Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Forrest Gump

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Forrest Gump by Winston Groom

5 reviews

btlitell's review

fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

My experience with Forrest Gump up until some time near the end of my masters was only with the movie. I didn't even know there was a book until then, and while I won't say I prefer the movie, it's hard not to compare the two based on differences between the formats.

I think the book gave a more genuine look at the world from Forrest's perspective, but I think he was a lot easier to sympathize with in the movie than the book. His experience with the world being always tainted by others' perception of his intellectual/mental capabilities first is still just as touching and perhaps a bit more noticeable in the book.

After reading the book, there are things I wish they had incorporated into the film that would have been neat to see.

I think if the movie could have included his playing chess, going to space, his relationship with Sue the Orangutan, living in Borneo for four years it could have captured a bit more of who Forrest is.

I do really like how Forrest saw Lieutenant Dan not just as a Lieutenant but as a person, referring to him only as "Dan" instead of by his rank. That I think showed a lot more of his character and how he sees people as people and not simply as their rank or job title.

This was a great read and is worth picking up.

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cscharfway's review against another edition

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funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book had a much different vibe than the movie many of us know. It was much more lighthearted and funny to see the world through Forrest’s eyes, and even during his darker experiences, there was a sense of hope and optimism that this was just another adventure he would make it through.

Some of the events experienced by the main character were more fantastical than realistic (Sue the orangutang was a bit much). I think though that silly, ridiculous tone of the book is symbolic of the age and development of Forrest’s unique mind, showing the parallels between plot and character shaped by the author; this deeper meaning bumped up the book from a 3.5 to a 4 for me. Otherwise, the book was amusing, but doesn’t create quite the same emotional impact as Tom Hank’s version.

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lexin105's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The outrageous stories of Forrest Gump are both entertaining and mind-opening about issues in the world and how people are treated.

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vici24kl's review against another edition

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funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

This book was really problematic. VERY different from the movie...

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sillyduckie's review against another edition

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challenging dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.5

I’ve been meaning to read Forrest Gump for years, ever since I heard that the movie was an adaptation and the book had lots more adventures. It took me only a few pages to regret choosing to read it. It’s a mess. The fact that it was published in 1984 in the USA and 1994 in the U.K. says a lot about the publishing industry.

I’m gonna bulletpoint my thoughts below.

Content note: sexual assault, racism, war, sexism, cursing.

Every single time Gump runs into a non-white person he calls them a slur. And most of the time he recalls them in memory he still calls them a slur.
There is a lot of sexual assault in this book. Whilst you can debate whether Gump consents to his sex with Jenny, his first experience of sex definitely wasn’t consensual.
Several women have their clothes accidentally torn off to the point of either exposing their breasts or their entire naked body.
Gump regularly gets taken advantage of but claims to be smarter than everyone else and it’s honestly tough to read. He’s clearly an asshole, always talking down to and about people but then you read about him doing manual labour and only being paid a dollar, being drafted into the military and having to fight in the Vietnam War and seeing his peers die in front of him, being sent to an asylum, being called an idiot and other things.
Whoever wrote the script for the movie needs a special prize because they sanitised Gump so well the movie makes him look like Little Orphan Annie instead of the foul mouthed, racist, sexist Gump in the book.
There are so many things that happen in this book that are ridiculous to the point I don’t think anybody would believe me if I told them. Like the fact Gump gets sent into space with an orangutang and a woman (the only qualified astronaut, yet somehow the dumbest on board or so they want you to believe) and after an incident with urine their rocket crash lands in Papua New Guinea where they are found by a tribe of cannibals. For these chapters the intelligence order is clearly: Gump, the orangutang, the cannibals, the woman. The woman is abducted and assaulted although the scene is played as romance, and she moves into the assailant’s hut and ultimately stays with him rather than go back to America. Oh did I mention the chief speaks English and allegedly went to an Ivy League College but says stuff like “jolly good old boy”?
Gump is a millionaire by the end of the book.
His mother doesn’t die but her house does burn down and she ends up in a poor house until she runs off with a Protestant. This is clearly the worst thing she could have done. Later on he leaves her for a sixteen year old and she says that Protestants have no morals. Because I guess a little sectarianism is what this book needed?
Gump gets addicted to weed briefly to the point of being absolutely useless.
Jenny deserves to be written better to be honest. She’s made out to be some sort of loose moral woman when she clearly isn’t.
There’s a lot I could say about the police in this book. But not right now. I’m still processing the whole thing.

Don’t read this book.

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