4 - The Postman by David Brin

I've been meaning to read The Postman for a number of years.  I love post-apocalyptic stories (click here for others I've blogged about).  This one takes place in what was once Oregon, before the Doomwar.  The story is told from the point of view of Gordon Krantz, who was in his twenties when war and plague and famine tore the world apart.  Throughout the story, he travels from town to town dressed as a US Mail Carrier.  The effect his uniform and persona have on the people he meets is fascinating.

My favorite thing about this book might be the circumstances of the apocalypse itself.  There was war, beginning in Eastern Europe.  There were nuclear strikes, and there are still wide swaths of land that "glow".  But the real downfall of society came after, when people in the cities starved and people in the country died of easily prevented or cured plagues, simply because the infrastructure collapsed and people stopped cooperating.  As civilization fell, the survivalists, who were "prepared" and thus lived through the initial onslaughts, began looting, scavenging, pillaging, and enslaving those who were weaker or in need of protection.  Thus in a matter of years the societal structure of North America went from late-twentieth century urban sprawl to a feudal structure more like that of the Dark Ages in Europe.

This book was made into a movie starring Kevin Costner.  I was talking with my movie buff husband about it tonight, and it seems like there were a lot of, shall we say, differences, between the book and the movie.  I'm going to investigate how I might be able to watch it and if I do, I'll come back and post about the differences.

I looked up two words while I was reading this book (I always appreciate books which serve up new words...).  The first word I learned was abatis a defensive obstacle formed by felled trees with sharpened branches facing the enemy.  Like this:

This word comes from a French word meaning to strike down or slaughter, which is exactly what is done to the trees involved.  

The second word I looked up was solipsistic, which basically describes something related to the idea that one is the only person that exists.  In other words, if Gordon dreamed this whole apocalypse, he would be the only thing out of it that really existed, making his dream solipsistic.  I think.  That's a tricky word, grammatically and conceptually.  It's got an interesting etymology, from the Latin solus "alone" and ipse "self" with the lovely English -ism tacked on.  So it kind of means to be alone with oneself, or to believe oneself to be alone.  I like it.  

Page Count: 321
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