Book Review : Uncommon Type by Tom Hanks

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Tom Hanks. A name that has always been synonymous with Brilliant Hollywood Movies. Who can forget his brilliant portrayal as Forrest Gump or the mystery solving symbologist Robert Langdon, Tom Hanks has done it all quite brilliantly. So, when I finally came across the book on Amazon, I decided to pre-order it even without reading the review and carried it on my trip to Lucknow. Was it good, was it bad or was it simply passable. Read further to know about it.

Short Blurb:


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.


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.
 What's good with the book: 
  • The book starts on a high note with quite a humorous story on relationships. This makes a promising start for the book.
  • My favourite of all was 'The Past is Important to Us' where the protagonist travels through time to 1939 just to meet one special lady.
  • The stories are short and hence you can always finish one, put down the book for a while and move to next one.
What's wrong with the book:


  • The title and the cover tells us that typewriter plays an important role in the stories but more often than not, the typewriter hardly shows up in a few sentences.
  • The press clippings that comes up after every 4 stories or so are quite unbearable. One does not miss anything even if they are skipped.
  • The stories are quite forgettable. The characters except for a meagre few does not stay in your memory for long so much so that I had to refer to the book to even write this story.
Stories to check out : The Past is Important to Us, Welcome to Mars, Three Exhausting Weeks

Final Words: 

If you are looking for something to read on a travel where you are bound to take quite a lot of breaks, you can go for it. A few stories are avoidable and the book could have done better off without it. The language ain't difficult to comprehend but definitely not for someone who is looking for a light read. Tom Hanks could have done better but definitely this was bad.


My Rating - 🌟🌟🌟 out of 5 (An extra star solely for the story that I still can't stop thinking about)

Book in Three Words - Quick. Quirky. Avoidable.

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