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Dec 17, 2009

Dave rated it:

Rarely do I go to a movie and say that the movie was definitely better than the book, but this was one time that was true. I really liked the movie with the great soundtrack setting the scenes throughout the 60's and 70's, and of course, Tom Hanks played a GREAT Forrest. I did enjoy how the book portrayed Forrest landing in even more incredible situations, such as being an astronaut, almost being cannibals lunch, and even rescuing Raquel Welch. I would give the movie 4 out of 5 stars, but I c More...

4 comments like (9 people liked it)

Aug 15, 2008

Barbara rated it:

Social satire. Parts are clever and parts hit you over the head with the world's largest plot mallet.

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Mar 24, 2009

Dan rated it:

I read this years ago and my memory is a little fuzzy but I remember it was a lot different from the movie. Specifically, Forrest was an astronaut at one point and also ended up stranded on a desert island.

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 18, 2008

Emily rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 22, 2008

Ron rated it:

I read this book after watching the movie, and learned how vastly different it was from the cinematic version. Despite the differences and the fact I enjoyed the movie a great deal, I discovered the old adage remained true: the book was indeed better. It led me to the sequel and a couple of Groom's other books. His Southern flair is a lot of fun. I'd recommend this book to fans of the movie and most literature fans despite the differences. Both have their own charms. Very readable stuff if you a More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jan 21, 2012

Deborah rated it:

I was spoiled by the movie, which was a brilliant adaptation of the novel; however, I thought that the novel itself was disappointing. It was shallow as compared to the film. I tried to be fair, but could not help but miss the Forrest Gump I had come to know and love. Forrest Gump, the wonderful, compassionate, and very human personality in the movie seemed simply juvenile in the book. It should appeal to the youthful reader, though. The tone of the book was farcical, and reminded me somewhat of More...

0 comments like

Dec 31, 2011

Jason rated it:

I loved the movie. Don't get me wrong, the film adaption is one of my favorite movies of all time- that's precisely why I wanted to give the book a try, because the book's always better than the movie, right? Well, this was the exception. Because 'Forrest Gump' is manipulative, outrageous, poorly characterized, and awkwardly written. I read an article once that said that the only reason there wasn't a film sequel to 'Forrest Gump' was because the author didn't get enough credit for writing the b More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 15, 2011

Jeanmccoy rated it:

Forrest Gump the book proved to be an interesting contrast to Forrest Gump the film. The plot of the film deviates significantly from the book, excluding Forrest's experiences in NASA, his years in the cannibal tribe, his skills at chess, and his friendship with a monkey named Sue (just to name a few of the storylines left out of the movie).
The differences go beyond the plot. The tone of the book is edgier. Consider that the first line of the book is "Being a idiot ain't no box of ch More...

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Aug 12, 2011

Craig rated it:

What a great book! I laughed out loud several times while reading Forrest Gump, and that's the sort of thing usually reserved for Terry Pratchett, at least in my case. Anywho, I'm sure everybody in this country is familiar with the movie, so I probably don't need to say a whole heckuva lot about the premise - we'll just say "a simple man lives a life that is far from ordinary," and leave it at that.

I definitely enjoyed the first-person perspective of the book - it allows yo More...

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Apr 06, 2011

Kyle rated it:

Kyle Maglio
4/6/2011
The Amazing Life of Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump, by Winston Groom is my most favorite story and movie of all time. I say this because the plot of this story is brilliant. The plot includes a young, disabled man named Forrest who overcomes adversity and leads an amazing life.
The story starts with Forrest in the first grade. This is where he meets his first and best friend, Jenny Curran. Forrest and Jenny start doing everything together. They More...

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Jan 23, 2011

Brian rated it:

The book Forest Gump written by Winston Groom was ok. It was about a boy named Forest who had some leg problem. But fortunetly it eventually did heal and sinced he couldn't run he ran forever because he wanted to experience that. After that he decides to enlist to the army at the war zone where he learns brother hood and survives. He also saved one of his friends life in the middle of battle while he got shot in the butt. As a result he was given the medal of honor which he gladly accepted. More...

