The Tom Hanks Enigma: The Biography of the World's Most Intriguing Movie Star

Tom Hanks is well known, famous even, for the wide variety of film roles he has played from Forrest Gump, to astronauts, to Army Captain Miller in Saving Private Ryan. Yet in spite of the large number of movies he has made, he remains a quiet and generally unknown person. He has managed to escape the wild publicity swings, multiple divorces, and generally outrageous behavior often found in Hollywood characters. This book, by British author David Bardner tells the story of Tom Hank's life, the history of his films and of his family. It is written neither to glorify nor condemn, but seems to strike a fair balance of objective reporting. It brings out how hard Tom Hanks had to work to hone his craft. His casual screen style is no accident but the result of a lot of hard work, and a wise selection of roles and directors. All in all, you are convinced that Tom Hanks is a really nice guy.

David Gardner can write, and he does express the anguish in Hanks' life and the good times well - he misses out some of the extra-film things Hanks does - not only his choices of charity work, but his comic work on Saturday Night Live which should fill out the career of this rounded entertainer - he leaves out earlier films that i discovered elsewhere. so, if he is marking out the territory to be the only biographer who knows it all, he should include more of the career. (Why did he and first wife adopt when they had a son already? what is it about Hanks and his wife that lead them to do this? but none of that is mentioned.) Maybe he was blocked, but he has not been a good journalist in doing what is essentially a cut-and-paste job that is very selective. Hanks' brilliance as an entertainer is of a particular American brand, and, here i am, an American based in Europe, and I'd like to have read about that a little. so, this is disappointing finally.

I began reading this informative biography, thinking it was probably just the typical filmography most books done on Tom Hanks are. The author has done a tremendous amount of research and, although I thought I was a well-informed fan, learned quite a few revelations. Anyone who loves Tom Hanks will be thrilled with this book and those who are only curious will also enjoy it.