Uncommon Type book review

Uncommon Type by Tom Hanks
Published by Knopf Publishing Group on October 17, 2017
Pages: 405
Goodreads

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!

I am a massive fan of Tom Hanks, I mean who isn’t, so when I saw that there was an anthology written by him I had to pick it up. I wasn’t sure what to expect and I hadn’t read anything more about the book and the type of stories that were going to be a part of this collection. So I went in completely blind, and I’m not sure whether that helped or hindered me to be honest. Some stories made total sense and others left me a little baffled and I wonder if I had done a little more research whether that would have been the case at all. I did overall love this book, I thought there was a great range of characters and lives in this book and I did fly through the various different stories, I just think some hit better than others.

There is a wide range of characters throughout this book, there are a few repeating that we learn a little more about but this book really excels at introducing characters and giving you a slice of life of each of these characters. I think my favourite character/slice of life would be “Welcome to Mars” I enjoyed watching the character development and how the story ended up. There were definitely some duds in this book, in the sense that I struggled to connect with the characters and their stories because we don’t get to see them as whole people and although the slice of life worked for some others needed a whole lot more development and time.

The best bit of Uncommon Type for me was definitely the diversity of the type of story that was running all the way through this book. It definitely wasn’t predictable and this book definitely dealt with jumping from story to story really well. I didn’t feel like it was as jarring as some of the other collections I have read and I did genuinely look forward to reading the next story and to find out where it was going to end up going in the end. I think my favourite story overall was definitely, “These are the meditations of my heart”. I loved that story and how it was so simplistic and showed one moment changing everything.

I think the worst bit for me would be how bland some of the stories were. I really struggled at times to make my way through Uncommon Type. I was tempted many times to put it down and start something new, I also think that this might be a personal reaction but I felt like some of the stories were unfinished. I don’t mean that we don’t get a complete look at everything but there was something missing and lacking in some of the books that meant I really had to concentrate and push through to the next story which was a little bit of a shame.

I did enjoy certain aspects of this collection of stories and although Uncommon Type wasn’t my absolute favourite I definitely will be picking up any other books by Tom Hanks to see if there has been any improvements.

Have you read Uncommon Type? What did you think? What are some of your favourite short story collections? Let me know in the comments!