Reading material
Feb. 16th, 2005 10:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
forsythI recently finished reading David Brin's book, The Postman. The movie I haven't seen, but by all respects, it sucked, so. The book, on the other hand, didn't. Honestly, I read the first I dunno, third of it one night, then read the rest the next night. A very quick read. And I really enjoyed it. Which probably has more to do with the story than the plot and the writing, if that makes any sense. If you haven't read it, the basic outline is simple, it's post-nuclear war/plague/survivalist America, not even 20 years after things went to poo. The main character is a survivor from before the war, who stumbles upon an old Post Office truck, driver still inside, and salvages the clothing. He starts using it and a lie about the "Restored United States" to get into settlements and get supplies. And ends up helping set up actual mail routes and acting as a symbol for the civilization the people'd thought they lost.
It has some flaws, and there's bits of plot that thinking back on it, make me go "eh" a little, but I didn't notice them at the time. It may sound cheesy, but a lot of the themes and stuff in it are the kinds of stuff I'm a sucker for. American myths, so I don't know if it'd be nearly as meaningful to anybody outside the US. But I enjoyed it, and yeah, it was inspiring, and given it's twenty years old and the Story overcomes any failings of plot, at least for me.
Told you I was a patriotic sucker earlier, didn't I? It's about MY America, MY civilization, that was set up for reason, and for everybody, not just the strong or whoever could seize power. And the power of symbols. (which may get over-emphasized both by me and in the book, since the book was written by a writer, and I think like one, but.)
Tags: Books, Mindscribbles, Politics
It has some flaws, and there's bits of plot that thinking back on it, make me go "eh" a little, but I didn't notice them at the time. It may sound cheesy, but a lot of the themes and stuff in it are the kinds of stuff I'm a sucker for. American myths, so I don't know if it'd be nearly as meaningful to anybody outside the US. But I enjoyed it, and yeah, it was inspiring, and given it's twenty years old and the Story overcomes any failings of plot, at least for me.
Told you I was a patriotic sucker earlier, didn't I? It's about MY America, MY civilization, that was set up for reason, and for everybody, not just the strong or whoever could seize power. And the power of symbols. (which may get over-emphasized both by me and in the book, since the book was written by a writer, and I think like one, but.)
Tags: Books, Mindscribbles, Politics
