Customer Reviews

The Postmistress

5 star:		(59)
4 star:		(56)
3 star:		(60)
2 star:		(53)
1 star:		(28)

 

 

In 1940, the lives of three women could not be more different as war rages in Europe. Iris James, postmistress of Franklin, Massachusetts, believes in order and details. She takes great pride in her work. All communications in the town come through her. The whole system works because of the neat efficient system and the trust. She keeps all the secrets of the residents, but one day, she breaks with everything she has ever believed, slipping a letter into her pocket. Emma Trask, wife of the town's doctor Will Fitch, listens to all the radio broadcasts from London with her husband. When a tragedy provokes a change in her husband and a determination to go over to Europe, Emma guards herself against the tides of war raging across a distant ocean. In London, Frankie Bard, works with Edward R. Murrow. Frankie listens to Murrow's story advice, yet her spirit chafes against the all the strictures and protocol imposed on her. Feisty, fearless and somewhat brash, she wants to get out the truth and stir her listeners to action. In 1941, Frankie rides the trains out of Germany, reporting on the war, listening to the voices of the so-called refugees. As she sees the war unfolding from a different perspective, her whole idea about the story itself changes.

In THE POSTMISTRESS, Sarah Blake looks at World War II through the eyes of three distinct women all connected through means of private and public media. In many ways, THE POSTMISTRESS itself follows Frankie's conception of a news story as story and herein lies the beauty of the novel. Sarah Blake's novel does not follow the traditional concepts of a novel. THE POSTMISTRESS tells the story of World War II through the edges, in the lives of the three women and the events of their lives, often events that even seem unrelated to the larger scene playing out in the world. Indeed, the emotional impact of the story builds as Frankie stops trying to tell the truth of the war and listens to the voices of those around her. The "truth" of the war often emerges in the edges, in those stories told and unspoken by the press and even the characters to some extent. Although Sarah Blake draws on the history and historical figures of the times, THE POSTMISTRESS is not a historical novel filled with date and details from the history books. The reader will not find all the horrific details of the Holocaust or the London Blitz and yet, in telling the story through the edges of war scene, THE POSTMISTRESS allows the reader's imagination to enter the story. With the copious amount of World War II history and fiction published, readers undoubtedly are more than familiar with the main story of the War, and yet, THE POSTMISTRESS brings a freshness to the story. For this reader, THE POSTMISTRESS, is one of the first to tell the story of the trains from a viewpoint that truly engages imagination and emotion in both the details of individuals, sometimes even the characters for whom only a name and place is known, who might have experienced the events. Like Frankie's approach to the story, less is sometimes more. Equally, the conflicts and struggles of Emma Fitch and Iris James bring a whole other emotional dimension and texture to the story.

THE POSTMISTRESS is a wonderful blend of popular women's fiction and literary fiction. The novel gains more emotional power and intellectual interest as it progresses. The first part reads more like light women's fiction as the author introduces the three women whose lives will touch one another's. Frankie's development, however, guides the heart of the story, developing the lens through which the richness of the other characters emerges. The beginning of the story actually gains more relevance and emotional depth in hindsight, as Frankie's less traditional concept of a news story begins to cast the novel itself within a different framework. THE POSTMISTRESS is a story of women's lives, of life, death and love during WWII, and by end, a story about the art of storytelling itself.

Honestly - I wanted to love this book. I wanted to fall down in adoration and sing its praises and recommend it to everyone I know. I mean - look at it. The cover is beautiful. The title catching, simple, perfect. The premise a beautiful one, the story of two women who were unable to simply.. do their job, in a time when doing their job was one of the hardest things they could possibly do.

So on one hand, while there were moments I was extremely touched (mostly during speeches made and newscasts made), I felt as if Blake stopped just short of really getting somewhere with the character. I felt anger and frustration because I wanted to know these characters. I wanted to know Emma and Iris and Frankie. I wanted to know what made them tick. I wanted to know what made Iris do that incredibly crazy thing at the start and why Frankie felt so compelled to go to London to report the news. I wanted to know why Emma was separated from her husband for so long and how she handled the unexpected gift he left behind for her.

Instead I was left with a story that tried to tell too much in too short a time. Instead of focusing in and really delving into the characters we were only given a glimpse and that is why this book isn't getting the high praise I desperately wanted to give it. I have never felt so incredibly frustrated after reading a novel. There was so much potential here - so much that could have been told.

With a setting during WWII and the fairly novel (for the time) idea of a female broadcast journalist at its core, "The Postmistress" seemed like a promising book. To be sure, the author has a way with words, crafting some lovely phrases and metaphors. But ultimately, they are not enough to offset a book that lacks heart, and as a consequence, it was a rather plodding read. Like another reviewer, I only finished it because I felt obligated to review it for the Vine program.

