The Postman (Bantam Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

by David Brin (Author)
Key Phrases: George Powhatan, Johnny Stevens, Peter Aage (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Gordon Krantz survived the Doomwar only to spend years crossing a post-apocalypse United States looking for something or someone he could believe in again. Ironically, when he's inadvertently forced to assume the made-up role of a "Restored United States" postal inspector, he becomes the very thing he's been seeking: a symbol of hope and rebirth for a desperate nation. Gordon goes through the motions of establishing a new postal route in the Pacific Northwest, uniting secluded towns and enclaves that are starved for communication with the rest of the world. And even though inside he feels like a fraud, eventually he will have to stand up for the new society he's helping to build or see it destroyed by fanatic survivalists. This classic reprint is not one of David Brin's best books, but the moving story he presents overcomes mediocre writing and contrived plots.

Review
A major motion picture from Warner Bros., directed by and starring Kevin Costner.

Critical acclaim for David Brin and The Postman:

"The Postman will keep you engrossed until you've finished the last page."--Chicago Tribune

"Brin is a bold and imaginative writer."--The Washington Post Book World -- Review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Spectra (November 3, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553278746
• ISBN-13: 978-0553278743
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (141 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #40,173 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars So-so apocalypse fiction, August 17, 2000

By	Brian D. Rubendall (Oakton, VA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I love end-of-the-world fiction. My picks for the best of the genre include "The Stand," "On the Beach," "The Day of the Triffids" and "Lucifer's Hammer." Unfortunately, "The Postman" just isn't up to the standards set by these works. For one thing, the narrative ark takes some twists and turns into some unusal, but not at all together satisfying directions. For another, several key moments in the plot are based on non-too-plausible scenes of the hero overhearing conversations of his adversaries. Some of the action scenes are not terribly believable, and the ending of the book reads like a cliched Western. Nevertheless, Brin does pack his novel with a number of interersting ideas and notions that at least make it worth reading for those with an interest in this particular genre.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The Postman falls flat, January 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Postman (Bookcassette(r) Edition) (Audio Cassette)

I decided to read The Postman because I had heard good things about both the book and it's author, David Brin. I couldn't have been more misled. The book follows the adventures of a wandering loner in a post apocolyptic america, who finds that by impersonating a US postman, he can find saftey and food within the dwellings of the usually untrusting survivors. Along the way, he finds that his ruse has generated an icon that people can follow, to re-build america from the ashes. It doesn't sound too bad, I even liked the idea. Unfortunatley, Brin's writing style is flat, boring and so mundane, that he fails to bring any sense of drama, romance or even interest to any of his situations and characters. An example includes the postman falling in love with a woman for the romance part of the book, and then when he loses her, we don't care, because she was NEVER DEVELOPED as a character...This book is full of "bad sci-fi" cliches, and predictable plot developments. Everything from the Wizard of Oz computer to the characters refering to things like, the "Doomwar" or the "Anti-Tech Riots." I mean this book was written in 1985? The dialogue and writing sound more like 1955! like Even such small things as how ALL the survivors refer to the Doomwar and the Chaos that followed (Brin's capitals) by the same names, even though we are told that they have all been isolated from each other for 20 years WITH NO COMUNICATION! This tells us that Brin didn't give this world any thought! The book is supposedly full of grand ideas, and in reality they all fall flat, and become cliched, mostly because Brin treats his readers as idiots when his main character, who is delivering mail and bringing hope to the surviviors, stops and thinks to himself, "Gee if there was only a symbol, a person that everyone could rally behind, I would help them if I could..." A good author would have given us this sense of events, (i.e. - the postman not realizing what he is doing, as he himself yearns for hope) in a subtle, interesting way. Unfortunatley, Brin just can't deliver his own ideas, and instead we end up laughing, when we were meant to be inspired. BMAN

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great first half!, August 4, 2005

By	J. Burks "joeb73" (Folsom, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I really enjoyed the first half of this book. The wandering postman poser bringing hope to every town he visits. I enjoy the post apocalyptic genre, and felt the story was proceeding enjoyably without many post-ap cliches. I really liked the hope springing eternal aspect to it.

Unfortunately the second half of the book devolved into something that could only be saved by deus ex machina - which is exactly what happened. The characters stopped acting like believable people. Critical events happened that were difficult to believe and never explained (the Scout's plan "somehow" was uncovered). Characters were being killed off almost as though the author were afraid that the story wasn't having any emotional impact for the last many pages so maybe if someone we had been introduced to died...

I was very disappointed by the end of the book. If it had left the standard "good guy vs. bad guy climax" out, the whole story would have been better for it. If you really want to enjoy the book, just stop at the second interlude.