The Postman by David Brin

Cafe Society
1

OK I just finished this book this weekend. It was pretty good for a post-apocalyptic
novel but I have a couple of points I want to make:

In the very beginning our protagonist is robbed blind. He escapes into the wilderness, and considers hunting them down except he hopes he won’t have to kill them.

This one line ruined the book for me. I read the rest of it, but I just couldn’t get over the idea of someone who survived for sixteen years after the war with a deep-seated reluctance to kill. I just can’t believe you wouldn’t need to kill, and regularly, to survive.

Am I just overreacting? Does anyone agree with the postman?

Also, and this is not a criticism, rather the contrary, was anyone else moved by what the women tried to do?


They turned themselves over to the bad guys. Some of them were raped, tortured, and/or killed, but some survived. Supposedly when there was supposed to be a signal one night and they were supposed to come out and murder all the evil guys. However, the signal was not given or something happened. They still killed many that night but they died, all of them. This kept coming back to me after I finished.

2

I’ve only read the book once, and that was several year ago, but I was really enjoying it …

… until the Wizard of Oz aspect came into it. That just totally ruined it.

3

Good book, and better than the movie on many levels. Coincidentally, I just reread a week ago, so I think I can comment productively.

If you remember, Gordon was a member of the official militia until the very end. He’s no stranger to killing at all. But he was also, pre-war, an idealist. I think that his holding onto those ideals was what kept him alive. They were his last vestiges of civilization, his last hold on what he considered sanity.

If it weren’t for those ‘outdated’ qualities (and Gordon does recognize how outdated they are), there wouldn’t be any emotional conflict about his postman charade. He’d just be another guy doing what he could to survive.

And yes, the bit with the women at the end was quite awesome.