I throughly enjoyed Forest Gump as a movie when growing up. Then I discovered the original novel, which was far more different and much more entertaining than that raped version written by Eric Roth (BTW Dune fans, Denis Villanue [sic] is directing, but Roth is screenwriting. That should make you nervous). I knew there was a sequel but I never really ventured around used book stores until I grew older. Finally found and read it. There is only one word that effectively describes this literary sequel: Disappointing.

I must admit, I was expecting something far different than what I read, such as the misadventures of the elder Gump and his son. Instead, I basically read a rehash of the original story with minor tweaks here and there (Played for Alabama in college, now plays for the Saints after Bubba Gump goes belly up for example). Although it is interesting to see the character development of Gump go into a downward spiral, the events he becomes involved with feel similar to the original story, and if they don't feel similar, they sure as hell get more outrageous and audacious.

It took a lot less to get through this book considering the former title kept my interest, but I must admit that I did want to quit reading this one a few times more than I expected. To think that Winston Groom created this lovable character, then checker his character development with the ability to trust anyone/everyone and not learn a thing after being jailed multiple times is unheard of. Such makes me think that Groom wanted you to believe, in the end, that Gump was nothing more than an idiot, not even lovable in the end.