FORREST GUMP by Winston Groom

Welcome to Page 20 of I Read That Book! On each Page, I’ll tell you a little about a book I read, often in a fun and informal manner, with the hope that you also may become interested enough to read it – or perhaps read it again if you’ve already enjoyed it once. The books I’ll be featuring come from a variety of genres at differing stages of my life, so whether you prefer history, literature, science fiction, or horror, there’s a good chance you’ll get some interesting ideas for your personal “To Be Read” list. Thank you for joining me on this journey as we flip through the pages of some of my favorite books. But before you start reading below, I invite you to grab a cup of your favorite beverage (coffee for me!) and find a comfortable place to sit, then turn to Page 20.

FORREST GUMP by Winston Groom

Publication Date: 1986

LET ME SAY THIS: BEIN A IDIOT IS NO BOX OF CHOCOLATES. People laugh, lose patience, treat you shabby. Now they says folks sposed to be kind to the afflicted, but let me tell you—it ain’t always that way. Even so, I got no complaints, cause I reckon I done live a pretty interestin life, so to speak.

While the movie, which came out in 1994 and won an Academy Award for best picture (along with a slew of other awards in a variety of categories), is hard to avoid if you own a TV, the novel isn’t as well known. Up until the advent of the film, author Winston Groom (who passed away at age 77 in 2021) saw his book sell under 40,000 copies. But as usual when a book is made into a movie, it soon found itself back in stores, complete with an image of Tom Hanks on the cover, and it sold around a million copies. Yet I still haven’t met anyone who actually read it.

The book and movie are two entirely different stories. While the film builds on relationships (some whole, some broken, and several healing), with a powerful dash of emotion as characters search for their destinies, the novel is full of comedy and over-the-top adventures as we travel with Forrest across America, the globe, and even into outer space!

Wait a minute…outer space? No kidding. In the book, Forrest, along with an astronaut and a male orangutan named Sue, experiences a space oddity (ground control to major Gump!), which leads to disaster!

She start hollerin an bawlin again an in the meantime, Sue has done gone an started rippin out wires from the control panel. Major Fitch is screamin, “Stop him! Stop him!” but before you know it, sparks an stuff is flyin all aroun inside the spaceship an Sue is jumpin from ceilin to floor…

Things don’t look good, and when NASA decides to have Forrest come to the rescue, the outcome doesn’t give us the good feelings that the movie achieves.

The spaceship is weavin all aroun an goin end over end an me, Sue an Major Fitch is tossed aroun like corks. Can’t grap holt of nothin, can’t turn off nothin, can’t stan up or set down. The voice of groun control come over the radio again, say, “We is noticin some kine of minor stabilization trouble with your craft. Forrest, will you manually insert the D-six program into the starboard computer?”

No doubt, the book is a little…wild. And fun. Like the movie, Forrest goes to Vietnam, Forrest plays ping-pong, and Forrest ends up in the shrimp business. If you’ve never read it and love the film, just be prepared for a Forrest Gump that you’ve never met. I hope you can make your peace with it.

And don’t forget to join us here again when I flip to the next Page!

Note: The first 32 pages of I Read This Book! originally appeared on Substack.

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