Welcome back to Books With Cause. Let’s dive straight into my latest review.
This review might go around the houses a little bit. So, buckle in; we’re going for a ride. I probably don’t talk as much about music as I used to. Admittedly, I don’t listen to a lot of new music. I’ve reviewed a couple of Oasis books on this site, and I’ve been into Oasis since I was twelve, so seeing them in 2025 was amazing. Around the same time, I got into Stereophonics. Funnily enough, I saw Stereophonics in 2025 as well.
When I get into something, I do become a little obsessed, and I want to learn as much as I can about the subject. In the case of both Oasis and Stereophonics, I vividly remember hours spent in front of my computer screens researching as much as I could about the bands. The history of the bands, their various members and lineups over the years. Around this time, I learnt that Stereophonics had a B-side named “Postmen Do Not Great Movie Heroes Make”. At the time of writing this part of the review, I still haven’t heard the song. But as soon as I read that title, I remembered thinking, “Oh, I wonder if that song is about that Kevin Costner movie.”
And that was about as far as that thought went at that point in time, until recently, when I was thinking about it all over again. And I looked up The Postman movie to learn that not only did Kevin Costner direct it, but it’s also based on a novel. If you’ve been following my site for a while, you can probably see where this is going.
Published in 1985, David Brin’s The Postman is set in a then-dystopian 2010s. It is suggested that there was a nuclear conflict in the 1990s, known as the Doomwar, followed by a three-year winter. The story starts here, and that’s when we meet Gordon. He was formerly a drama student, and now he’s trying to find his way in the post-apocalyptic world. He travels around the United States, where survivors live in little communities they’ve formed. Gordon puts on performances of Shakespeare plays (of which no copies remain) in exchange for food and a place to sleep for the night.
One day, Gordon finds an old post van. Inside is a dead postman who’s been there since before the nuclear conflict. Gordon steals the postman’s uniform for warmth. But when he’s wearing it the next time he shows up in a new town, the residents presume he is an actual postman working for the government, and it’s a sign that things are getting back to normal. Gordon doesn’t have the heart to correct them. He comes to realise that the clothes he wears are more than a uniform. It’s a symbol of something else. Hope.
At this point, I’d like to say that I don’t believe there is any such thing as a bad book. But it’s not possible for every book to appeal to every single reader. This was one of those cases. Apart from a few little scenes, it never gripped me. I’ve read and seen my fair share of post-apocalyptic and dystopian stories. This was less Mad Max than it was Sad Max. It was all a little flat. While this isn’t the worst book I’ve ever read, it must be among the ones I’ve enjoyed the least in the time I’ve been doing this site.
My Goodreads Rating: ★★☆☆☆ (2 stars)
