The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road

by E.A. Hanks

From the Vanity Fair and New York Times contributor comes a “masterful blend of humor, heartache, and unforgettable landscapes” (Adrienne Brodeur, New York Times bestselling author of Wild Game) recounting the solo, cross-country road trip she made along the Ten across the American southwest on a mission to uncover both what harrowing violence may or may not have happened to her late mother, but also, to look within and discover who she herself is—where her mother ends and she begins.

Driving her trusty minivan “Minnie,” E.A. Hanks retraces the route of a memorable road trip she once took with her mother, seeking to understand the complex woman who shaped her life. Along the way, as she follows her mother’s diaries and her own recollections of the route, she begins to uncover secrets—some unexpectedly wonderful, and others darker and more violent than she ever imagined—that bring more questions than answers.

From the quiet expanses of White Sands National Park to the bustling streets of New Orleans, and the Texas-Mexico border to the swamps of the Florida panhandle, she interacts with the amazing breadth and diversity of the people that call these places home. Reckoning with the past, the present, her memories, and herself, Hanks brings us along a poignant journey, revealing how the stories tied to the places we come from shape the narratives of who we are.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Travel, Biography Memoir, Biography, Family

348 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 8, 2025

Reviews

[Angela Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’re looking for a juicy memoir from the kid of one of the most famous actors who ever lived, this ain’t it. This isn’t just a memoir about an attempt by E.A. Hanks to unpack and understand the trauma she experienced growing up with a mentally ill mother - it’s also about the trauma and nuance America carries, both of which she reflects on while traveling the 10. The story she tells about the relationship with her mother is mirrored by the story of a country grappling with its own history and failures. In the end, both stories feel fractured and complicated, but that’s the point.

[Rebecca Heneghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this because Ann Patchett recommended it. The fact the she is Tom Hanks’ daughter was an added bonus. This is weird and really goes off on some serious side tangents, but it still works. Intelligent and well written.

[Andrea Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

E.A. Hanks takes us on a remarkable journey with themes of minimalist travel, exploring childhood trauma, and healing. Hanks’ down to Earth personality and openness to where ever this journey was taking her is magnetic. She shares tidbits about her relationship with members of her family in such a casual way that is so endearing. The way she describes her journey of processing her trauma feels very relatable to this midwestern girl. There were so many times in the book where I just wanted to reach out and give her a “you are not alone” kind of hug.

[Gina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I saw Elizabeth Hanks, daughter of actor Tom Hanks, give an interview on a morning show about this book. It sounded fascinating. There is a discrepancy between the book she described in that interview and the content of this book, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. E. A. Hanks' mother, Tom Hanks' first wife, was a mentally ill drug addict who eventually got clean but never got treatment for her deteriorating mental illness and died of cancer a few years ago. In order to reconcile her relationship with her mother, Hanks recreates a road trip she took with her from California to Florida along I-10 to try and get a better understanding of her mother's early life and whether some disturbing details in her mother's journal are true. But that's only about 20% of the book, which reads more like a mediocre travelogue rather than a family/personal memoir. The travel parts feel incomplete as do the family parts, so it's mostly two incomplete parts put together that equal an incomplete story. The concept for this memoir is greater than the sum of the parts. I didn't hate it, but I'm having trouble discerning the point.

[britt_brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first, this felt like an unapologetic Didion rip off, then it magically morphed into more of an homage. Incredible writing! Blew me away. I ended up loving this travelogue of memories. Yes, this is Tom Hanks’s daughter. No, this book isn’t about him. Also one of my favorite covers of 2025. #coverlove

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

So mixed on this review... She's an interesting person with a varied background, but this was disorganized and uninspiring. It should have been two books: a memoir about family (especially very different parents) and a book about her roadtrip and all the political history she wants to convey as a journalist.

[Caitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A California girls road trips to the south to find herself in the form of family roots. Seems oddly familiar to my life story as well. Beautifully written, interesting stories throughout the entire book. I loved every moment of this book.

We all have a history that isn’t the best but sometimes we just have to say fuck it and move on. This book gives me hope that things do get better.

[Charlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Combination memoir and road trip story. The author is the daughter of Tom Hanks (with his first wife, who died from cancer when daughter was 19 and who seems to have suffered mental illness). The book is Hanks’s attempt to reckon with her mother’s life, 20 years after death, while also commenting on America and I-10. She’s good at writing but this story seems to wind around without ever coming to any conclusions about her mother or her mother’s family. (Or the condition of America either). And maybe the no conclusions is the point but it took a long time to get there!
Listened to this as audiobook.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this book would be more about Elizabeth's mom's secret she uncovered about her mom and less about her road trip. It seems like 50% of the book was about the author's relationship with her mom and 50% was about her road trip, which I was not interested in. It was just boring. I had hoped that the secret she "uncovered" about her mom wasn't something that she was confirmed. Her mother had a history of undiagnosed mental illness and she also had a history of accusing her daughter of doing things that she had never done. I had hoped that this book would have a sense of resolution regarding the secret she'd uncovered about her mother but it wasn't in the cards. To be honest, I picked this book up because the author was Tom Hanks' daughter and I wished I would have bypassed this one.

