Don't let the disaster of movie and the lamentable imagine of Kevin Costner scare you away. The book is vastly different. And vastly better! ( )

I really liked this one. I re-read it again after seeing the movie and realized once again how much I liked it. The movie was pretty good, but all they shared was the name and the postman aspect. ( )

Having been singularly underwhelmed by the movie when I saw it way back when, this was always low on my reading list, but Im glad I finally got round to pulling it out of the 'to read' pile. There's nothing spectacular about the book, but its well written, the main character is sympathetic and post-apocalypse Oregon well realised. A quick and entertaining read. ( )

hile not as satisfying or as meaty as Earth, Brin’s portrayal of a post-apocalyptic America is still compelling. The main character, trying to survive in the Oregon wilderness, happens upon a dead mailman and confiscates his uniform. Putting it on, he becomes the “postman” for the people in the enclaves he visits and even begins carrying their mail, all the while bemoaning the fact that no one will take responsibility for restoring civilization without realizing that he, in a small way, is doing exactly that.

One interesting plot point is that the collapse is not brought about by war or disease but by an anarchist militia movement capitalizing on those things to destroy American society from within. Of course, at the end, the Postman and his followers must fight a decisive battle with that same militia to determine whose way of life will ultimately win out. ( )

Gasp! I'm both a fan of the book and a fan of the movie! While the movie is different in many ways from the book, and I think that a lot of people don't like it because of Costner, I enjoyed it for what it was. Then again, I'm a real sucker for post-apocalyptic stories, and especially so when the future isn't necessarily bleak (ummm, can On the Beach get much bleaker?). But if I had to choose which I liked better between film and book, the choice is easy. Another book I hope I can get my kids to read. ( )

I liked it. I think the message could have been a little less "beat you over the head" and the cyclops thing was a bit off, but I still liked it.

A gorgeous post-apocalypse story about what it takes to forge civilization from chaos, and unlikely heroes. Having been subjected to the movie, I found this book surprisingly wonderful. ( )

This is one of the better post-apocalypse books I've read. Maybe not quite as good as A Canticle for Leibowitz, its still quite good. The basic story is that years after an attack that has decimated the United States, a survivor unintentionally, and at first fraudulently, takes the role of a postal carrier, and begins uniting people who desperately desire communication. Basic plotting with a bit of technology, and Brin's usual crispness and solid characters. I enjoyed this very much, and while the movie version wasn't great, it did do the book some justice. The book is better. ( )

I really wanted to like this. The setting is great. The prose is good enough. It's just the plot which disappoints. ( )

i picked this up and started reading it and finished at 2:00 AM the next morning. Gordon Krantz' struggle with his responsibilty is played out in a world destroyed by nuclear and biological war. The survivalists are creepy and enough like some people I know to make me lay awake at night. George Powhatan is the type of person I aspire to be. ( )

Superb. Powerful, compelling, poignent.

Set in post apocalypse america, some 16 years after a limited world war, society has collapsed back into shattered enclaves. Gorden, ex-marine, ex-milita and almost ex-survivor is alone in the wilderness of Oregan. An encounter with local bandits - both more and less organised than himself - goes badly and he flees deeper into the hills, chancing upon an abandonded and unfound jeep for shelter. In the morning he disregards any scruples (which already sets him out as different from many others in this world) and takes the jacket and gear from the long dead postman / driver who no longer requires them. Little does he realise their potential. But as he travels westward isolated and deeply suspicious communities - managing to raise themselves out of subsistance level barbarianism - are awed at the symbol he represents in his uniform, and life goes easier for a while. However like a cancer eating away at society, not everyone is willing to pull together and in these barbaric ages, Survivalists, gun nuts, alpha men, and those with short term vision threaten the very tenuous existance that even the most hardy farmer manages to eke out. Gordon's uniformed presence and the concept of 'offical' help damages their ideals and self justifications, forcing a dramatic showdown.

The only slightly discordant note is the dates. This was written in '85 and the story is set in 2011 which makes the great collapse about 95-98 or so. Some of the technology postulated for this 10 year advance from 85 is just highly improbable - but have seemed much more reasonable set 25 or more years later on. The only other gripe is that the book is not long enough! The ending came far too soon - although perfectly paced as a plot - I wanted to carry on reading for days more. The characters are skillfully crafted, deftly handled to pull at emotions. The motivations and complex moral and ethical dilemmas required to stay alive in such a world are subtley introduced, and you feel the characters' pain as difficult choices have to be made. The descriptions are limited but again very well crafted leaving glowing images of a world just starting to recover. This allows the story to flow from location to location over time spans that are clearly indicated within the text at a gripping pace. The social commentry is muted, but clearly marked - humankind has to pull together, everyone, or else all will perish.

Truly a masterpiece of dystopia, hope, spirit, and meaning of being human rather than just alive.

......................................................................................................... ( )

The main character sets out across a post-apocalyptic world looking for hope and order. Through his guise as a Postman - an attempt to save his own hide from starvation and a rogue militia - he inadvertently brings the hope and order he was searching for to his corner of the devastated continent of North America.

If you saw this movie and did not enjoy it you need to give the book a chance. I did not dislike the movie; however, the book has a depth to it that the movie did not have. The movie cut out an important plot development near the end of the book. ( )

This book starts out strong, but I really feel Brin should have left this as a short story. The first part was wonderful, about hope, about the bravery of a simple act of doing something in the face of tremendous hardship, about saving our humanity. But the second part just spins off into a pretty random tale, in my opinion, and is just not as powerful or as good. I'd give the first part 5 stars, but the rest of the book brings it down to 3.5. ( )

Public service prevarication brings realistic results.

