Book 12: The Postman by David Brin (1985)
First line:"Chill winds still blew. Dusty snow fell. But the ancient sea was in no hurry."
Summary: On a cold night in post-apocalyptia, a band of thieves leaves Gordon Krantz for dead in the Cascade Range. Taking shelter in a crashed US Postal Service truck, this drifter appropriates the jacket of the truck's long-dead occupant. Declaring himself a postman of the "Reconstructed United States," he uses the jacket and some forged documents to gain entrance to and sustenance from the small communities that sprung up in the wake of Armageddon. The fiction soon grows beyond Gordon's self-serving scheme. Despite himself, Gordon becomes unwilling to abandon the bag of letters he carries from town. The promise of government assistance against marauding survivalists gives the locals hope, and soon Gordon finds himself instating volunteer postmen who tie the scattered Northwestern communities into a coherent society. The survivalists, led by an former US supersoldier, have a feudal society based on social Darwinism. Might makes right, women are chattel, and any attempts at egalitarian society are crushed. Moreso than the bombs or plagues, these survivalists foiled attempts to rebuild civilization in the wake of Doomsday. Will the fledgling society born from Gordon's fraud have what it takes to defeat the survivalists, and will it have the strength to survive the truth of Gordon's claims?
Reaction: I'm a fan of post-apocalyptic fiction, and The Postman has shown up on so many post-apocalyptic reading lists that I knew I had to read it. It wasn't what I was expecting, but I enjoyed it. Most of the genre (at least the book's I've read) focuses on human drama and survival set against the end of the world. The task of rebuilding civilization is usually beyond the reach of the protagonists. This isn't the case in The Postman, and the irony of the situation is that Gordon fosters a renaissance by accident.
Brin is a physicist by training, so there is the usual caveat about scientist science fiction writers: The characterization in the novel sometimes suffers. Normally, the science-types write hard sci-fi, but aside from some climatology (oh, those pesky nuclear winters) and the odd inclusion of a former Oregon State University AI, there isn't much science to be had. While Brin's writing makes it difficult to relate to the characters (and his women characters seem a bit submissive), the historical sweep of events and the promise of a cultural and technological rebirth for civilization made the read worthwhile. My main quibble was that the ending seemed rushed. Brin pulled out a deus ex machina solution to tie things up neatly.
Worth the read for fans of post-apocalyptic genre.
Thumbs: Up
Summary: On a cold night in post-apocalyptia, a band of thieves leaves Gordon Krantz for dead in the Cascade Range. Taking shelter in a crashed US Postal Service truck, this drifter appropriates the jacket of the truck's long-dead occupant. Declaring himself a postman of the "Reconstructed United States," he uses the jacket and some forged documents to gain entrance to and sustenance from the small communities that sprung up in the wake of Armageddon. The fiction soon grows beyond Gordon's self-serving scheme. Despite himself, Gordon becomes unwilling to abandon the bag of letters he carries from town. The promise of government assistance against marauding survivalists gives the locals hope, and soon Gordon finds himself instating volunteer postmen who tie the scattered Northwestern communities into a coherent society. The survivalists, led by an former US supersoldier, have a feudal society based on social Darwinism. Might makes right, women are chattel, and any attempts at egalitarian society are crushed. Moreso than the bombs or plagues, these survivalists foiled attempts to rebuild civilization in the wake of Doomsday. Will the fledgling society born from Gordon's fraud have what it takes to defeat the survivalists, and will it have the strength to survive the truth of Gordon's claims?
Reaction: I'm a fan of post-apocalyptic fiction, and The Postman has shown up on so many post-apocalyptic reading lists that I knew I had to read it. It wasn't what I was expecting, but I enjoyed it. Most of the genre (at least the book's I've read) focuses on human drama and survival set against the end of the world. The task of rebuilding civilization is usually beyond the reach of the protagonists. This isn't the case in The Postman, and the irony of the situation is that Gordon fosters a renaissance by accident.
Brin is a physicist by training, so there is the usual caveat about scientist science fiction writers: The characterization in the novel sometimes suffers. Normally, the science-types write hard sci-fi, but aside from some climatology (oh, those pesky nuclear winters) and the odd inclusion of a former Oregon State University AI, there isn't much science to be had. While Brin's writing makes it difficult to relate to the characters (and his women characters seem a bit submissive), the historical sweep of events and the promise of a cultural and technological rebirth for civilization made the read worthwhile. My main quibble was that the ending seemed rushed. Brin pulled out a deus ex machina solution to tie things up neatly.
Worth the read for fans of post-apocalyptic genre.
Thumbs: Up