Book Review: Mailman

Stephen Starring Grant, Mailman: my wild ride delivering the mail in Appalachia and finally finding home. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2025. 9781668018040.  

Genre: memoir, work, jobs 

Subgenre: Appalachia, USPS

Format: hardcover

Source: Hutchins Library, Berea College  

 

This is the author's memoir of his one-year stint working as a rural postal carrier in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. When he loses his fairly high end consulting job, he needs work that will provide some good health insurance. It turns out the U.S. Postal Service does that, and the health insurance kicks in right away once you are hired. Also, he loses his job just as the pandemic is starting to explode, he has health issues, cancer, and he is 50, so that adds to the urgency. 

The publisher describes the book as "exuberant, hilarious, and profound memoir." I would not go that far. I picked up this book for a couple of reasons. One, I thought the topic about a mailman and the USPS would be interesting. Two, the book is set in the Appalachian Region, so it has a regional interest locally. I had some high expectations, though I knew this book is another example of "someone does a stunt for a fixed amount of time then gets a book out of it" genre. I've read a few of those books. Some were good, and others not so much. This one for me falls into the not so much. 

An issue for me is that the book is not that interesting at times. The quality of interest can vary. There are some slow parts, some amusing parts, and some parts where he is just a dumbass. Some of the history of the postal service and the look at how the postal service works, especially in rural areas, are interesting. Some of the deliveries he made and the stories that go with them can be interesting and humorous as well. Yet there are some slow moments, some moments where he is wallowing in self pity, and one or two not so bright moments where you wonder how he stayed employed. So the narrative goes up and down a bit. 

For me also the book felt a bit predictable. Like we knew he was only doing this for a year, and you could kind of figure out he would go back to a more "normal" life by the end of the book. Spoiler alert: he does. He finds a new job in his field, and he leaves the postal service. Naturally, he ends up growing as a person with a better appreciation for the postal job as well as its service ethic and nobility. He ends with a bit of a promotion bit for people getting more involved in public service. In that regard, the book is not that much different than other "stunt" books where the protagonist decides, whether for fun, necessity, or other reason, to do the thing, and then writes a book about it to share their insights and growth. To be honest, fun as some of the stories were, the end just feels like another feel good story with a touch of treacle. 

Overall I liked it, but I found myself forcing my way to get to the end. It just did not keep my attention that much. However, the subject and setting have a strong regional appeal, so folks who enjoy reading about Appalachia and rural settings may enjoy this more than I did. Also if you want to learn a bit more about how the postal service works, especially the rural service that is so vital to those areas, yet few outside of those areas think about it, this may be a book for you too. I would still recommend it for all libraries, especially ones in the region. I am sure the regional interest is part of why our library ordered it. 

In the end, it was mostly OK. 

2 out of 5 stars.   

 

Books that may have similar appeal factors: 

A.J. Jacobs, The Year of Living Biblically (my review).  

Josh Peter, Fried Twinkies,  Buckle Bunnies, and Bull Riders: A Year Inside the Professional Bull Riders Tour (my review).

Andrew Beattie, Sleeping Around in America: Revisiting the Roadside Motel (review, which includes a list of additional similar appeal books).