Message Send Failure

Message Send Failure

By: Megan V.

In David Brin's The Postman, the reader is dropped into a post-apocalyptic wasteland of what was once America. Here we follow the main character Gordon Krantz, a scruffy near middle aged man who has fared as a traveler practically all on his own during the sixteen years of war, plagues, and bombs that ravaged the country. He is practical, cunning, and suffers from occasional short sightedness. Gordon follows old ideals that were common sixteen years prior but can be impractical and often times dangerous in the time after the war. Throughout the novel we see him struggle with his idealistic mentality and his basic survival instincts.

The story starts with Gordon's small camp being robbed by a group of wayward bandits who take nearly all of his essentials, leaving him in dire straights. He pursues the bandits but instead of finding their camp he finds an old outpost and the corpse of a postal carrier. The corpse's uniform along with a bag of letters. It is not long before he realizes that the title of postman still has great meaning to the people of this ravaged country.

Gordon quickly realizes that the uniform is a symbol of hope and restoration and he sees this lie as an opportunity not only for increased survival but also as a chance to bring change. Yet he finds he is hindered by stronger, greater forces and webs of lies even greater than his own. One such force is that of the Survivalists, a group that has been killing and oppressing since the collapse sixteen years prior. They prove to be one of Gordon's fiercest obstacles in the restoration of America.

This book had many points that I enjoyed. The descriptions used were very engaging and gave a vivid image of the kind of world in which the characters were living. I especially enjoyed Gordon's character through the book. He had a mind like someone from the reader's time period so he was relatable, yet he was living in a very different place and therefore had to react differently.

One quality that I disliked about the book was the development of certain characters. Dena, Abby and George Powhatan are examples of this lack. All three of these characters were vital to certain points in the story, but once used they seemed to be cast off. Their development was shallow and as a reader I would have appreciated knowing more about such important characters and their effects on Gordon's choices in the later chapters. This was especially apparent in the case of George Powhatan as he played a very critical role after being silent for most of the novel.

In addition to this character issue, I felt that parts of the book were rushed. The majority of the beginning of the book seemed to be transitions between major events, but then the last quarter of the book seemed to move much  more quickly, causing a sudden change in the pace at which events happened and decreasing the depth that went into certain points. As a result I felt that the message of the book was lost, and at times even Gordon's role as the Postman was forgotten.

Overall, I truly enjoyed this book. The main character was engaging and clever and the descriptive words used made this book a visual experience as much as a literary one. I feel that the ending of the novel was satisfying and while certain parts of it seemed out of place, it still flowed well. This book has certainly risen to one of my favorites and I will never forget reading it.

The Postman  by David Brin can be easily found in any library and is even available off of Amazon.