Forrest Gump Books In Order

Publication Order of Forrest Gump Books

Publication Order of Forrest Gump Non-Fiction Books

Winston Groom is a renowned Southern novelist. Groom’s Southerness permeates in all of his fiction and non-fiction books. All the characters that he creates speak with Southern voices, and the life in his works moves in line with a distinctive Southern timeline. By moving in line with tradition of other Southern writers such as Carson McCullers, William Faulkner and Pat Conroy, Winston Groom fills his books with quirky characters who pay homage to the modern day South and the Southern history within a single breath. While the South and its cultures is evident in Groom’s novels, his nonfiction works also feature the Southern roots. Despite the fact that Winston Groom was born in Washington, DC he was raised in the town of Mobile, Alabama that is located in the Gulf Coast.

After serving in the army for a small duration of time, Winston Groom returned to Washington, where he served as a reporter for the Washington Star, which is now defunct. Grooms main task was to cover court beat and politics as well. Washington Star’s writer in residence, Willie Morris believed that the young Groom had the potential to become a great writer, thus he encouraged Winston Groom to head to New York. In New York, Winston Groom spent his spare time writing. Many of the times, he spent with literacy acquaintances such as George Plimpton, James Jones, Joseph Heller, Irwin Shaw and one Truman Capote. This was an exceedingly important learning experience for Winston Groom. However, to Groom, New York was an alien territory. Eventually, Groom returned to Alabama, where he began writing and also enjoying life with his wife.

The eventual return to the South proved to be exceedingly beneficial to Groom’s writing career. Groom’s strong sense of place in turn thrived on the Southern life day-to-day replenishment. Winsoton Groom believes that the Southerners are great storytellers, because friends and their families as well, who love to relate and share their life experiences constantly surround them. Many at times the writer embellishes the story, however the real strength of the narrative is found mainly in the absorption of the story. The interweaving of the present and the past, is an essential ingredient of the Southern novels. Winston Groom will forever be associated with the critically acclaimed movie, Forrest Grump.

Grump wrote the movie in the year 1986. The novel, Forrest Grump is about a good-natured slow-witted man, who attained success. More than 40,000 copies of the novel were sold. When Paramount pictures bought the fourth novel, Winston Groom’s life changed forever. The novel Forrest Grump was re-released in the year 1994 and it sold more than 1.4 million copies. The movie on the other grossed more than 657 million dollars worldwide and garnered more than 6 Academy Awards such as the best director, best actor and best picture. The movie featured one of the biggest and controversial names in Hollywood, Tom Hanks who casted the leading role.

Furthermore, due to the author’s literary brilliance, Tom Hanks was able to win back to back Oscars, thereby overshadowing the author in the process. The popularity of the Forrest Grump movie led to the mass sale of Forrest Grump T-shirts and hats as well throughout the United States.

Forrest Gump Series

The highly reliable author, Winston Groom turns as his ham handed and gawky hero, Forrest Grump, the contemporary American idiot is back once again. Forrest Grump is narrated by Grump himself. Grump hails from Alabama, 6 foot 6 tall and weighs 242 pounds. According to Forrest Grump, he believes that he has always been an idiot and his IQ is around 61. In this book Grump stars as a self-conscious literal half-wit. After being raised in an exceedingly poor white trash neighborhood, which would have technically destroyed any child, Gump is taken from obscurity by one Coach Bear Brunt. He is in turn taken to play football at one of the leading colleges in the United States, the University of Alabama.

Once Gump is admitted to the University of Alabama, the teachers discover that Gump is an idiot-savant when he fails to pass Gym 101. However, Gump fully understands the theory of relativity like no-one else. Before they could fully exploit Gump, he flunks out. Gump is in turn sent to Vietnam and eventually is awarded with the Congressional Medal of Honor. After a brief stint in China, Gump eventually leaves the army and eventually goes into a protest/hippy phase. However, it does not take long before he is arrested when he throws his medal over the fence of the White House. The authorities in turn give Forest Grump a choice, he could either be placed permanently under hospital care or alternatively take his brilliant mind to NASA space flight. It does not take long before Forrest Gump crash-lands in the country of New Guinea.

Gump then goes ahead to spend more than four years playing chess with a cannibal. He is eventually rescued and is taken to a crude misrepresentation of President Nixon, where he is congratulated. After Gump’s dismissal, he joins professional wrestling, shrimping and tournament chess before eventually settling down as a musician in New Orleans. Gump and Co is the second book in the Forrest Gump book series. Now, Forrest Gump returns in this sequel, which has been hailed by the likes of Stephen King as one of the funniest novels that he has ever read. In this book, Gump is not only older but he also wiser as well. However, the only challenge is that Grump is running towards an age that is full of greed and instant gratification known as the 1980’s.

Each time that Grump gets stumped, he usually visits Jenny’s grave. Whenever Grump visits Jenny’s grave, he normally gets the courage to move on. The Bubba Gump Shrimp company has failed terribly and now Gump is completely broke. Gump begins to sweep the floors on New Orleans while trying to make a living. However, it does not take long when Gump is thrown back to the limelight when he gets a new opportunity to play championship football and also into the money as well. However, fate catches with him once again and he soon is back in the streets selling encyclopedias.