# Forrest Gump (novel)
**Forrest Gump** is a 1986 comic novel by the American writer [Winston Groom](https://www.edgepedia.org/winston-groom), narrated in the first person by a slow-witted but physically gifted Alabama man who stumbles through four decades of American history, from college football and the [Vietnam War](https://www.edgepedia.org/vietnam-war) to professional wrestling, space flight, and the shrimp business.[1](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/72305/forrest-gump-by-winston-groom/) Published by Doubleday, it became a bestseller after [Robert Zemeckis](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-zemeckis)'s 1994 film adaptation, which won six Academy Awards and differs radically from the book in tone and plot.[2](https://time.com/3833787/forrest-gump-tom-hanks-movie-review/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Narrator | Forrest Gump, six foot six and 242 pounds, with an IQ of 70 in the novel (75 in the film)[1](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/72305/forrest-gump-by-winston-groom/) • [3](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/forrest-gump-1994) |
| Opening line | "Let me say this: bein' an idiot is no box of chocolates."[4](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/forrest-gump-tom-hanks-oscars-30-anniversary-screening-b2523328.html) |
| Adventures in the book | College football for the University of Alabama, the Medal of Honor in Vietnam, world-class ping-pong, professional wrestling as "The Dunce", a NASA astronaut mission with an ape, and a shrimp boat captaincy[5](https://ifann.net/wiki/forrest-gump) • [6](https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-book-version-of-forrest-gump-is-almost-unrecognizable-from-the-movie/) |
| Film adaptation | Robert Zemeckis, 1994, screenplay by Eric Roth; won six Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor[4](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/forrest-gump-tom-hanks-oscars-30-anniversary-screening-b2523328.html) |
| Author's casting idea | Groom envisioned John Goodman as Forrest for a possible film[6](https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-book-version-of-forrest-gump-is-almost-unrecognizable-from-the-movie/) |
## Publication
Winston Groom (1944–2020) was an American novelist and non-fiction writer, author of fifteen previous books including *Vicksburg, 1863*, *Patriotic Fire*, *Shrouds of Glory*, and *Conversations with the Enemy* (with Duncan Spencer), which was a [Pulitzer Prize](https://www.edgepedia.org/pulitzer-prize) finalist.[1](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/72305/forrest-gump-by-winston-groom/) *Forrest Gump* was published by Doubleday in 1986; a contemporary *Kirkus Reviews* notice ran in the issue of February 15, 1986, with a release date of March 7, 1986.[7](https://acisiq.com/forrest-gump-iq) The book drew positive notices from publications including the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times, which praised its unique voice and social commentary.[8](https://lbibinders.org/forrest-gump-book/)
After the 1994 movie became a box-office phenomenon, the novel and a spin-off volume, *Gumpisms: The Wit and Wisdom of Forrest Gump*, a pocket-size book of aphorisms drawn from the novel, sold widely to filmgoers.[2](https://time.com/3833787/forrest-gump-tom-hanks-movie-review/) A Japanese translation by Toshiko Ogawa appeared in Kodansha Bunko on February 15, 2000, a 352-page volume.[9](https://www.kodansha.co.jp/book/products/0000198596)
## The narrator and his story
Forrest tells his own life in a distinctly simple, ungrammatical voice with unconventional spelling, and the reader must work out the irony and satire beneath his plain speech.[8](https://lbibinders.org/forrest-gump-book/) The novel opens with the line "Let me say this: bein' an idiot is no box of chocolates," which screenwriter [Eric Roth](https://www.edgepedia.org/eric-roth) reworked into the film's famous "Life is like a box of chocolates" formulation.[4](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/forrest-gump-tom-hanks-oscars-30-anniversary-screening-b2523328.html)
He is also a savant, gifted in mathematics and physics and a world-class chess player.[7](https://acisiq.com/forrest-gump-iq) Physically he is enormous, six foot six and 242 pounds, and he curses like a sailor.[1](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/72305/forrest-gump-by-winston-groom/) • [6](https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-book-version-of-forrest-gump-is-almost-unrecognizable-from-the-movie/)
The plot runs through a series of improbable episodes across the 1950s to the 1980s: Forrest stars in college football for the [University of Alabama](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-alabama) under Coach Bear Bryant, serves in Vietnam where he saves his squad and earns the [Medal of Honor](https://www.edgepedia.org/medal-of-honor), becomes a world-class ping-pong player, wrestles professionally under the name The Dunce, joins NASA as an astronaut and crash-lands on a cannibal-inhabited island, and eventually captains a shrimp boat.[5](https://ifann.net/wiki/forrest-gump) In the space episode he is accompanied by an ape.[6](https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-book-version-of-forrest-gump-is-almost-unrecognizable-from-the-movie/) He also spends time in the film industry, working alongside the actress [Raquel Welch](https://www.edgepedia.org/raquel-welch).[10](https://booksofbrilliance.com/2026/08/28/forrest-gump-book-review-movie-differences/)
