The Postman

Rating:
Summary: The Postman by David Brin
Review: Book Review by C. Douglas Baker

THE POSTMAN is set sixteen years after a cataclysmic event (presumably a nuclear war although there is room for speculation that it may have been some other disaster such as a large comet hitting the earth) has plunged the world to the brink of a dark age. Trying to survive in Oregon's Cascade Mountains, Gordon Krantz happens upon a run-down United States Postal Service jeep while trying to find a warm place to sleep and spends the night. Taking the leather jacket and cap off the skeleton of his unfortunate bunk-mate, with the full regalia of the U.S. Postal Service as accoutrements, and a sack full of old mail, Gordon sets off to hunt supplies. Thus begins Gordon's almost unconscious generation of a false legend.

Attempting to extort supplies from settlement in the mountains, Gordon comes up with a story about a "Reformed United States" to the east and the reorganization of a Postal Service. Using his newly acquired postal gear as props, Gordon takes upon himself the role of a "postal inspector" who has come to reestablish postal routes and "inspect" local governmental institutions. He even, luckily, comes up with a few letters from the mailbag addressed to relatives of people in the community as a ruse to bolster is story. Through this reckless prevarication Gordon weaves his way into the good graces of the people he comes into contact with, simply by being a catalyst to their nostalgic remembrance of a time when the United States was a superpower and the postal service was so reliable as to be taken for granted. Gordon's "big lie" offers hope of a return to better times.

Traveling around in this persona, Gordon lets the legend grow, even appointing "postal inspectors" in various areas as he goes along, creating a loyal cadre of "followers". As the legend takes hold, Gordon finds that he cannot tell the truth or back out of the duty that communities impose on him--that being giving them some hope that a better world is ahead and doing something to bring that future about. They believe in Gordon and his
"Reformed United States" and he cannot let them down.

Despite a very promising plot, THE POSTMAN is a bit frustrating. Authors using a lost-holocaust world as their setting must viscerally convey the extent of the catastrophe and the eeriness of a post-technological world. Brin in THE POSTMAN fails to do so. The reader never really emotionally feels the impact of the disaster and the odds facing the main character, Gordon. As a result, the book never delivers the emotional blow that is necessary to make the struggle back to a semblance of civilization satisfying to the reader. Brin is too contrite in his brief descriptions of run down cities, empty wildernesses, and struggling communities. The novel just does not "feel" like it is set in a post-holocaust society, despite that the characters and actions take place there.

Brin also fails to bring life to his characters. Even the main character, Gordon, is not as well drawn as he could be. Brin does an even less stellar job at developing his peripheral characters. When important persons are suddenly killed the reader does not feel the sense of grief that great authors can convey, because the reader never really "knew" the character. This is particularly true of his female hero Dana. Her attempts to save her community and the fate of her band of "scouts" does not touch the reader because Brin never fully cultivates the reader's sympathy or understanding for her or her comrades.

That being said, I actually enjoyed the novel (surprise!). Despite feeling estranged from the characters and plot, Brin's prose and ability to write action scenes and keep the story moving made it an enjoyable reading experience.

Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary Story with Decent Writing
Review: ...wasted. It's hard to say how good a book this could have been based on the concept, but the execution was just, well, terrible. One of the best (worst?) examples I can think of where an incompetent protagonist survives much longer than he/she has any right to, or than a reader can believe. Goofy plot elements abound along with the introduction of incredible (as in not credible, not as in "wow!") characters to create even more dire challenges, when mere bad guys were would have fit the existing storyline better.

What's really frustrating are the glimpses of Brin's obvious skills. These keep you going until the end, but just barely.

Now about the movie...

Rating:
Summary: Post-apocalyptic genre fiction at its most average
Review: Brin's tale of a loner's midlife journey in a world devastated by warfare, climate change, and disease is exactly what genre-bound science fiction readers expect. The protagonist, Gordon, is an intellectual male whose resourcefulness has helped him adapt to a world whose institutions have collapsed and whose people live in tiny, scrabbling communities. He traverses the (former) Northwestern United States in vague search of something hope for - but accidentally, by way of a postman's uniform he finds in a moment of desperation, brings hope to everyone he encounters. Ultimately he must reconcile himself to the world as it has become and decide what is truly worth fighting for.

"The Postman" fancies itself an ideological novel, and Brin lays it on thick. Gordon's search for meaning is unceasing, and unceasingly discussed. While his crusade is at first sympathetic, it quickly wears thin under the novel's weight as, instead of developing Gordon's character, Brin attributes his every decision to the increasingly desctructive cause.

More than just lazily written, "The Postman" can be frustratingly immature. The protagonist's - and the book's - tone toward technology is plausible for the young college student Gordon once was, but inappropriate for a middle-aged man whose life and country have been destroyed by a machine society. Brin's version of feminism seems designed to win bonus points with female fans, but its heavy-handedness and condescension are no less alienating than outright sexism. These flaws, combined with Brin's broad-stroked, barely-serviceable prose, undermine any serious reader's enjoyment.

But "The Postman" is appealing nonetheless. It's easy to get into, and the action sequences are freqent and page-turning. The plot meanders pleasantly, making the book seem longer and meatier than it actually is, and although the ending is both sudden and predictable, it's not unsatisfying. And ultimately, Brin offers what many sci-fi readers are looking for: a world in which things are different, a new set of rules and a history that comments on our own. This is not great literature, but it's a fairly good book.