The Postman (1985)

I enjoyed the first two parts of this very much. The first part covers serendipitous discovery of an old uniform by the main character, Gordon Krantz, just when he needs it after his camp has been raided and all the gear he needs for survival taken. The second part involves the way he becomes a symbol, at first without meaning to, and then the way he builds up a movement around himself, making his lies a reality.

The third part is where it falls down a bit for me, where he comes seriously involved in a basically military operation, and themes of scientific manipulation and so on come in. The climax of the novel is a fight between two characters which barely involves the protagonist, though fortunately it returns to being about Gordon for the last part.

The world of The Postman is bleak, post-apocalyptic, both recognising the elements among us who are violent and opportunistic, and the basic decency a lot of people have. There's hope here as well.

The way the novel deals with female characters... troubled me. The fact that there are few to no women in positions of power -- at least among the decent folks, though of course not among the antagonists due to their philosophy -- and the one who is ends up proving herself dangerously naive. Many women are strong, and capable of a lot better than the showing they make here. ( )

The Postman was a good post-apocalyptic story. It wasn't great, it wasn't ok, it was squarely in the middle at good. ( )

This book could have been so much better. The end was a major anti-climax for me. Otherwise I enjoyed the first 2/3rd of the book immensely. The concept is unique. (which the movie missed entirely)

I watched the movie starring Kevin Costner (seriously, don't watch it) only to see how Gordon deals with the 'supercomputer' issue from the novel. Actually, he "dealt" with it pretty well. It's not even mentioned in the movie! Kevin Costner, you arrogant idiot. ( )

Post-apocalyptic stories tend to draw me in. I enjoyed this one a lot. It wasn't a great book -- but entertaining nonetheless. I'm glad I never saw the film, since I heard it was a sinker. ( )

A moral man of the twentieth century tries to survive and not be too horrified at the men and their practices he encounters upon his travels around the former US looking for something meaningful and civilized to contribute to after an apocalyptic war. In the process he weaves an elaborate lie that reestablishes postal routes in a small, but significant portion of the former country. Brin offers a small hope that humanity will rebuild and possibly avert their former catastrophe, but it's realistically slim. ( )