Customer Reviews

Going Postal

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Okay, so admittedly the cliche about "going postal" is starting to get old, but this book has to be one of the best I read in the past year. The ending fizzled a bit IMO; the ride to get there, however, is well worth it!

I loved this book so much. i'm a 17 year old girl from ontario, canada. Going postal is the most funniest, touching books of the year. i loved the part when steve and brady were camping and steve had the profound thoughts about the pink stone. i also read Jarmillo's "chocolate jesus" but i didn't think it was as good.

The frustrations of the young protagonist, Steve (a bright college graduate forced into, you guessed it, postal work) are timeless--and particularly timely in these (2009) economic times. I can only guess as to why this book isn't mentioned along with "Catcher in the Rye" and 'Confederacy of Dunces' as the sharpest, wryest, funniest alienated young protagonist novels of all time. I can't believe I hadn't heard of it until recently coming upon it. Maybe "going postal" is cliched and that put people off, even over a decade ago. Forget that. If you are looking for a few hours (and you will read it straight through) of the best and most insightful comedy possible, "Going Postal" is your book. And tell a literature professor.

It is almost unfortunate that Stephan Jaramillo hit upon the idea of using the counter-culture machination of "postalism" as the binding force of his novel. Between the rantings on and rememberances of postal slayings by protagonist Steve Reeves is a humorous and, at times, compelling story of a somewhat stereotypically underemployed, underchallenged, undersexed, and (he might argue) underappreciated Gen-X slacker. As the son of a mailman, he fantasizes about relieving all the frustrations of his life in a blaze of psychotic glory.

The novel shines in Steve's interactions with his motley collection of friends: there is Brady, the homophobic Texas transplant who works at the Chicken Shack and constantly fends of the advances of would-be homosexual assailants; there is Billy, a paranoid 70's relic of a mechanic who hides out from Nixon and the FBI in his body shop; and there is Cal, a college drop-out of ambigous sexual preference who speaks in such haughty diction that Steve barely understands what he's talking about. Several hilarious passages emerge involving Steve and his friends, particularly when these abrasive misfits come into contact with each other.

The novel also excels in some sentimental moments, mostly involving Steve's love or family life. He offers a magical description of taking a first date to Fisherman's Wharf, and delivers the shock and exuberance of hooking up with an attractive woman in a bar. Another heartfelt moment occurs when Steve desperately attempts tohave an emotionally substantive and conversation with his pleasant but disconnected mother.

Unfortunately, the constant postal references distract and detract from the strengths of the novel. Perhaps Stephan Jaramillo needed something timely and gimmicky to get this story, his first novel, published, but the tired references to violent outbursts are barely enough to carry a few chapters, much less a whole book. The reader is left unconvinced of the protagonist's neurosis and unfulfilled when the violent longings are resolved.

The funny moments in this book don't come anywhere close to similarly categorized books of previous generations, like McTeague (Frank Norris) or A Confederacy of Dunces (John Kennedy Toole). This book is also severly outshone in the Gen-X Slacker Male Fiction departmennt by the much funnier, much more convincingly poignant High Fidelity (Nick Hornby). Still, the humor and distinct supporting cast of characters make Going Postal marginally worth reading.

"Going Postal" is without a doubt one of the best books of the year--if not the best--and I can't understand why it hasn't been getting more publicity. I've been doing my part, though, and telling my friends and anyone who will listen that they owe it to themselves to check this book out! I loved everything about "Going Postal", so much, in fact, that it's not easy singling out any one part. Although I have to say, (being no stranger to the bar scene myself), that the detailed descriptions of the night out club-hopping with Brady are so well-written they can only come from the voice of experience. The insanity of everyday situations, the meaningless job, the bad break-up, the homicidal revenge fantasies, I've been there, hey, we all have! The dialogue throughout is especially well-done, fresh, full of sly cultural references, but more importantly, very funny and, as is the case with the whole book, very real. I cannot recommend "Going Postal" highly enough, props and thank you to Mr. Jaramillo for one hell of a debut novel, and I'm most definitely watching and waiting for his next one to roll off the presses.

I read this book for the first time shortly after it came out. It is very well done, extremely funny & engaging. I can't believe it didn't "catch on" or that its author didn't explode on the literary scene--it and he are that good. Occasionally you read a book like this (another one for me would be Thom Jones of Pugilist at Rest and Sonny Liston Was a Friend of Mine fame) and you say to yourself, what ever happened to these guys? Is Jaramillo waiting in the wings with something new and cool waiting for us? Let's hope so. In the meantime there is Going Postal, which I highly recommend, especially now if you're an approaching forty-year-old dude like me and you enjoyed the 90s.

I loved this book, some of the most imaginative and humorous stuff I have ever read. I am shocked so many people are dogging it. Yes, the story does slow up a bit towards the end, but the beginning and middle more than make up for it. And to the nutjob that denounced the book for encouraging workplace violence, get real! It is a story bout a hopeless, intelligent guy, that just cannot seem to find his way in life. It is "Catcher in the Rye," the post-college years.

GOING POSTAL is clearly a very amusing book, and while the protagonist is clearly very close to (or over) the edge, his rantings are very believable, as are his collection of friends. The book reads incredibly quickly, and I definitely laughed out loud more than once. Not the greatest book I've ever read, but definitely worth picking up.

"Going Postal" was the funniest book I've read since "A Catcher in the Rye" 15 years ago. I don't consider myself an Xer but I think the underlying message in this book, as in "Catcher", is to find reconciliation in what we do with our lives. And if that means fantasizing about blowing a few people away and maintaining a sense of humor which is firmly grounded in reality, it's better than actually going postal. If you want to laugh until it hurts, read this book. I finished it in four and 1/2 hours.

Going Postal has what so few books have today, an author who tells a story in such a conversational voice that you forget you are reading and you become immersed in the story. I love this book. If you haven't read it you must!