Another "end of the world" novel. In this one, nuclear war has reduced humankind to isolated bands of farmers and hunters, very low-tech. The protagonist, while struggling to escape bandits who have stolen all his survival gear, stumbles across the long-dead body of a US Postman. He takes the uniform and cap, and is afterward mistaken for an actual postman, a symbol of the fictional "restored" US government. He goes along with the misunderstanding, taking advantage of it, establishing regular mail service and post offices in the scattered settlements of what was once Oregon. Of course things have to turn bad, and his deception has to be discovered, etc.
To my taste, the novel is a little too much science fiction. It would have worked just as well without some of the elements introduced later in the book. But it is science fiction, so I cannot really complain. It is not as good an apocalyptic novel as "Earth Abides" or "Day of the Triffids", but it's still worth a read.
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