Elizabeth's questions about herself and America were similar: "What do we know about how we started? What happened to us? How do we move on? How does our relationship with the past, both personal and political, determine the future?"

[Sleuthfullyours · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ann patchett recommendation
I loved her road trip but was disappointed that she did not get the info she was looking for. But in the end does it really matter. Her mother’s reality was the way it was, Even if only in her mind.

[Lori Trautwein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this one. more than a memoir; it's got travel, history, and thoughtful insights.

[Hailey Crowel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a frustrating read for me. The book is billed as a memoir of family and the open road, but I find it doesn't do either particularly well. Hanks went on a road trip to make sense of her mother, and while I can deal with her not finding the answers she set out to find, I do expect some exploration of how her mother made her who she is. Instead, I found a presentation of disjointed recollections that don't sum up to anything cohesive. Turning to the road trip portion of the story, it feels like some very surface value thoughts on various locales off of The 10. The south had a history of racism? I had no idea! Universal Studios Orlando is deeply crowded and hot if you go midday in summer? Shocking. When I learned 80%+ of the way into the book that this road trip was 6 months long, I was aghast. How could someone have spent that much time traveling this country and only come up with what felt to me like a mediocre travel guide. Sigh. This is not to take away from Hanks' difficult childhood and experiences with a mother who suffered from mental health issues --- I just wish this book did a better job of developing a cohesive narrative to discuss them.

[CatReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

E.A. Hanks (b. 1982), also known as Elizabeth Hanks, is the daughter of American actor Tom Hanks and his first wife, the late Samantha Lewes. In her 2025 memoir The 10, she recounts a six-month road trip along Interstate 10 from California to Florida, undertaken in the pre-COVID days of 2019 when Hanks was 36-37. She set out on this trip to reflect upon the loss of her mother, who died at 49 when Hanks was a college freshman, and learn more about her mother's family. The route Hanks chose was designed to retrace a childhood road trip she had taken with her mom to visit with her mom's family in Florida, though Hanks allotted herself around six months for this trip making frequent detours and long stops in an attempt at uncover and report on sociopolitical American perspectives along the way.

The book aims intertwine the story of Hanks' grief and family trauma with travel into a cohesive whole that reveals common truths. Unfortunately, that effort struck me as largely shoehorned and unsuccessful. The family narrative felt underdeveloped (with no big truths ever being revealed), while the travelogue often drifted into tangential sociopolitical commentary. The result was a memoir with a crisis of identity at its core: part road-trip diary, part family elegy, but never fully either.

I don’t like the reflexive “nepo baby” dismissal of celebrity children’s careers, but here the criticism felt harder to ignore. Hanks identifies as a writer and journalist, but her access to a book deal (in which she frequently namedrops her famous dad and his famous friends), as well as the freedom and funds to take half a year off to drive across the country, seem inseparable from her lineage. Without that, I’m not convinced there would be much reason for this book to exist. I'll link some other memoirs I've read that have similar premises but better executions below.

Further reading: memoirs that combine travel with processing grief/emotional catharsis
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
To the Gorge: Running, Grief, and Resilience & 460 Miles on the Pacific Crest Trail by Emily Halnon | my review
To Shake the Sleeping Self: A Journey from Oregon to Patagonia, and a Quest for a Life with No Regret by Jedidiah Jenkins
Becoming Forrest: One Man's Epic Run Across America by Rob Pope | my review - not dealing with grief, but definitely Tom Hanks-adjacent

My statistics:
Book 263 for 2025
Book 2189 cumulatively

[Sharon Huether · Rating 3 out of 5]

E.A. Hanks follows the route of a long a go trip she took with her mother.
Highway 10 and other near by towns as a type of remembrance and understanding of her late mother..

I want to thank Gallery Books for sending me this ARC book.

[Karol · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 10 was an educational trip I didn’t expect and enjoyed vicariously.

The 10 also took me back to my own traumas growing up and unanswered questions with divorced parents and their own ways of dealing with life, our family/parenting or lack of parenting, and themselves. My parents died from illnesses a few years apart before we could have an adult relationship of some sort.
I’m a bit of an agoraphobic. I think my fear and discomfort of the world and people is a combination mental personality trait and mother’s influence. I know underneath my parents choices, my mother’s reactions and verbal inflictions they loved me. I continue to work on myself and try to put past hurts in their place.

I admire the author’s ability to drive across country alone, explore, meet people, ask questions and stay in Airbnbs and camp alone.


