Mailman was a great book! I loved reading it on the page and listening on audio. Grant had a great perspective on blue collar work vs. white collar and how blue collar is much more difficult! I loved his adventures good and bad. He brought insider info on the mail service and how essential it is.

Mailman is the story of Stephen Grant's time as a rural mail carrier in Appalachia. There is way too much profanity for my preferences. Not a fan when it's so pervasive. I could not make it through more than a few chapters. Readers who don't mind lots of coarse language may appreciate this one.

I loved this quirky story. The setting is so intimately connected to the time period is set in, and this makes it a stand out.

I enjoyed this - but I have a personal connection to Blacksburg since I graduated from Virginia Tech. I revisit often, and love that part of the state of Virginia. An interesting story, and I certainly appreciate the US Postal Service more after reading this book.

This was a fantastic read. It was both entertaining and informative about a topic that we interact with every single day, but don't know much about the behind the scenes of how it works. I loved that this book touched on the history of the postal service, the day to day work that is involved, but also the meaningful connections and importance of working for the postal service. The author's voice was great. You could feel the emotion and frustrations, but also the happiness and sense of curiosity that he had about the job. Instead of seeing his job loss and working for the postal services as a negative, he turned it into a positive. It's refreshing to read when people have a positive outlook and are curious about what they are doing. One of my favorite books so far this year.

Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for giving me the chance to read this book. I was surprised by how much I did not know about the postal system. I found the book educational but in a great storytelling way. I have an even greater respect for our postal workers than before. I have always been greatly grateful for all they do for us but this put more insight into behind the scenes. I enjoyed the tales of his learning curve and the interactions with people along his route. If you use the U.S. postal system you should read this book!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC.

A very enjoyable well-written read about the challenges, the downsides, and the unexpected joy the protagonist finds when he becomes a mailman.

5 stars from this reviewer for this difficult to categorize book.

Stephen Grant became a rural mail carrier out of necessity. In the midst of the pandemic and job loss, he just needed to keep his family afloat until he could get back to work in his actual field. Little did he know this year of service would change his life’s perspective.

I’ve always loved the mail. The stamps, the anticipation, the process of it all. I fear this memoir may have bumped up my interest to an unhealthy level. Ask anyone who’s been around me the last couple of weeks. I’m obsessed. I even cornered the mail carrier at my job when I was halfway through to make her confirm all the unbelievable details about the job I’d been collecting to share with anyone who’d listen.

The history of the USPS, training, daily schedule, work load, mishaps, friendships, small kindnesses, the beauty and isolation of Appalachia…I was enamored by it all. I definitely did not expect to tear up so many times! I will forever view mail carriers in a different light.

I prefer my books to be 0% political. Due to the fact that the USPS is indeed one of the oldest government entities and the year the book covers was more politically charged than most, there is a fair amount of political discussion. Even though those sections were my least favorite, this quote hit me hard, and we’d all be much better off if we lived this sentiment: 𝘝𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺. 𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon Books for the ARC!

Steve Grant was laid off in the Spring of 2020 and needed a job with healthcare, and fast. Steve found himself as a rural mail carrier, and this memoir is his humorous, heartwarming, and interesting tale of the year he spent delivering the mail. He talks about the training, advantages, and drawbacks of the job that got him and his family thru the pandemic in rural Virginia. I loved his insight into a job I have wondered about and the people he worked with and encountered. He is funny and good at reading people and situations, and I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is now in my top few favorite memoirs of normal people who have interesting and worthy stories to tell. The author reads the audiobook, but it is wonderful, despite my initial misgivings.
Go read this book!

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy for review.

This is a quiet memoir of a man who, in a time of desperation, made a radical decision to become a rural letter carrier and how that experience changed him.

This is a hard one to rate. I flitted back and forth between absolutely loving this book and just skimming it to get through it. This book is a wonderful look at the people and life in Appalachia and their grit, spirit, and resilience. It highlights middle class Americans and the hard work that we might take for granted when we open the mailbox or get that package off the front steps. There are a ton of lessons and great quotes along the way. Unfortunately, the words in between the gems of knowledge were slow causing the pacing to feel, perhaps, like carrying the mail. Overall, I’m glad I read it and do recommend it, just know that there are times when you will just be driving from one mailbox to the next and not really doing a whole lot.