An ordinary guy who comes up with a scam to get himself through in this nasty postapocalyptic world, after discovering some gear, ends up an important figure in starting to rebuild, and in a conflict. In a society like this it is no surprise that there will be a crazed religiously motivated and influenced ultra-right militaristic fascist group wanting to keep things how they are, and not allow information to again be widely communicated.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2007/06/postman-david-brin.html ( )

Public service prevarication brings realistic results.

An ordinary guy who comes up with a scam to get himself through in this nasty postapocalyptic world, after discovering some gear, ends up an important figure in starting to rebuild, and in a conflict. In a society like this it is no surprise that there will be a crazed religiously motivated and influenced ultra-right militaristic fascist group wanting to keep things how they are, and not allow information to again be widely communicated.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2007/06/postman-david-brin.html ( )

Public service prevarication brings realistic results.

An ordinary guy who comes up with a scam to get himself through in this nasty postapocalyptic world, after discovering some gear, ends up an important figure in starting to rebuild, and in a conflict. In a society like this it is no surprise that there will be a crazed religiously motivated and influenced ultra-right militaristic fascist group wanting to keep things how they are, and not allow information to again be widely communicated.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2007/06/postman-david-brin.html ( )

This is going to be one I have to read every few years. A classic of life during nuclear winter. Civil society in America has died in a slow battle with post-war chaos, hypermilita groups, and famine. It's a wonderful tale of a professional liar, a traveling actor who becomes mired in his deceptions and in the process starts a legend that might lead the survivors back to civilization. The first step is the simple act of starting a postal service. There is interesting musing about feminism in this story. I found this narrative to be make the book worth it alone. Also, the book is a great travel guide through some scenic spots in post-apocalyptic Oregon. ( )

David Brin's The Postman tells the story of Gordon Krantz, a man who finds himself still struggling for survival some sixteen years after nuclear war has almost completely destroyed the United States. Luckily for him, Krantz had been a bright student before his school days so suddenly ended forever at the age of sixteen, and he remembered enough Shakespeare and other classic literature to be able to earn his food and shelter as a traveling entertainer as he made his way westward from Minnesota.

But Krantz knew that his survival always depended on his ability to avoid bands of murdering bandits or sudden death at the hands of Mother Nature. One day his luck ran out. After an encounter with bandits left him with little more than the clothes on his back and in desperate need of shelter to avoid freezing to death, Krantz stumbled upon an old post office jeep, complete with the driver's remains. In order not to freeze, he clothed himself in the heavier clothing of the driver for the night and continued to wear the old uniform the next day when he left the jeep's shelter.

Much to Krantz's surprise, the next group of people he encountered was joyful to be hosting a mail carrier, someone they never expected to see again after having lived through sixteen years of isolation and precarious survival. They insisted on sharing past-life memories and stories about the mailmen they remembered from childhood and Krantz did not have the heart to tell them that he was a fraud. But, fraud or not, Krantz realized that he could easily acquire food and shelter by pretending to be a postal inspector sent by the "Reformed United States" to set up post offices throughout the state of Oregon. He justified his lies by telling himself that he was offering hope and inspiration to people who probably needed those things for their long term survival almost as badly as they needed food and shelter.

As word spread throughout the region, Krantz was soon to learn that the hope he offered created both opportunity and risk for the people who heard his story. For sixteen years those people had managed to survive, but they feared a large group of survivalist refugees from the past who intended to take what they had and make them into little more than slaves. Suddenly, with knowledge that the "Restored United States" would one day be there to help them, people were almost anxious to confront their vicious enemy. Only Krantz knew the truth, and he dared not steal the hope that these people embraced so desperately.

The Postman offers another doomsday scenario, this one a little more hopeful than most. It illustrates how a man who believes in ideals and morality can make a critical difference if only he has the courage and near foolishness to tackle what seems like an impossible task. Krantz wanted to give up but he could not abandon the people who had embraced "the postman."

I suspect that many people, like me, have not read David Brin's novel because of exposure to Kevin Costner's rather lame movie of the same name. Although the movie was based on Brin's book, rest assured that that is where the resemblance begins and ends.

Rated at: 3.0 ( )

This is not a novel. It is a series of connected short stories and novellas, originally run in science fiction magazines. In the original context of the sf mag, they packed quite a whallop; in book form, they don't hold up as well. Impossible to recommend, though some people will take to it like a cop to a donut.

I much prefer other works by this author. That being said, when I first read the stories, in their original forms, I loved them!

What more can I say? ( )

http://www.leftfield.org/~rawdon/book... ( )

A lot of action. Not like a normal sci-fi novel, less detail to Sci-fi elements. Good soliloques. ( )

I originally read the book before I ever saw the movie. It turns out that both are very good, but the movie definitely departed from the plotline of the book.

This is an excellent book. Brin presents a main character who is interesting and believable, a man who is caught in his own lies. The post-apocalyptic genre is not overly common these days, and may not appeal to everyone. Brin mostly does a good job of making the setting "timeless" (that is, not becoming dated due to an overreliance on what were current events at the time of writing), however there is some amount of an "alternate history" mindset required to enjoy this book.

I think my only real complaints about the book are two pieces of somewhat advanced technology that he threw into the story. They work into the plot just fine, but their existance feels somewhat jarring to me in a setting that is otherwise fairly well grounded on available technology. Fortunately, this is only a very minor blemish in my eyes, and the book really doesn't suffer from it. 5/5 ( )

Post-Apocolyptic Pacific Northwest - I don't normally like post-apocolyptic novels, and this was true to form. However, I actually enjoyed the movie more, in spite of Kevin Costner. ( )

A lot better than the movie. ( )

Incredible, moving, and hope-inspiring story. After a nuclear apocalypse, the government has fallen. One man works to restore order...simply by delivering the mail. ( )