from there he concocts a lie to help him get food and stuff but winds up inspiring everyone and restoring hope to a faded nation, regaining his own lost ideals in the process. Our hero enters this mess while trying to escape some roving raiders and finds a postal uniform and some mail. We have a future US destroyed by war, with scattered towns basically living their own separate existences, while an army run by survivalists inspired by a Hitleresque fanatic are trying to take over everything in sight. That all stated, this is a highly entertaining and fairly straightforward book, probably not as deep as Brin would like it to be, but a good try nonetheless. At least they're restored the brilliant reissue cover, much as one can admire Kevin Costner as an actor, I would have preferred not to have his bedraggled face staring at me every time I go to pick the book up. To each his own, you're never going to get an exact translation. David Brin does a nice job working from that and from the hopes that could rebuild that.Īctually I can't attest to having seen said movie, but a cursory reading of the plot of the movie shows that they seemed to have played a bit fast and loose with this book, which considering the reviews it got, probably wasn't a good thing. We have the elements in today's society to create this very same mess. Maybe just maybe, it can be rebuilt.IT IS ALL SO PLAUSIBLE:Ironically, when you read of how the world fell, you can see where we have this potential. Here the Postman becomes the icon of a world that is gone. Mostly it is interesting how a theory can help hope form and become self perpetuating. Some of it is driven by Gordon's imagination. Some of it is driven by its own momentum. HOW HOPE CAN BE GROWN:The rest of the story is how Gordon continues his travels from town to town and the saga of the postman is begun. Here he realizes that the world fell apart a bit differently than he supposed and in acquiring the wardrobe of the hapless dead postman, he has taken on the mantle of that title. He is accosted by some locals in his travels and while planning to retrieve some of his belongings happens upon an old mail truck. He is a older survivor, so he knows of the times before the big war and society fell apart. Gordon the main character is a drifter moving West to find a better place to live. I found this to be true in Kiln people as well.A TALE OF A DRIFTER:The story takes place after society is recovering from a major war and social upheaval. Trust me, this makes reading his books effortless. David Brin has a wonderful way of weaving this into his stories so they are part of the dialogue or the unfolding scene. There are explanations of the situation, technology and social structure that weigh down most sci-fi stories. As a sci-fi buff so often the description of the "world" the novel takes place in is cumbersome. It is a very well written book and keeps your interest from beginning to end.SMOOTH WRITING CONTRUCTS THE WORLD:This being my second David Brin book, my first was Kiln People, I amazed at his writing. Having not seen the movie, I was not sure to expect.
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