The Postman

“Freedom was wonderful beyond relief. But with it came that bitch, Duty.”

I had no idea the movie my mom loved so much when I was growing up was based on a book until Goodreads offered it up as a recommendation. I had vague memories of watching it with her (memorable Shakespeare scenes come to mind), but nothing really solid. I do like my post-apocalypse romps though, so I thought I'd give this a try. Unfortunately it didn't live up to my expectations.

In a world where vague disasters (both man-made and natural) have rendered America asunder, people have been left behind, fractured and separated, to rebuild. Our protagonist, Gordon, comes across the wreckage of a vehicle in the wilderness while fleeing from a band of Holnists (your average post-apocalyptic organized band of renegades). Taking shelter inside, he finds a postal uniform and bag, which he gratefully liberates from its long-dead occupant. Decked out in the remnants of the old world, though, he decides to use this uniform as a charade of sorts to exploit food, shelter, and supplies from settlements he comes across. But a man's conscience is a weird thing, and Gordon finds himself falling slowly into the role of postman despite protesting internally the entire time. The book follows him as he affects these small communities differently, slowly bringing them back together and in contact with one another through his charade.

At least, that's the first third of the book. What comes after this neat philosophical musing on a man's duty toward his fellow man and basically faking it until you're making it is the remaining two-thirds of the book, which takes an abrupt left turn into sci-fi AI weirdness and disappointing on-the-nose super soldier action. I'm not sure why we couldn't have an entire book about Gordon slowly unifying western America through good deeds, because I feel like I would have enjoyed that more. What I got instead was vague, disconnected bits of sci-fi stuff shoved in haphazardly until the book just runs out of pages.

Some people clearly loved the book, and I did too in the very beginning. Then the rest of the book happened, and I checked out. Pass on this.

An interesting relic of the “men ruin everything” mentality that have us The Mists of Avalon, Goddesses in Every Woman, Dances with Wolves, and The Wheel of Time, this dystopian novel has an interesting main character in an interesting situation. It kind of drags in places, and most of the other characters aren't particularly deep although they try to be.

A much better written and overall more interesting and less predictable exponent of this kind of dystopian fiction is The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri Tepper. That will always be my favorite dystopian novel if not my favorite novel of all time.

This book, although fine to read, serves even better to document the hysteria that left wing authors propagated in the eighties. I hate to put it that way, because (a) I generally don't care about author politics UNLESS it's totally transparent in the work and (b) it's clear that David Brin is a fine writer and deserves his place in the pantheon of 80s-90s futurists. But the bad guys in this book are “survivalists.” It's just funny to see how seriously some people took things.

So all in all, pretty good but not great.

Book And Movie Equally Awesome - In Their Own Ways. I was first exposed to the tale of The Postman through the movie starring Kevin Costner and Will Patton - and I love that movie so much it inspired one of my tattoos. The book is VERY different, though of the same tone and with at least some of the early events similar if not identical. In particular, the point of becoming the Postman and the first time the costume is used in Pine View are almost identical, though from there the story diverges. Whereas the movie gave us a tale of a singular tyrannical Holnist - Will Patton's General Bethlehem - that is constantly right on the cusp of killing the Postman and everything he holds dear, the book is more of a tale of the Postman's travels and survival across Oregon. Both share that it isn't just the Postman's survival that is in peril, but that of the very concept of hope. And both ultimately share the tale of how that other most powerful force - love - is the strength that allows hope to survive. How each tells these tales, and the other points each makes along the way, are very, very different. But how the book - written over three decades ago - speaks to the modern political era is particularly prescient, and for that reason alone the book is well worth the 5 stars.