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May 05, 2010

David rated it:

Forrest Gump

(This review is as much a criticism of the movie as it is of the book, possibly more so, in that the book was not quite the crock of mawkish drivel that the movie was)

Gosh, where to begin?

For starters, our boy Forrest has an I.Q. of 75. Played - apparently not much of a stretch - by Tom Hanks, on a natural stop along the career arc that took him from the simpering idiocy of Bosom Buddies to the affront to the intelligence that is The DaVinci Code.
More...

7 comments like (16 people liked it)

Nov 22, 2010

Julie rated it:

I was like 7 or 8 years old when I saw the movie and all I can remember of it were the words "RUN FORREST RUN!." My thoughts after watching it was "yikes! what a boring movie!"

November 22, 2010...Then, everything changed within the span of 3 hours. I read it and now I like it! needless to say, it's a must read book not just for the Americans but for ALL types of people, for the humble-idiots or just plain innocent like Forrest and hypocrites (those who think they ar More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 30, 2011

Shelby rated it:

Alright. Before I say anything about the book, I have to tell you that I never saw the movie. Never. In fact, before my boyfriend lent me this book I was simply under the impression that this book is about a southern man who likes ping pong and thinks that life is like a box of chocolates. So, no comparisons to the movie here.

To sum things up, this book follows the life of Forrest Gump, a lovable idiot with a few remarkable skills. A bunch of crazy stuff happens, including Forrest be More...

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May 12, 2011

Patrick rated it:

This is a rarity in that the book entertains but is not as good as the movie it spawned. I think the reason why is that in the movie, director Robert Zemeckis let Tom Hanks play a sympathetic simpleton to good effect. People like that Gump. In the book, however, Winston Groom uses a very different "Nathan Bedford Forrest Gump" to satirize the Reagan-Bush years. This Gump is bigger and meaner. His innocence and stupidity are artfully conveyed because Groom is a talented writer, but by m More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 10, 2010

Kathy rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Mar 19, 2010

Molly rated it:

This is a really fun book, which I had not read since I was 15. It chronicles Forrest's life and experiences as a self-proclaimed idiot in a charming, insightful first-person narrative. If you've only seen the movie, don't expect the book to be the same. Forrest starts out going to a school for special needs kids, until the high school football coach spots him. Since Forrest is apparently a 6' 4", beefy adonis, he's the football team's dream come true. From there, he goes on to become More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 08, 2008

Bettie rated it:

Forrest Gump - Winston Groom Abridged Audio Book

Read by the Author

Product Description
Meet Forrest Gump, the lovable, herculean, and surprisingly savvy hero of this remarkable comic odyssey. After accidentally becoming the star of Univerity of Alabama's football team, Forrest goes on to become a Vietnam War hero, a world-class Ping-Pong player, a villainous wrestler, and a business tycoon -- as he wonders with childlike wisdom at the insanity all around him. In More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2011

Kelly rated it:

When I sat down to read this book, I was a teenager and it was after the movie had come out. (Which I loved at the time.) I never actually finished it. I felt that it dragged on and on and that they need to cut out some of all the extraordinary things that Forrest became a part of. I have never really been interested in sitting down to re-read and/or actually finish this book.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 30, 2011

Theresa rated it:

well not as good as the movie, many of the aspects of the movie i loved are not inclueded in the book. Jenny does not marry forest, although she lives, hes a millionare, but only in shrimping buisness, but not because he survived a storm, but because he used an old method of rasing shrimp. Lt. Dan does not recover and make a better life for himself but remains a bum and a drunkered. ALthought Forrest goes to space, its seems a rediculus situation that resolves into a humiliating situation. the More...

