Tom Hanks really can write a good story.
I was skeptical about the 66-year-old actor's writing ability, even though he published a best-selling short story collection, "Uncommon Type," several years ago.
But Hanks' story "Lingua Franca" in the current Harper's magazine restored my long-lost enjoyment of the genre. With its crisp dialogue, fast-paced plot and engaging characters, the story appropriately takes place in the 1940s, the gold era of popular short stories in magazines like the Saturday Evening Post and Esquire.
Reminiscent of traditional masculine-flavored stories by Ernest Hemingway, Tom McGuane and Raymond Carver, "Lingua Franca" turns upon the difficulties of World War II veterans in returning to normal life back home in America.
Rich in the slang of the era, the story builds to a mesmerizing dramatic climax in which two former Marines share a moment of awkward sympathy and healing in a deftly imagined roadhouse in the American West.
The story is an excerpt of Hanks' first novel, "The Making of Another Motion Picture Masterpiece," to be published in May by Knoph.
Drawing upon Hanks' acting career, the book will range across several decades, registering the changes in American society from World War II to the present, according to a plot summary.
In the book, a veteran's experiences inspire a comic book written by his nephew, in which the former soldier appears as a character. Later, a movie is made from the comic, with a series of plot complications.
Hanks' story has me looking forward to reading "The Making of Another Motion Picture Masterpiece," an anticipation for a spring book I haven't felt in years.
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