## The novel and the film
The 1994 film directed by Robert Zemeckis, with a screenplay by Eric Roth, keeps the premise of a simple-minded man who inadvertently becomes a firsthand witness to American history, but it softens and sentimentalizes the character for family viewing, omitting the profanity and sexual escapades that spice up Groom's characterization.[11](https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9781350036680_A38705772/preview-9781350036680_A38705772.pdf) In the book, Forrest is just as naive but not so innocent or lucky: he has sex, does drugs, and misses out on the nuclear family the movie finally gives him.[2](https://time.com/3833787/forrest-gump-tom-hanks-movie-review/)
Several changes stand out. The film's most quoted line, "Run, Forrest, run!", does not appear in the novel at all.[12](https://doaj.org/article/3ad44e69776c48c0a17e683dd3e04304) The running motif that structures the movie is absent from the book's plot.[13](https://everymoviehasalesson.com/blog/2021/12/guest-column-differences-between-the-forrest-gump-film-and-the-original-book) Forrest's repeated verdict on the Vietnam War in the novel, that it was in his considered opinion "a bunch of shit", is left out of the film.[14](https://www.adrianmartinfilmcritic.com/reviews/f/forrest_gump.html) The space episode, the ape, the cannibal island, and the wrestling career are all dropped from the film.[6](https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-book-version-of-forrest-gump-is-almost-unrecognizable-from-the-movie/) Roth's screenplay also transferred many of Forrest's flaws, and much of the excess of the 1960s and 1970s, to Jenny, whose role is greatly enlarged in the film.[2](https://time.com/3833787/forrest-gump-tom-hanks-movie-review/)
The film's success at the 1995 Academy Awards, where it took six Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor, came at the expense of [Quentin Tarantino](https://www.edgepedia.org/quentin-tarantino)'s *Pulp Fiction* in several major categories, and critics excoriated Roth and Zemeckis for stripping the satirical bite out of Groom's novel.[4](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/forrest-gump-tom-hanks-oscars-30-anniversary-screening-b2523328.html) Commentators have described the movie as a "sleek Hollywoodizing" of the book, sanding off its sharper edges to make it less of a wild adult romp and more of a family-friendly American fable.[2](https://time.com/3833787/forrest-gump-tom-hanks-movie-review/) • [15](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-forrest-gump-25-20190702-story.html)
## Character of the book's Forrest
The novel's Forrest is a self-aware figure who places himself in the tradition of the idiot savant, a line running from the Fool in Shakespeare's *King Lear* to Boo Radley in *To Kill a Mockingbird*; he is a big, bawdy man who swears constantly and has lots of sex.[4](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/forrest-gump-tom-hanks-oscars-30-anniversary-screening-b2523328.html) The film's Forrest, as played by [Tom Hanks](https://www.edgepedia.org/tom-hanks), is instead a holy innocent whose naiveté recalls silent-era comedians such as [Charlie Chaplin](https://www.edgepedia.org/charlie-chaplin) and [Buster Keaton](https://www.edgepedia.org/buster-keaton).[4](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/forrest-gump-tom-hanks-oscars-30-anniversary-screening-b2523328.html) Reviewers of the novel have placed him in a literary line as well: the Los Angeles Times called him "part Candide, part Huck Finn", making his case "in a voice all his own".[1](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/72305/forrest-gump-by-winston-groom/)
## References
1. [Forrest Gump by Winston Groom, Penguin Random House](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/72305/forrest-gump-by-winston-groom/)
2. [Show Business: The World According to Gump, Time (July 25, 1994)](https://time.com/3833787/forrest-gump-tom-hanks-movie-review/)
3. [Forrest Gump movie review & film summary, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/forrest-gump-1994)
4. [Leave Forrest Gump alone, The Independent](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/forrest-gump-tom-hanks-oscars-30-anniversary-screening-b2523328.html)
5. [Forrest Gump by Winston Groom: Summary, Themes & Reviews, iFANN](https://ifann.net/wiki/forrest-gump)
6. [The Book Version of 'Forrest Gump' Is Almost Unrecognizable From the Movie, Vice](https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-book-version-of-forrest-gump-is-almost-unrecognizable-from-the-movie/)
7. [Forrest Gump IQ: 75 in the Film, 61 in the 1986 Novel, ACIS](https://acisiq.com/forrest-gump-iq)
8. [Forrest Gump: Book vs. Film – A Comparative Analysis Across Multiple Lenses, Lbibinders](https://lbibinders.org/forrest-gump-book/)
9. [『フォレスト・ガンプ』（ウィンストン・グルーム, 小川敏子）, 講談社](https://www.kodansha.co.jp/book/products/0000198596)
10. [The Forrest Gump Book Is Much Wilder Than the Tom Hanks Movie, Books of Brilliance](https://booksofbrilliance.com/2026/08/28/forrest-gump-book-review-movie-differences/)
11. [Adaptation preview, Bloomsbury (pageplace.de)](https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9781350036680_A38705772/preview-9781350036680_A38705772.pdf)
12. ['Run, Forrest, run!' … or not? The Remarkable Migration of Forrest Gump, DOAJ](https://doaj.org/article/3ad44e69776c48c0a17e683dd3e04304)
13. [Differences Between the "Forrest Gump" Film and the Original Book, Every Movie Has a Lesson](https://everymoviehasalesson.com/blog/2021/12/guest-column-differences-between-the-forrest-gump-film-and-the-original-book)
14. [Forrest Gump review, Adrian Martin Film Critic](https://www.adrianmartinfilmcritic.com/reviews/f/forrest_gump.html)
15. [Revisiting 'Forrest Gump' at 25, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-forrest-gump-25-20190702-story.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Literature and written works › Creative written works and worlds › Prose fiction › Standalone novels › Contemporary literary and mainstream standalone novels › Late 20th-century novels*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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