On a side note:
I ended up researching Sommelier school like I would actually attend. Then looked up a list of “How to become a Sommelier” books… the cheaper and easier way to gain knowledge I wouldn’t really use but enjoy the experience.
Then I was reminded of my great grandfather who wrote his own cocktail book. He was a Wine Steward at the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago before Prohibition. Though we never met, I contribute my love for bars and cocktail environments, service utensils and glassware, and alcohol bottles to him. He apparently didn’t drink and I’m a light drinker.

[K2 ----- · Rating 4 out of 5]

I almost put this book down, but I am so glad I didn't; it got better and more worthwhile.

It is a well-written journey of a woman trying to square her relationship with her current and future self with that of a journey she took on Highway 10 with her mother years ago. It is almost as if she was carrying a very heavy burden and could file it away in the place it should live in her past and future without total resolution. I learned quite a bit about the places she visited most of which I will never see myself, some of which I have already visited.

I read a great review about this collection of essays, and that is why I didn't put it down initially or, should I say, why I went back to it several times. Anyone who has struggled with a parent who had a mood disorder or the loss of a loved one will find this book particularly worthwhile.

I am glad that her book has gotten attention from critics beyond her famous relation to Tom Hanks because that is not what this book is about.

[itsallaboutbooksandmacarons · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to this beautiful book thanks to @librofm and @simonandschuster , and I can’t recommend it enough. The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road by E.A. Hanks took me on an unforgettable journey—not just across Interstate 10, but straight into the heart of memory, grief, forgiveness, and resilience.

Hanks retraces the 1996 cross-country trip she took with her mother in a van she later named Minnie. What unfolds is part road story, part reckoning—with the past, with family trauma, and with a mother-daughter relationship full of both love and darkness. It’s so honestly told, and beautifully written, with passages that made me pause and replay.

💬 And here’s the personal surprise that made me emotional: I learned she played young Jenny in Forrest Gump—my favorite movie ever. That connection made the book hit even deeper. I already love her father, Tom Hanks, but now? I love her too. She’s her own force.

This memoir has a quiet power. It’s tender, raw, vulnerable, sharp, funny in just the right places, and entirely unforgettable

[Mindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars
This was a meandering work by a talented writer trying to make sense of her past relationship with her mother and her mother’s mental illness. E.A. Hanks makes frequent stops along I-10 retracing a trip she took with her mother decades earlier while attempting to learn more about her elusive mom. This isn’t really a book about being the daughter of Tom Hanks. Sure, he’s in the book, in her life, then and now, but he features no more or less than any typical father would.

The work is mostly organized by the various cities she visits, with liberal doses of delving into her past. Hanks never really does come to any epiphanies, but the stories she tells are mostly entertaining and/or informative.

Hanks also narrates the audiobook herself and does a very good job.

It would read more works by Hanks.

[Jill · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hey readers, get ready for a history lesson! I Borrowed the audiobook on Libby. Thank God I didn’t pay for it. Into the third hour of the audiobook I gave up. I couldn’t take anymore pointless chatter. If the author hadn’t gotten to anything interesting by now, I wasn’t going to spend the next several hours listening about every tourist trap along the I10 and every historical figure related to that place. As one reader said, “this would be better as a travel guide”. Move on folks! Nothing to see here. I guess when your dad is famous, it’s easy to get your nonsensical book published.

[Diana Flores · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure at first, but this book grew on me. It probably helped that the first three chapters were about Arizona cities- Phoenix, Tucson, and Tombstone. Then I was hooked and admired the way Hanks blended travel, history, and her past as she ventured across the I10 from CA to FL and back.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audiobook read by the author- unexpected, surprising, real. A very talented author, well worth the listen.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This memoir surprised me, kept me engaged, had me thinking about our lives as Americans. Hanks drove her minivan from Los Angeles to Florida following the southern interstate highway, Route 10 in search of a better understanding of her family history. It has been 20 years since the author's mother passed away, and she has been left with many unanswered questions about her mother's life.

As a journalist and historian, Hanks tackled her journey with courage and a plan. She found that her highway adventure showed her "that this country can break your heart over and over, while at the same time there can be beauty here so immense it makes you bigger somehow."

I can't deny that I was thrilled that she referenced the works of both Joan Didion and Georgia O'Keeffe multiple times. She also provided a bibliography at the end of her memoir, which I loved. And best of all, she said her minivan became a rolling library as a result of stopping at some many bookstores along the way. Those are the highlights, but she faced difficult moments as well. The plantation on the coast of Mississippi where Jefferson Davis lived out the end of his days after the Civil War had me gritting my teeth. Her experience at Equal Justice Initiative's museum in Birmingham, AL was moving and gut-wrenching. (I noticed that Bryan Stevenson's Just Mercy was not included in her bibliography.) Most of her stops along the way had a combination of positives and negatives. Luckily, her minivan never broke down while she was on the road.

