The Postman

Rating:
Summary: I couldn't put it down
Review: I loved this book I couldn't put it down. I recommend this to all science fiction readers. I can't wait for the movie

Rating:
Summary: One of the 10 books I'd take to a desert island
Review: Brin's novels tend to be "simply" stories. His short stories almost always have an element of the mythic and moral to them. For this reason, The Postman always seemed strange to me: it is mythic and definitely has a moral. I tracked out the first edition and learned why: the book started life as a novella. If this is the result, I wish Brin would make more of his short stories into books.

Humankind did not blow itself up, it sort of sputtered most of the way there -- with a couple of nukes, a couple of biological weapons, and a big push from those descendents of gun-nuts, the survivalists -- and stopped. The main character combined the survival instinct of postWar types with the wonder and intellectualism of the preWar types. He is wandering the US, looking for something. In the end, he himself creates what he has been looking for -- someone who is taking responsibility, who is creating something greater than himself or his village.

The mythic and the moral emerges towards the end of the book, and it is for this element that I take this book to my desert island. It becomes a fight between good (those who will take responsibility, however unwillingly) and evil (the survivalists, who won't), unexpectedly involving preWar science and philosophy. The forming of the US after the Revolution, the thoughts of Ben Franklin, and the legend of Cincinatus (look it up, it's worth knowing) are the pegs upon which Brin hangs his moral tale.

And, as always, Brin has written a simply good book.

Rating:
Summary: For want of a toothbrush...
Review: Of all the ways in which you might die after a nuclear holocaust, I had not considered the possiblity that something as mundane as periodontal disease might get you in the end. This is a truly insightful, thought provoking book.

Rating:
Summary: Soon to be a movie starring Kevin Costner; great writing
Review: This is early Brin, but one of his best. After a nuclear war, what survives of civilization? What gives hope to the people of America? Answer: The U.S. Postal Service, or is it one man's effort to make sense of a world in chaos. A movie version is currently being filmed starring Kevin Costner. I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Recommended
Review: Brin's best

Rating:
Summary: This is a much better story without Kevin Costner
Review: You know, without having to look at Kevin Costner, this is a pretty good story. I haven't seen the movie, but I have read many other books by David Brin, and they've all been enjoyable, so I decided to give this one a try. It's a philosophical story more than anything else, but set in a nice post apocalyspe landscape that makes the abstract issues a little more urgent. Is it wrong to deceive people, possibly into giving their lives, if the myth you are pushing might eventually bring great benefits? Is it possible to have a system where the powerful do not abuse their power? Most impressive of all, this book avoided the standard hollywood ending, and left us wondering if there really was any hope, if the myth was really true or not. It's even aged well, unlike a lot of other science fiction books set in "futures" that are already in the past.

Rating:
Summary: Mystical yet not tacky
Review: The depiction of events in David Brin's The Postman is well-observed, provides great texture, and yet is minimal. Gordon Krantz is studied with care, his inner thoughts communicated very well, yet most importantly his temperament is established through various trials he handles or mishandles. Other characters are touched on, some remaining highly memorable.

Rating:
Summary: Much better than the movie
Review: Unlike the movie, this book is not only better than the movie, but it doesn't have Kevin Kostner in it ;)

I really liked this book, but then again I have always been a sucker for EOW stories (end of world). If you liked Lucifer's hammer then you will like this book. If you liked Lucifer's Hammer or this book, then you may also want to check out Earth the New Frontier by Adam Celaya (a brand new post-apocalyptic novel that rocks the house!!)

If you like EOW books, then get this one. You will not be dissapointed!

Rating:
Summary: Much better than the movie could ever hope to be
Review: I am not a fan of fiction, but I read this book a few years ago when the movie came out and radio personality Art Bell spoke about the book. I read it and found the book to be a pleasant surprise. The book is about Benjamin Franklin as much as anything else. It gives Franklin a lot of the credit that modern America seems to have forgotten about. The Postman also gives a little type of history lesson about early America and how it actually came to be a unified nation that would someday change world history. In a nation without TV, telephones, radio or other communication due to lack of electricity, the postal service is much more important than one could imagine.

Brin's book is also a lot about women in American society and how much worse things would be for them in another, tragic, furure society. Brin dedicates this book to the women in his life who have fascinated him and that dedication is evident throughout the book. Brin's ability as a writer takes what might otherwise be only a dark and ugly story of futuristic nuclear disaster, and makes it one of hope for the future and appreciation for the past.

As I wrote earlier, I am not a fan of fiction, but I found this worth the read. Forget about the movie, give the book a chance and you may well agree with my appreciation for this particular work of fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Garbage...
Review: I am an avid reader and a fan of the "post-apocalyptic" genre, but I have to say, this book is utter garbage. I only read up to the third chapter or so... I couldn't take it. Terrible writing, disjointed pacing, awful introspective ramblings, and unrealistic, two-dimensional characters make for great kindling, and little else. It's the only book I've ever thrown away!