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Jan 13, 2009

Linda rated it:

Differences between book and movie:

- He becomes a professional wrestler in the book, called The Dunce
- He and Jenny have substantial relationship in the book. He screwed it up twice. HIM not Jenny.
- He smokes pot in the book.
- Goes to space in the book.
- Befriends an orangutan in book.
- Jenny does not get sick and die.
- She gets married to someone else while pregnant with Forrest's baby.
- He met Bubba in college on football team.
- Forre More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 09, 2011

Sarah rated it:

This book was a fun, light and incredibly entertaining read. I haven't watched the movie, although I have heard a lot about it. Forrest's character was entirely lovable and served as a slap on the wrist for those of us who dare to underestimate the mentally challenged. I liked the simplicity of Forrest's character, especially as he went through life always trying to do the right thing, even though it would often land him in a great deal of trouble. His astonishing adventures which obviously made More...

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Feb 07, 2012

07Cjp rated it:

Forrest Gump is going to school and not many people are friends with him. Most kids make fun of him. When one day Jenny Curran lets him sit by her on the bus. They then become friends and see each other a lot. They were always somewhere near each other. Forrest was going to high school when one time the football coach saw him run past the field he was so fast the coach stopped him and asked him if he would play football. Forrest said he had never played and would try. He came to be one of the t More...

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Sep 17, 2010

Aisa rated it:

I watched the movie first.

Well, I really really really love the movie. Tom Hanks is the greatest actor ever and Forrest Gump is the proof! :)

When I read the book, the feeling I got from the book was slightly different than the movie. Since I read it so long time ago, I kind of only remembered the impression when I read the book. I borrowed it from the highschool library. How to say this, the character was more complicated when you read Gump in the book. He wasn't really More...

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Sep 30, 2011

Elizabeth Morris rated it:

I rated this book a four out of five. The overall story was really good, but there were parts of it that I didn't like. Some sections were slow or I thought were pointless. The bad language got a little annoying as well. It was really good and the characters were described well, but everything else was not. The book wasn't very in-depth, and I like that in a book. I was a little disappointed how simply this book was written.
The book has many strengths and weaknesses. Some of its strengths More...

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Jun 28, 2010

Monica rated it:

i love this book and i love the movie! my favorite part is when forest and jenny were little kids. they were walking home and bully's came. forest had those things on his legs but then they were chasing him and jenny tells him, " run forest, run!" then he does and those things come of his legs. then he keeps on running. another one of my favorite parts is when they were little and jenny runs out of the house into the corn fields and then forest comes and they run together. then jenny's More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 26, 2009

Lola4 rated it:

The book was given to me by a friend cleaning our her bookcase, so I read it just because it was there. Having seen the movie about a gazillion times, I thought reading the book would be a waste. However, the book and movie were very different, and I considered them as two different stories and genres--because they are. The Gump of the book is way more cartoonish and the book more purely a comedy. It gave me an appreciation of what an excellent job the screenwriters of the movie did to add m More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 10, 2011

Eric rated it:

This was just short of a literary crime to put Tom Hank's picture on reprints of this novel. The printed version of Forrest Gump is so far off from the movie version that they really should be considered two separate stories. They share some characters and a few incidental anecdotes here and there, but take such disparate paths between them.

The Forrest Gump in the novel is slow-witted like the Tom Hank's character, but has a lot of other character flaws and personality differences. More...

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Mar 18, 2010

Kevin "El Liso Grande" rated it:

The only thing that kept me from rating this book a 5 star was it got a bit weird. In a fun way but still weird. I loved this book. I can't remember a novel that made me laugh out loud like this one did. I read this while I traveled and I had several times where I had to stifle my laughs in public places. This is not the ultra sweet movie Forrest Gump but a much funnier bawdy version. I love the story telling style of the book and even the "spelling as it sounds" technique. Much fun an More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jul 10, 2009

Wontae rated it:

Forrest Gump has accomplished great things in his life. His mother teaches him the ways of life and teaches him to choose his destiny until she died. When he was young, he struggled from his school friends but Forrest has a friend who is his best and only friend Jenny. One day Forrest found one of his special abilities which is run faster than other people. Jenny was abused by her father in her childhood, so she has been living a hippie lifestyle for her dream which is folk song singer. Besides More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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