I bought both "Forrest Gump" and "Gump & Co." at the same time. After reading "Forrest Gump", I was quite excited to read the sequel. I was so excited in fact, that as soon as I put down "Forrest Gump", I started reading "Gump & Co." that same night. What a shocking disappointment! I always wondered why there was never a sequel to the movie, so I searched the net to discover that Winston Groom decided not to license the story. After hearing his tale of woe and learning about "Hollywood Accounting" (Winston Groom never saw a dime from the $380 million that the Forrest Gump movie made, due to what should be an illegal accounting practice known as Hollywood Accounting.) , I was not surprised he would not sell the story. It seemed to me that he took out his anger on Hollywood by using his pen to cut down all those with whom he has issue - politicians, hollywood actors and directors, and the military. On the other hand, he casts a happy light on those he loves most- simple people, simple things, and those with internal character (flaws and all). What it produced was a main character that, despite his best efforts to the contrary, is unable to grow as a person until the very end of the book. The whole story was formulaic, with hardly a surprise until the very end.