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.

Originally posted at FanLit.
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/reviews/the-postman/

Sixteen years after an apocalyptic event that nearly destroyed all human life on the earth, civilization consists only of small groups of suspicious people who have managed to band together for safety. These communities are spread out and preyed upon by roaming bandits or groups of ???survivalists??? who follow a despotic leader.

Gordon Krantz has been struggling to survive by himself in the Oregon wilderness. He???s been hoping to find a community where he can fit in, but when bandits steal all his clothes and gear, he has nothing to offer in return for shelter. He???s in danger of dying from hunger and exposure until he stumbles upon the corpse of a United States postal worker and dons the dead man???s uniform.

Then he begins his scam; he presents himself to various towns and convinces them that he represents a newly formed United States government. He says he has a message to bring them from their new leaders and, as they feed and supply him, he lays down ???laws??? that he deems moral.

Soon Gordon is trapped in his lie. For his story to be believable Gordon has to keep moving ??? he can???t settle down. When he leaves each community, he takes the letters that hopeful people write to family members that are probably long dead. As his hoax continues and he travels back and forth between towns that are happily providing for him, Gordon is forced to cover himself by getting involved in community management, issuing decrees, setting up post offices, and hiring mailmen. Eventually Gordon becomes more than a conman and even more than an empty symbol of hope in the hearts of people who are in desperate need of hope; eventually Gordon becomes the man he???s pretending to be.

I liked The Postman when I read it as a teenager years ago and I liked it again when I recently re-read it in audio format. The story is appealing because it examines hope at both the national and personal levels. On the national level we have a fractured society with some groups of people who are trying to unite for protection and companionship but who have so far been unsuccessful because they???re constantly threatened by the gangs of opportunistic despots. Gordon???s fake identity offers the hope that someday a new democracy ??? a new United States ??? may be possible to achieve, not only through the hope, belief, and just plain survival of those who aren???t willing to be ruled by tyrants, but also through the organization, infrastructure, education, and literacy that Gordon???s ???job??? inspires.

On the personal level, David Brin gives us a conman who becomes the greatest kind of hero. Brin???s story is so believable and it offers each of us the personal hope that we can be somebody better just by pretending to be that better person until we actually achieve it.

If The Postman had focused only on the themes I???ve described so far, I might have thought it was a perfect novel. Unfortunately, Brin dilutes his great story by adding in some weird elements such as an artificial intelligence, genetically modified soldiers, and a group of crazy women who think they???re feminists. Too bad. Brin didn???t need all that stuff. It???s the story of the postman and the way he unwittingly begins to rebuild a nation that gives The Postman its power.

I listened to Audible Frontier???s 2012 production of The Postman which was read by David LeDoux who did a great job. Even with its problems, I recommend The Postman and urge you to try the audio version.

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.