What an incredible piece of work by a phenomenal actor! I hope he ends up writing more, I enjoyed his writing. I loved getting an insight into the behind-the-scenes of filmmaking and it made me appreciate the work that goes into it even more. I wasn't too fond of the footnotes though, I felt like it distracted from the main part.

Tom hanks is a man of many talents and a natural storyteller is definitely one of them. This fun, wild and well written novel is an ode to filmaking and a great show of Tom hanks ability to put a good story together.

Thank you for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book. This was a very well written book and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it

They say write what you know and Tom Hanks did just that with his first novel The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece. Funny and informative it's a great look at what goes in to making movies from one of the best actors around and who is also a talented writer.

Is there anything Tom Hanks can’t do? Not content with being the shining light of Hollywood himself (and probably the nicest and funniest man there), but he also writes like he’s been honing his novel-writing craft for decades. So much more than the story of The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece, Hanks has written a love story of all those who make them and of the beautiful whirlwind of chaos that underlies the movie-making process. An utterly delightful world to fall inhabit for a while.

A journey into the making of a movie.

What seems like a short process is in fact being very detailed in Tom Hanks' new novel.
Every step, with some lengthy foot notes, is being documented and narrated by a third party character. Describing the lives of he writer/director, the actors, the associate producer, the makeup artist, the driver : all the characters get to have their full backstory. Al with a dose of humour.

This was a really interesting and informative read, Tom Hanks is synonymous with being a good guy and this has feel good written all over it. Even the drama was pretty low key, in fact the whole story felt so wholesome. Especially as I heard it in his voice as I was reading. I enjoyed the overall story arc, and it was really satisfying when everything came together. A great cast of characters and some brilliant anonymous tidbits from the industry.
My only complaint was that it felt overlong, especially with all the footnotes, it could have benefited from a tighter edit.

"He calls moviemaking the Carboard Carnival. The moment a customer buys a ticket, he provides them the distraction from life they crave at the cost of a few bucks."

It's no surprise that an award-winning actor would write a book about moviemaking – you write what you know, right? This is Tom Hanks' first novel and it's all about something he's an expert in.

Bill Johnson is an acclaimed director and screenwriter. So when someone asks whether he'll direct a superhero film in a massive MCU-like universe, he's dismissive, until he looks at the pitch and decides he can put his own stamp on it. He's partly inspired by a character in a decades-old comic book, a soldier fighting in World War II, a flamethrower who struggles to come to terms with what he's seen, named Firefall.

Flashback to 1947 when a five-year-old boy – Bobby – who loves to draw comics meets his uncle – an ex-soldier – for the first time. The man isn't around for very long but leaves a lasting impression on his nephew, so much so that the adult Bobby draws a comic book about him called Firefall. Bill combines the Firefall character with another superhero character – a woman with superpowers who suffers from incurable insomnia, creating a script that is pure gold.

The book explores the search for the perfect cast, the intricacies and minutia of actually making a motion picture, how the stress of filmmaking takes a toll on relationships and also the beauty of creating something that takes forever to make, and only a couple of hours to consume.

There are some great characters in this book, particularly Bill's super-efficient assistant, Al Mac-Teer, and her ride-share driver, Inez, who also comes to play a part in making the film. And then there is Bobby and his uncle... I wanted so much more from that arc. In fact, I felt like their story was the best part of this novel, rather than the filmmaking itself.

My biggest complaint about the book is that it gets bogged down by too much detail. There is a plethora of footnotes explaining a bunch of incredibly irrelevant and excruciatingly boring technicalities about moviemaking and the backgrounds of VERY minor and almost irrelevant characters. The NetGalley format was also so poor that the footnotes would appear several pages later so I constantly had to jump back and forth on my Kindle to read them.

I felt like the book needed a different editor – just like in the movies, a good editor can make a BIG difference. I would have cut the majority of the footnotes and incorporated the rest into the main plot. The annotations distracted me from the main story, which is, mostly, highly enjoyable. Is it the kind of book you'd enjoy with a bowl of popcorn? Yes. Is it a masterpiece? I don't think so.

Unfortunately this book wasn't for me. I was really looking forward to it but I couldn't connect with the style. I read to get to the end rather than because I was enjoying it.
Despite my negativity, I am sure many will enjoy it. Hanks name will ensure it is a success.

The most important thing about a book is that it can tell a good story in an engaging manner. This is something that seems to have been forgotten by some publishers. Tom Hanks can tell a good story in a very engaging manner. Reading this book you can relax into his capable hands. The story is good, not great, but well told, and, to cap it all, it's about the one thing Mr Hanks is a world expert on - the movie business. This book is old fashioned top class storytelling.