The Postman

How it reads

The Postman is science fiction (post-apocalyptic science fiction, specifically), and its dominant mood is hopeful. Whatever it puts its people through, it believes things can get better. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.

It's set in a rural setting, in the recent past, told in the third person, staying close to one character. Its central concerns are survival, war and redemption. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending resolves happily. At 321 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.