MAILMAN by Stephen Grant is a memoir told in short essays about one man's time spent as a U.S. postal worker. Laid off at the beginning of the pandemic, he needed a job with health insurance because of his cancer diagnosis. So, he applied to be a rural USPS mail carrier in southwest Virginia in an area near Virginia Tech. With a knack for storytelling and reflection, Grant's MAILMAN is an ode to identity, service, and community.

On the surface, MAILMAN by Stephen Grant is a behind-the-scenes look of a rural USPS worker. He shares with the reader what the training is like and the various gregarious personalities of his instructors and fellow postal workers. If you're wondering whether a rural postal worker may carry a gun for safety, the answer is unequivocally "no." To do so is a fast track to losing one's job. I found the chapter about mail sorting fascinating, as would anyone who loves to know "how it's made." Postal workers, or at least rural ones, basically sort the mail on their own route into the appropriate order. There are automatic mail sorters for letters and the like. However, there is not a separate crew who sorts the mail into delivery order. That's all on the public-facing USPS mail deliverer. It's definitely a race against the clock.

Grant also covers the working conditions, which are not for the faint of heart. On top of long hours, they deliver rain, snow, or shine. This means very cold and hot temperatures are a personal hazard. When lucky enough to use an official USPS vehicle, it's still no walk in the park. They're quite old, shock absorbance is minimal, and they are like ovens owing to their aluminum construction. And, as a rural mail carrier, these workers are required to have their own personally owned vehicle to deliver mail. Additionally, the USPS does not issue standard clothing to protect against heat and cold. That responsibility falls on the employee despite weather being a major hazard to the worker. Another chapter I found enraging discusses Grant's experience with parcel deliveries. Specifically, parcels shunted from Amazon for last mile delivery. If one has any sympathy, it might make one reconsider how often to order from Amazon--or any store--for deliveries that one could easily do store pickup for.

On a deeper level, however, MAILMAN is also about reconnecting with oneself. After a couple decades in white collar jobs, Grant felt somewhat disillusioned. This new job was a breath of fresh air and allowed for self reflection. Even though he worked long hours, it gave him alone time to think about his relationship with his parents. Working for the people also gave him a great sense of pride and community, something marketing did not. It was interesting to think about how jobs such as this give one a better understanding and connection to the folks living around them. I can see how satisfying that might be. Because of this he devotes a chapter near the end about the importance of service.

Overall, I enjoyed MAILMAN by Stephen Grant. While I personally would have appreciated a little more incorporation of USPS history, this is an up-close look at a day in the life of a USPS postal worker. It's a great perspective to read. Hopefully it invokes some degree of appreciation for these highly visible, ever present federal workers.

Did Not Finish @35%

This just didn't work for me - it started out really strong and interesting, and then just devolved into dull and repetitive dialogue. The author also thinks V E R Y highly [when he is not running himself down] of himself [think prime "PICK ME" girl energy], has an extremely vulgar vocabulary, and is really opinionated, with little room for anyone else's ideas/thoughts/opinions, including his family's feelings and thoughts. I wanted so much more from this and am very disappointed.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and Simon & Schuster for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

MAILMAN by Stephen Starring Grant is a non-fiction work subtitled "My Wild Ride Delivering the Mail in Appalachia and Finally Finding Home." After twenty years as a consumer strategist, Grant became a rural letter carrier during the pandemic. A graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, he lives in Blacksburg, Virginia. And he can tell a good story ... whether it is delivering a small refrigerator (USPS has a 70 pound weight limit on packages), a Lord of the Rings sword, a special rifle, or finding the magic of Christmas lights in a hollow ... He writes gratefully about the other letter carriers who supported him as a rookie and about the citizens/residents along his route. In a recent Wall Street Journal excerpt, he notes, "And yet, somewhere in those early months, change did come. Letter by letter I was learning. I got tougher. I became capable of delivering everything that I loaded into my truck in the morning. The economics of delivering the mail were unsentimental -- paying for my mortgage and groceries cost more than I was bringing in. But out there on Route 3 the job became more than just a financial delaying tactic. I was inhabiting something real, feeling what it was like to be there for people. I had become a mailman." MAILMAN received starred reviews from both Booklist and Kirkus who described MAILMAN as "A charming book that's guaranteed to make you think differently about the USPS." I am so happy that I could share this title with my mailman and tell him how I have a whole new respect for the work he does every day.
4.5 stars overall

A unique slice of life tale in a place most of us don't know and doing a job that we are well aware of but don't really know at all. I found it very interesting though what the author chose to write about was sometimes puzzling.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. It will fascinate many.