This book had elements of both Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder and Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed. I haven't been to most of the places where Hanks visited, but I have imagined what it would be like to drive across the country. I'll be thinking about this book for awhile.

[Eileen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the author's curiosity.

[Lindsay Zorn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Skip this one. You will find no spicy tidbits about Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, or Colin Hanks in here in case that’s a reason you’d pick this one up. Only thing you learn that you may think is interesting is that Tom Hanks was a mostly absent father. There, that’s literally it. You also have to know and love the state of California to read this book. Just trust me. Don’t bother with this one.

E.A. Hanks’ The 10 was only given the green light because she is a nepo baby. (Big last name + privilege gave her opportunities with internships and jobs at places like Vanity Fair and The Huffington Post despite questionable talent.) Hanks is the daughter of Tom Hanks’ first marriage and sister to Colin. She has lived a soft, fluffy life and tries very hard during the course of this book to convince the reader she is really gritty. (She isn’t.) Her little road trip is really a forced way to have SOME story, any story to write this book about other than true, brutal introspection of herself at the cost of her big name relatives. While there are glimpses of personal introspection there isn’t much about the real E. A. Hanks. Instead she spends the book doing two things: 1. documenting landscapes and reporting on cultures, but not actually immersing herself into them, and 2. outing other people’s scars: her mother’s, a War on Iraq vet she and her friends happen upon when camping in Europe, etc. The level of tone deafness was grotesque.

I will say that Hanks is clearly very intelligent; she’s probably been told her whole life that she’s “genius-level smart.” Her writing makes me think she’s more comfortable writing journalistic-style articles that aren’t ones where she’s the subject — that came across loud and clear. She also probably fares better writing a few pages, not an entire book. (Why did she choose a memoir? Oh, the last name, right.)

E. A. Hanks has lived in a different social and economic class for so long that I don’t think she realizes how out of touch she is and sounded in many parts of this book. (Easily paying for Airbnb’s on a semi-cross country road trip and admitting to staying lengths of time in obviously multimillion dollar guest homes of her father’s friends, and deciding to leave in an anecdote of seeing a man playing bongos and deeming them as looking or acting like they’re a meth addict, plus the aforementioned tales of others’ life wounds.) I don’t think this was the type of book or plot she and her editors/publishers should’ve had her write. I think she is held back by the fact that the famous relatives in her life are still living, and thus a memoir was never going to be the best choice. I also think the actual person herself, E. A. Hanks, hasn’t lived an exciting life. I think the people around her have stories, I think that she’s been in places where exciting things may be happening, but I’m not convinced she isn’t just boring. And that’s okay. But to be paid to write a memoir? Well, I guess lucky her.

[Alex]

I really liked what she said about using soft eyes to look at the world. That part will stick with me.

Note: I do not rate memoirs

[Linda Kiefer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book after hearing the author and her father talk about it on stage in New York City while visiting my daughter. Interesting and fun read!

[Lacey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have very mixed feelings on this one. First, EA Hanks’ descriptive writings about places she visits on the 10 are FANTASTIC! Her word choice is excellent and she describes the places in a unique way that clearly had a lot of thought behind it. If it was just a travel book, it would have been excellent. However, it was also a memoir and a search for meaning about her mom’s life, and I felt that part was forced, especially in the early chapters. For the first 70 pages or so, it seemed very disjointed and frustrated me. I almost stopped reading it. By the end, I really appreciated her writing and insights, but I had to read through the beginning and that was a shuffle. I’d definitely read more about her travels, but no more memoirs.

[Rita · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ve never given a single star rating until now. And I’ve also rarely DNF’ed something. So this book is two firsts for me. I have zero idea of the purpose of this book. Either of my children, who were pre-teens in their first cross country road trip with me, could’ve written a more cogent travelogue. Poorly written and even more poorly edited (since it obviously went to print in its current state), this reads like a free-thought association that loses its train of thought frequently. I don’t get the point of recreating visits to the various locations and the memories shared. Was it so readers would know of her famous father’s ex-wife’s mental illness? Was it supposed to be cathartic for her? If so, I think she could’ve kept the journey to herself and we all would’ve benefitted.

[Cathie Glover · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this memoir ~ audio version.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed listening to the author reading her book. She does a lovely job. The book itseif is two books, a travelogue with musings on American history and geography and a memoir of her childhood and relationship with her mother and her mother’s childhood. I didn’t feel that they really meshed but separately they were interesting. She didn’t really come to any conclusions about her mother and why she was such a troubled person. She is remarkably kind to her considering the episodes she describes. The travelogue was interesting if a little random at times. I don’t know if I would have finished it if I was reading it but listening to it was entertaining.