3 out of 5

Hey, celebrated actor Tom Hanks, how’s that writing career going?  What’s that?  You didn’t realize that celebrated actor and all-around-good-guy Tok Hanks was also a writer?  Color me a flabbergasted shade of puce!  And how is actor, all-around-good-guy, and multi-talented thespian Tom Hanks’ short story, House on Greene Street, you ask?

Let me preempt that with my own questions: What would you imagine average joe Tom Hanks as writing?   Some down-to-earth, omg-i-do-that-too, even-keeled day-in-the-life snapshot?

Yeah.  That about sums it up.  I’ll be frank, if my implied tone hasn’t already made my bias clear: it’s very difficult to separate the knowledge of who this author is from the reading.  It’s well written, and what I said above: it’s relatable, and focused.  We follow smart and snappy single mum Bette Monk’s move-in to the suburbs, kids on tow, fending off what she believes are the advances of her sandal-wearing neighbor while having charming single mom conversations with her kids, other neighborhood folks, and friends.  Sandwiches are made, pajama pants are worn, Lyft cars are taken, iPads used.  It’s so normal!  And… Pop!  Bette gets these accurate little flashes of her future, i.e.subjective jusdgemental bullshit, but with Bette, well, it’s so much more meaningful and well-intentioned…   Omg I do that too!

Arrgh.  No, I can’t do it.  I can’t separate super celeb Hanks from this, and it compounds with my sneer toward upper middle class livin’.  Am I upper middle class?  Sigh, yeah.  You can read my slice-o-life stories too.

Month on Greene Street is entertaining.  It is written by a man named Tom Hanks.