This started off so strong for me—funny, sharp, and unexpectedly moving. There’s a real gift in the way he weaves personal reflection with larger commentary about class, identity, and American systems. His reverence for the USPS and its unsung role in our daily lives is clear—and often well-earned.

But as the book went on, the structure started to feel a bit repetitive. The same themes resurfaced in slightly different packaging, and I found myself wishing he’d trust the reader a little more—let some things land without needing to restate the thesis every chapter. That said, there are still standout passages all the way through, and the later sections add weight and vulnerability that deepen the narrative. His personal history with gun violence, for example, retroactively reframes a lot of what came earlier.

It didn’t quite sustain the momentum of the early chapters for me, but I’m glad I read it. There’s something meaningful here—especially if you’ve ever stood in line at the post office and wondered what worlds were tucked behind the counter. Thank you Simon & Schuster for the gifted book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

DNF ... tried to stick with it, but just way too wordy and too slow ... read about 50%, but could tell there'd be more of the same ...

Inverted Hillbilly Elegy. That really is the easiest way to have a general idea about this book. Take nearly everything about Hillbilly Elegy, invert it, and you have a pretty solid approximation of Grant's thinking. Told as a native of the eastern/ southern side of Appalachia rather than the western/ northern side, this is a man who went to prestigious Southern schools (his dad was shot in the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting) rather than prestigious Northern schools ("the" Ohio State and Yale). Instead of going into the military as a way out of Appalachia, Grant had already left Appalachia long ago as a businessman and came back during COVID to work in a purely peaceful, yet also Constitutionally guaranteed, service - the United States Postal Service, with its own sworn oath remarkably similar to that of the military's. Instead of "spreading Democracy" as a desk jockey PR flack in Baghdad, Grant was the first person outside their homes and families that many people in his rural area of Virginia saw during the global shutdowns of COVID, spreading hope person to person in a manner somewhat reminiscent of the titular Postman of both David Brin's original book and Kevin Costner's movie (neither of which Grant ever mentions, to be clear). Instead of learning to fire a rifle from ROTC, Grant learned from his family and friends - including his avid fly fisherman dad. Instead of never really needing one in the safe zones of Baghdad (as Vance himself noted, to be clear), Grant speaks of the necessity of his John Browning designed 1911 pistol in the hinterlands of Appalachia - even against explicit USPS policy, as Grant notes more than once. Instead of the dangers of a broken family, Grant's dangers come from both his own mind and the natural world around him, including an incident with a hornet nest as well as the burning and freezing of working out of a largely uninsulated metal box.

Now, Grant doesn't seem to have any ambition for public office - even when Hillbilly Elegy came out, Vance was already running for US Senate - and that is truly one key distinction here. And yet, there are so many other similarities that the dichotomies really do speak to how you, the reader of my review of this book, can begin to get an idea of the overall nature of the book and whether you might be interested in reading it.

In all honesty, this is absolutely one I would recommend for anyone even remotely interested in learning about the lives of a "normal" (if any of us really are) American in a job most of us will never have, but who came to that job during a period where most all of us experienced massive upheaval. (To be clear, I was atypical during that period - the *only* difference in my job was that suddenly I was doing it from my home rather than driving across town to a cubicle I largely hated being in anyway. At the time I was working for a Fortune 50 global bank, and had been for a couple of years already. I wouldn't leave there until long after the world had regained most normality, such as it had by the mid 2020s at least.)

Now, you may be asking me, "Jeff, why didn't you deduct a star for relying on COVID so much? You literally did that in your very last review for a book set in that exact same year." Which is a fair question, because I did do that and I do maintain that I largely don't want to read anything about that year at all. But it is also a *nonfiction* and specifically *memoir* based look at that year (which also spared it the star deduction for lack of bibliography, as this was purely memoir), and it was clear from the description - that mentions Grant losing his job in March 2020 specifically and becoming a mail carrier after that point - that this book would be covering that period in some manner. Thus, I can't exactly deduct a star for a real life look at that period that I was explicitly told up front was exactly that.

Overall a truly solid work perhaps more in the vein of the relatively unknown One Bullet Away by Nathaniel Frick (which told of a Dartmouth graduate's experience as a Marine officer who was among the first "boots on the ground" in both Afghanistan and Iraq in the post 9/11 era) than Hillbilly Elegy, yet also with the direct contrasts between itself and Hillbilly. In other words, compelling, interesting, and...

Very Much Recommended.

“Just go from one mailbox to the next and deliver the mail. Then get up again and do it tomorrow.”

