us" for example. It's a story about a wealthy man living in 2027 who repeatedly travels back in time to 1939, so he can bump into a beautiful woman wearing a green dress at the New York World's Fair over and over again, despite the risks to his own life each time he goes.

Or "Christmas Eve 1953," which is about a WWII veteran who lost most of one of his legs and hands in the war, but whose experiences in the war have made him that much more grateful for the wife and family he now gets to enjoy now that he's safe at home.

Tom Hanks is a pretty good writer. He's not as good at writing as he is at acting, but still, I was impressed. I'd be interested to see what he could pull off with a full-length novel.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