It's hard to figure how a story revolving around one of the seminal events of the 20th century, one that devastated millions of lives and continues to cast an ominous shadow nearly 70 years later, could be tedious, predictable and, at times, even trite, but that's what Sarah Blake has managed to write. The main characters--Frankie, the Smith alum journalist; Emma, the doctor's new wife; Iris, the spinster postmaster of the small Cape Cod town where half the book is set; Harry, the town mechanic and Iris's lover; and Will, the doctor who runs away to London to escape his past and aid victims of the Blitz--are not well enough drawn to elicit any emotional response from the reader (at least not this reader). We never really get to know them except in the most superficial way, and because of that, it's almost impossible to care about any of them. Instead, the author seemed so intent on tying together the rather improbable coincidences in the plot (would Will really run into Frankie in a London bomb shelter after her broadcasts inspired him to leave his wife and help with the British war effort?) that she lost sight of the fact that it is the characters who drive the plot forward. These folks all just seemed along for the ride.

The book also has identity problems. Although it clearly aspires to be literary fiction, it is more of a romance, with too much formula and too little substance, the author's attention to historical detail notwithstanding. I used to edit mass market paperbacks in a prior life, including genre fiction, and this had all too much in common with historical romances (aka bodice rippers) and Harlequin romances but with too little of any of the elements that attract the devotees of those genres. At other times, it seemed almost like reportage of the characters' lives, too removed from the events at hand and their effects on the characters to pull the reader in. Yet that reportage was largely impressionistic, in that there were various plot elements that were not resolved nicely. What was Frankie's trip from Bayonne back to Paris like? What was going through her mind when she crossed the Channel? Instead, we find her back in America en route to Franklin, with only passing references to how she got there. And then the last chapter or two were crammed with events, as if the author was finally bored and wanted to tie things up and move on.

Also disconcerting was the author's tendency to switch points of view from one character to the next with little or no warning. Not only is omniscient point of view difficult to pull off well, the constantly shifting perspective created confusion and contributed to the lack of connection with the characters.

The only time "The Postmistress" approached any kind of emotional depth was when Frankie was recording the details of the refugees' lives, including the two that continued to haunt her. But those were too few and too far between, and Blake's repeated references to them came to detract from their power. The brief attention paid to Otto, the Austrian refugee living in Franklin, MA, also promised to finally infuse the book with an emotional dimension, but again it was too fleeting and cursory to fulfill its promise. How did he wind up in a small resort town on Cape Cod, rather than in one of the East Coast cities? Who was he in his previous life? What happened to him?

I also have an issue with the promotional copy for the book, which implies that a decision by the postmaster/mistress not to deliver a letter was a pivotal event. Instead it came about 3/4 of the way through the book and while it tugged at Iris's conscience briefly, it in no way advanced the plot, nor did it reveal anything about the character. It's probably reflective of the book's myriad problems that the editor had to seize on something so late in the story and so inconsequential to try to sell the book.

I actually think Sarah Blake has a lot of promise as a writer, and the idea behind "The Postmistress" was interesting, but she has a lot of seasoning ahead of her before she will realize that potential. I'd suggest giving this one a miss and seeing what she comes up with later in her career.

First of all, this book claims it is about a postmistress. It is, kind of, I guess. But it is REALLY about a foreign correspondent in WWII. But more on that in a bit. Next, this book begins with a tease about a postmistress who withheld the mail during WWII. Um, no, not really. She held back one letter that didn't really say anything definitive. If you can overlook the fact that this book is about something other than what it promises, then read it. Personally, I was looking forward to a story about a postmistress picking and choosing what mail she delivers, hiding secrets, playing with people's lives. That sounds like a cool book!

Having said that, this wasn't a totally horrible book. Basically, it follows the lives of three women in 1940-41: Frankie, the female foreign correspondent who works for CBS, Iris the "spinster" postmistress of Franklin, MA and Emma, the doctor's new wife, also living in Franklin.

I loved the Frankie parts, especially the scenes set during the Blitz. I studied the Blitz in some high school history course or another, but never really *thought* about what it would be like to go to the public shelter night after night after night. Those scenes were very well written and vivid--I was as freaked out as Frankie! I wish the whole book would have been about Frankie, actually. Sister had sex with some dude outside a nightclub in London--she was jazzy and interesting, to say the least.

Conversely, I couldn't relate to Iris or Emma. The book begins with Iris going to a gynecologist to get a certificate promising she is a virgin. That's an odd beginning to a book, to say the least. Sadly, that was the most interesting thing she did...the love story between her and Henry was boring (he gave her a coffee mug??) and her job was made to sound boring. I think it could have been way more interesting, but it wasn't. Likewise, I couldn't relate to Emma at all. I can't imagine losing my family the way she did (in the flu epidemic of 1918), but I got tired of reading about how it *defined* her and she felt invisible until she met the doctor she married. Oh, and speaking of the doctor...