This memoir covers a year in a white-collar worker’s life when he loses his well-paying consulting job during the pandemic. When faced with an uncertain future, a “benign as cancer gets” diagnosis, and a family who depends on him, Steve Grant applies for a Rural Carrier Associate position with the USPS. The gap between his skill set and the needs of this position couldn’t have been wider. “The thing about the internet is that it shortens the distance between impulse and action, which may not be the best thing for someone with impulse control issues.” Though he would not have a gap in coverage with COBRA and both options carry premiums, his argument for taking the job is for insurance coverage.

Grant was raised and educated in Blacksburg, VA, home to Virginia Tech. He left the area for several decades before returning with his family. Though he was headquartered in New York City, he commuted, maintaining an office in the Corporate Research Center. This maze of brick buildings with hidden addresses and cryptic names, as he describes it, was established “to help spin out intellectual property developed at Virginia Tech into the private sector.” It is where rural carriers are sent to fail, he says, but for him, it “was my briar patch, my home away from home.” Recognizing this, the Postmaster assigns him to that route. Whether it was evident or not, this decision allowed Grant the opportunity to muse about who he had been and was becoming.

This memoir is a primer on the USPS laced with musings about service versus intellectual work, the people who populate those worlds, religion and politics, and the differences between those who live in Blacksburg, “The Cambridge of Appalachians,” and those who live in the rural areas.

Grant regularly makes distinctions between himself, a card-carrying member of the local intelligentsia, and those who are skeptical of government and science or don’t appreciate him sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong. He has a mini tantrum when management doesn’t appreciate his research solving a flow problem. He had crossed boundaries on several fronts, but instead of recognizing this he demeans the boss. “David was a high-energy guy, whippet-lean, a leg bouncer. He was a serious dip user, likely self-medicating for ADHD and stress. The dip gave him the perpetual appearance of a man-squirrel who had found himself trapped under the hood of a car that had just roared to life and was now accelerating toward the freeway.”

Though presented as a noble observation, Grant’s elitism is on display when he opines how “someone without a degree, or without skilled labor,” can use the USPS as a path to the middle class. Perhaps he forgot that it can also provide a safety net for wealthy, educated men from a wealthy, educated family, even those with a year’s worth of savings on which to live and options for medical coverage.

Grant is funny, foul-mouthed, irreverent, and introspective. He comes across as a bit of an ass if you forget he’s trying to be funny, and there are lots of kind and insightful moments.

Many thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for providing this e-galley.

Mailman is Stephen Starring Grant’s memoir which chronicles his unexpected transformation from corporate marketing strategist to rural mail carrier during the early days of the COVID 19 pandemic. After losing his job and facing a health scare, Grant joins the USPS workforce in Appalachian Virginia, setting out on a grueling 60 mile mail route that winds through remote farms, trailer parks, and mountain roads.

I found this book to be a warm, witty, and candid narrative filled with colorful characters and rural Americana. I felt it delivered practical, behind-the-scenes detail about USPS operations and highlights the physical and emotional toughness of mail carriers. I was drawn to its ability to explore community, service, and the redemptive power of purpose and routine.

I felt the author did a great job adding in humor, humility, and heart. He faced physical challenges like dodging dogs, icy roads, heavy mailbags and administrative quirks of life in a federal workplace. His anecdotes are both funny and insightful, offering sharp observations on democracy, community, rural poverty, and politics.

Pick this up if you enjoy memoirs that are true to life narratives that make you smile through life's ups and downs.

Mailman: My Wild Ride Delivering the Mail in Appalachia and Finally Finding Home by Stephen Starring Grant

I never thought I’d be fascinated by the United States Postal Service, but here we are. And on top of learning so so so many facts about the USPS, the feeling of home resonated with me so strongly. Oh, and this book was funny.

What was really special to me with this book was that it took place where I’m located and have grown up. He was a mail carrier in Blacksburg, VA, which was where I attended college, and I have since moved back to the area. His feelings and descriptions of Appalachia were so accurate that many I felt in my own soul.

As for the writing itself, it teetered on being a little over wordy and repetitive at times. Some of the chapters seemed to get lost in themselves. However, because I was so pulled into the “home” feeling, and I genuinely enjoyed learning about the mail process, I was able to power through.

People who enjoy memoirs that teach you about something, readers curious about how your bookmail finds you behind the scenes, or readers hoping to get a sense of Appalachia will find much to love in these pages. And seriously, thank your mail carriers!