...the minor characters were boring as well. The doctor had no real character traits, other than the fact he was a doctor and his father was a drunk (that's a novel idea). There was the aforementioned Henry, who was also boring. There was also a German Jew named Otto, who held such promise. I kept waiting and waiting and waiting, but nothing really happened with him. So...why was he in the story?

The pacing of the book is odd, too. The beginning is boring (introducing the characters, mostly). The middle is cool--Frankie is in London during the Blitz, reporting with Edward R. Murrow. There are some scenes of people waiting for trains that aren't coming. This is something I hadn't thought about and it did lure me into the story again. But then she goes to start interviewing random people about their war experiences and...doesn't absolutely nothing with the interviews. You hear people say their names, where they are from but Frankie herself isn't sure what to DO with this information. After Frankie finishes her interviews, she returns to the States and...that's kind of it. The book just seems to run out of steam, desperately in search of an ending. It limps along, throwing in a death and some other stuff and then it just...ends.

I think the most apt metaphor for this book is people waiting for trains that aren't coming...I kept waiting and waiting and waiting...but nothing ever came.

This book was recommended by a friend at work and boy was I disappointed. I chose it as my book club selection and the overall impression from my group was the same. The book was a painfully slow read and was abandoned by 3 of my book clubbers. This has never happened. The characters were poorly developed and not very sympathetic. The name selection was also poor because the postmistress is only one of the many characters and her keeping the letter didn't happen til the end of the book. I thought that was going to be the central idea of the whole book. I LOVED The Help and having Kathryn Stockett endorse this book was very deceiving. Can't choose a book based on who endorses it anymore. Sorry Sarah Blake, maybe next time.

I like to read for several reasons: to meet well-developed characters I can relate to; to explore places or historical periods I could not do otherwise; and to feel enlightened in some way by the experience that transpires on the pages of the book. This book did none of that for me and was the most disappointing book I have read in a very long time.

The characters were flat, totally unsympathetic, and not ones I could muster up any positive feeling for. In fact, the postmistress and the reporter both annoyed me so much that I wanted to reach into the book and shake them and scream, "Are you crazy? Why are you doing that?" Both of these women betrayed everything they stood for and for what purpose? Their less-than-admirable actions had no positive impact. If we all lied about the things we could not bear, the world would be a very sad place.

Although World War II is one of my favorite periods to read about and I have enjoyed many, many novels set in this period, I felt this particular story did not pack an emotional punch or bring the reader into the true horror of living in England during the bombings. People were dying daily and to allow a main character to have loveless sex with an anonymous stranger on the street corner was not a good way to put me into the story or to emphasize this character is suppose to be a strong woman. Emma, the doctor's wife, was the only character I could have any feeling for and yet, she was not completely defined and I felt the majority of her story was missing.

Critics are quoted on the jacket as saying the story is unforgettable. Well, I hope to forget how terrible it was and move on to a story I can really enjoy. Reading is as vital to my being as breathing, and I am amazed a story so jerky, disconnected, and just plain dull saw the light of publication.

I honestly felt cheated after reading this book. I felt like it wanted to be a good read, but it just didn't have the necessary elements. There were some good characters, but they were never really fleshed out. The story line had potential, but did not reach out to grab the reader's heart. Put simply, this book lacked the emotion to make the reader truly care about these people. What a disappointment. I expected to love The Postmistress, but instead, muddled my way through.

I purchased this book for our book club after reading Kathryn Stockett's review. I read The Help and enjoyed it so much I thought the author could not go wrong. I read and read but could not find anything redeemable in this book. I was actually embarrased because I chose the book for our next meeting.

The review of The Postmistress in the NYT Book Review this book was called a cross between The Help and Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society so I couldn't wait to read it. The reviewer must have been on drugs to equate the 3 books. The postmistress is full of characters you won't like and the one or two that are likable are killed off. I kept thinking if I read more I'd start liking the book but alas I kept that delusion to the last page. The book is a waste of time and money.

Like many other negative reviewers, I wanted to like this book and expected to like it based on the reviews, but I'm finding I have to force myself to finish it. In gathering my thoughts for this review I am repeatedly asking myself why this story is so flat and uncompelling (and yet so highly reviewed). It is not well-written. Regardless of what happens to them in the war, the characters don't live on the page. Characters, particularly the doctor and reporter, make life-changing or life-risking decisions out of supposed urgency. As a reader I expect to be emotionally engaged in those decisions but they feel "heady" and I'm consistently emotionally detached. It's as if the author decided to communicate a passionate demand for justice or personal atonement or a need for society to at least acknowledge the horrors of war by repeatedly writing something like "S/he felt passionately that something should be done". No depth.

There are big themes in this book but they just sit there as big themes. My primary impression is that I am reading someone's research paper dressed up as a novel and that the characters are there to service the information rather than vice versa. Disappointing.